Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise this evening to address the issue of foot and mouth disease, a very serious issue and something that is of great concern to farmers and ranchers in my riding of Medicine Hat.
As you may know, Madam Speaker, and no doubt you do, Medicine Hat produces a tremendous amount of beef, a lot of which is exported to the United States. Not only is this a concern for people within Canada, but obviously if foot and mouth disease ever came to Canada again it would have a profound impact on our ability to export beef. Consequently it would have a huge impact on the economy in Canada. It is a multibillion dollar industry in Alberta alone and tens of billions of dollars when we talk about how it would affect the livestock industry right across the country.
I do want to put this into perspective if I can. I have a press release in my hand from the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, a group that speaks for the industry. These individual members have a lot of stake. They are producers themselves. I think this puts it into perspective. The release states:
The Canadian Cattlemen's Association today reminded cattle producers that the risk of introducing Foot-and-Mouth Disease into Canada is minimal so long as the proper precautions are observed.
Then it goes on to describe some of the precautions people can take. It states:
“Many countries in the world have Foot-and-Mouth Disease and we have successfully kept it out of Canada for almost 50 years,” says Carl Block, Chair of the CCA Animal Health Committee.
Carl Block comes from my friend's riding, from the Cypress area in Saskatchewan.
Mr. Block goes on to say:
With the heightened awareness of this disease and the increased surveillance taking place at points of entry into Canada, we may well be less at risk now than in the past when it was next to impossible to get travellers to take this disease seriously.
The release continues:
Block points out it is neither practical nor possible to ban the movement of people to and from countries where Foot-and-Mouth Disease exists.
He says:
Let's not forget we're not just talking about Europe. Foot-and-Mouth Disease exists in many countries around the world including India, China and parts of South America, Africa and Asia. We cannot shut ourselves off from the rest of the world.
Those are wise words. People need to put this in perspective. This disease has been around forever. We have managed to deal with it successfully by taking some simple precautions. Today, with such heightened awareness, we are taking far greater precautions and it should give people some comfort.
Having said all of that, we need to make sure that the precautions the government has announced are in fact being implemented. That is where those of us in the Canadian Alliance have some concerns. I trust members across the way do too. This is not a partisan issue. I think that people in the House want to make sure Canada is doing everything it can to block the spread of foot and mouth disease, which could obviously have a devastating effect on Canada or any country it enters.
There are really two things that we need to emphasize when we talk about what we can do. One is knowledge and the other is action. I would argue that if there is something the government could have done better and still could do better when it comes to foot and mouth disease, it is to ensure that people know about foot and mouth disease, that they have the knowledge.
To a large degree, the government to this point has relied on the media to get its message out. I would argue that this is perhaps a little dangerous. When we rely on the media, what we tend to get is a very skewed and sort of hysterical view of what is going on. When people see the media, what they see are big piles of burning cattle. I think that frightens a lot of people. They should be concerned, but that does not really tell us the true story.
As the CCA is pointing out, this disease has been around forever. The chance of it coming to Canada is minimal if precautions are taken. The government should be advertising and letting members of the public know exactly what they can do to stop the spread of foot and mouth disease. The government should explain to the public that it is not harmful to human health, but that humans can carry the disease. The government needs to do that but it has not.
It has advertised in the past for things that were, I would argue, a little less essential. Now when we have a serious issue that Canadians need to know about, whether they are travelling to Europe or planning to travel to Europe or any other country where there is foot and mouth, or when it comes to preventing this from being spread if it ever does enter into Canada, people need to know how to prevent it. People need to know what precautions they can take on the farm and that kind of thing. The government should be advertising. That is one thing the government could do to really help, but it has not done that yet. I and my colleagues, many of whom are sitting around me right now, held a press conference the other day to emphasize that this is a positive step the government could take.
I came back from the U.K. a few weeks ago. One of the things that surprised me was that there were no signs in airports warning travellers to be aware that if they had been in a rural area in Europe or wherever they should declare, for instance, whether they had muddy shoes in their suitcases. To me that would be a common sense, simple thing that customs and revenue could do at airports. The shoes could come out, be put on the slurry mat and cleaned up with disinfectant. Then away the travellers go. It is dealt with.
However, there were no signs like that. Not only were there no signs, but when I went through customs I was not asked a question about that. I was asked pointedly if I had food. I was glad to hear them asking about that. However, they did not ask the important question about muddy clothing. They did not ask me if I had been to a farm. I did have to fill out a form stating whether I would be going to a farm, but they did not ask me if I had been to one.
Those are the sorts of questions that customs officials should be asking and up to this point have not been asking. We would sure like to encourage them to do that. That is a common sense step they could take.
Officials should be letting schools know that there is a danger of children carrying foot and mouth disease if they go to Europe for some kind of school trip. In some cases there is money at stake and maybe the kids will go anyway. If they do go, they need to know what the precautions are. That is something the government could do. It could give the message to children.
The other thing is action. I have already touched on this to some degree. We need to make sure that we have all the slurry mats in place. We received reports just the other day that in a number of airports these mats were still not in place. That is not acceptable.
We have sent 10 veterinarians over to the U.K. to help them with the outbreak. This is great. I am glad we did that, but surely one of the things they found out was how easily this disease spreads. One would think that the government would talk to these people and learn from them that we should have the necessary precautions in place.
I do not understand why we would not have slurry mats in place with a vinegar solution on them to kill any foot and mouth disease. That is so straightforward. It is one thing for the government to announce these things, but it is another thing for government to actually implement them.
We must make sure we have slurry mats in place 24 hours a day in airports. I am sure members will be pushing the government to do so. When people get off a plane from a country where there is foot and mouth disease, especially the U.K. where it is seemingly out of control, they will pass over the mat.
I will talk briefly about British soldiers. CFB Suffield is in my riding. A lot of people are concerned about British soldiers bringing foot and mouth disease to Canada from the U.K. However the precautions they take are far greater than those a regular traveller takes. The equipment and clothing of the soldiers are completely disinfected not only on British soil but also at this end.
Today, as we found out, the system seems to work. Some vehicles arrived from the U.K., brand new vehicles that had never been to a rural area. They got as far as Montreal and were discovered to have mud on them. Our people, wisely, said it was unacceptable and sent the vehicles back.
I got a call from the British High Commission today. They are sensitive to the fact that I have Suffield in my riding. They said they were sorry and that it would never happen again. Apparently the vehicles were driven from the U.K. base on a lowboy trailer. As they drove to the port to be loaded on to the ships some mud splashed on them. It should have been dealt with at the port and that would have been the end of it. Unfortunately the vehicles got as far as Canada, but our people caught the problem and wisely turned everything around.
All the clothing was disinfected. Everything else was done right. The system did work and we are assured the British will be more careful in the future and not let it happen again.
We are trying to offer common sense ways to deal with the issue. We urge the government to ensure the measures it has announced are implemented, because if they are not there is a potential for real problems. We certainly do not want see that.