Mr. Speaker, Health Canada continues to play catch up on critical safety issues associated with BSE or mad cow disease.
It took more than 10 years after Britain began measures to deal with the crisis for Health Canada to complete its first major assessment of the problem. It is now one year after that report was received and we still do not see wide scale livestock testing or an outright ban on animal protein in the feed of animals destined for human consumption. We still do not have a ban on food and confectionery products containing beef byproducts from countries where BSE has been detected. There is still no ban on the use of potentially infected deer and elk in rendering plants.
The government seems to be trying to do the absolute minimum needed to comply with the World Health Organization. The minimum will not do. Britain is dramatic proof of that. We urge the health minister to stop lagging behind and to make BSE prevention an urgent priority.