Madam Speaker, I am pleased to be among my colleagues in the House today and participate in a debate in which I believe the goals of all of us are the same. We really do want to prevent a tragedy happening in Canada, a tragedy that is taking place in other countries in Europe at this time.
We have to examine this not only from the point of view of what the government can do for me, what industry can do, what all of the agencies who will communicate the message can do, but what I can do. What have I been doing that might inadvertently harm Canada?
I think of the number of times I have come home through Pearson airport and ticked the form that shows I am not going to a farm in the next 14 days. I wonder to myself how many times after I have ticked that box I went to my cottage on the weekend. As I went to my cottage on the shores of Lake Huron I moved through the farm country in beautiful southwestern Ontario. I think of how many times I may have stopped at the local farm to pick up a dozen eggs or to walk along the paths in that area.
It is a rural area. I am an urban member. Most of the people in my riding would consider that they do not very often visit farms. I do not think this is true. We are very mobile in Canada. I think of all the school trips that my children have taken to a farm in the springtime. I think of what might happen this spring. Maybe this year we should not continue those innocent children's trips to a dairy farm or those school trips to visit barnyard animals. Maybe our farmers would be well advised to be a little more protective of their livelihood by keeping out people who are not necessary to the operation of their agricultural business.
There are world travellers who travel for business and pleasure and who come back to their places of employment and engage in normal conversation and contact with other employees who they know live in a rural environment. I think of how it would be wiser, maybe, to stay away from these people for the protection of all of us for a period of 48 hours, and how it would be wiser for sure not to visit with friends who we normally might visit with in the country during a time when we have just returned from a trip overseas.
These are things we can do. We have to be knowledgeable and not panic. As I walk over a mat coming through an airport from an overseas country, I might want to consider the other two pairs of shoes that might be in my luggage. Maybe before I come back into the country I should do something to disinfect those shoes. I know that customs officials have dogs that will likely, through their training and from scent, pick up manure or ground and dirt that could be on my luggage. However, there is something I could do. When I come home I could make sure that my clothes are dry cleaned and washed. I could wash my hair and use that 50:50 vinegar-water solution on those shoes or the outside of my luggage or whatever I care to do. I do not think we should panic, but I do think we can all do our part. We do not have to be experts, but we do have to take care.
Annually, tourism in Canada is a $50 billion industry, with 70% of that tourism within Canada by our own citizens and 30% coming from the exterior into the country. We still have a travel deficit in our tourism. Maybe this is the year I could take a Canadian vacation and see this beautiful country from sea to sea to sea. I could take along my children and show them what Canada means. Maybe it means a visit to Quebec. Maybe it means a visit to Atlantic Canada or to the north or out west. It is something that I could do and that other families could do.
I do not want to see devastation in the tourism industry. I know what will be happening in Britain this summer. I know that their rural paths are closed. I know that Stonehenge is closed. This is an economic tragedy, but it is a tragedy that must affect so many people's lives and so many different levels of their experience.
We can do something to prevent this tragedy from coming here. I think we have confidence in our government, in our farm organizations and in our communications materials. We are getting the co-operation of our print media, our airlines, our farmers, our veterinarians and our scientists. We are getting the projects through training and the implementation at our borders through the customs officials.
Many people are working toward the goal together. It is the partnership of civil society, the civilian population of the country, that at the most basic level is the most responsible party for making sure this disease does not enter our country.
We can do our share. I think it is incumbent on each and every one of us to look at our own decision making and our own actions and make sure that we are not accidentally the entry point when we can use very simple means of prevention, many of which have been outlined by members in the House tonight.
I am very grateful to the member who initiated the debate. I am pleased to work in the House in a collegial manner. I am pleased that we are finally talking about something that is worth getting up and speaking about.