Madam Speaker, I want to say a few words in this very important debate and indicate my support for the motion by the Progressive Conservative Party to send an all party delegation to Washington. It is a positive thing and should really happen.
What I want to impress upon the House is that the mad cow crisis has been a real crisis across the country economically and in particular in western Canada. In my riding in the province of Saskatchewan it has been a very serious crisis. It has affected not only cow calf producers and cattle ranchers but also it has affected the truckers and people who work in the industry. There has been a whole economic slowdown that has had an impact of hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in terms of the spinoff. It has slowed down the whole economy. We have to deal with this crisis as a country.
The government should have taken a much stronger stand with the Americans. The Americans cut off the borders for many weeks and have now allowed them to open for some classes of cattle. The flow now is not much more than a trickle. It is because of the Americans' hard line that we have suffered greatly.
I think our cattle industry is far too integrated with the United States. We have far too few packing plants in the country. It was a big mistake made over the years, that we did not maintain more packing plants that would supply the need for ranchers and farmers and also provide jobs here in this country.
The Americans have taken a tough line. We have an industry now that is integrated with the United States. The packing plants are in America. The jobs are in America. The economic benefits go to America. When there is a problem, the Americans cut off the border. The mad cow that was found in this country may indeed have eaten feed that came from the United States of America.
It seems that we have been shafted on this. We have been hit over the head with a club by the United States. Our Prime Minister should have taken a much tougher stand with George W. Bush and the American administration.
It is not just this issue. It is also the American farm bill when it comes to grain and other crops with the huge subsidies by the Americans that are hurting Canadian farmers and hurting Canadian producers. We have very efficient producers in this country that cannot compete with the American farm bill and these massive subsidies. It is another example of the problems that we have because the United States is not taking a reasonable attitude toward Canada and Canadian producers.
I will give a couple of examples of how it affects ordinary people. I received a phone call early in July from a farmer in Balcarres in my riding. One of his neighbours had a bull that had been injured and because of the injury the bull had to be destroyed. The problem was there are no slaughterhouses nearby. To ship the bull to a slaughterhouse to be slaughtered would have cost more in terms of the freight for shipping the bull than the farmer would have received in the proceeds from the sale of the meat from the bull.
That is a good example how mad cow disease affects ordinary people, when the freight bill is higher than the proceeds from the sale of a particular product.
There is another example in my riding which shows again how some of the Americans overreacted. In rural Saskatchewan near my hometown of Wynyard is Big Quill Lake. It is about the fourth saltiest body of water in the world. Believe it or not, there is a shrimp fishing business on the lake. There is shrimp fishing in the Prairies, small brine shrimp. They rely on American buyers. They were told by the American buyers in June that they would have to delay buying the product until about August 1 because of mad cow. That mad cow is affecting the shrimp business does not make any sense.
Those are a couple of examples of how this has really affected ordinary people right across the Peace.
The beef industry is extremely important. I was at the demonstration on the Hill last Wednesday. It is extremely important for all Canadians. Farming really is the foundation on which our country is built. When the farmer is better off, we are all better off. When the rancher is better off, then we are all better off in terms of the spinoffs in the economy and the jobs right across the country.
It seems that the federal government does not realize this because it has been very slow to react. In fact since the crisis broke a few months ago, the federal government has only offered to pay 60% of a $400 million program, some $276 million. The provinces have to put up the other $184 million. Since then, in Saskatchewan the provincial government has been adding extra money to the program, as have some of the other provinces as well because of the importance of the beef industry to the country.
The federal government has the money. There is a budgetary surplus. There is a contingency fund. The cattle producers need the money if they are to survive. Investment in the cattle industry at this time would be helpful not just to the industry but to the country in general in terms of stimulating the economy, circulating cash throughout the economy and making sure there are jobs for more Canadians regardless of where people live. These are very important things that should be noted by the federal government.
As I said before, the mistake we have made over the years is that we have far too few packing plants. Most of that industry is now going south of the border to the United States. That has to be changed so that we have more packing plants and more jobs in Canada. If that happened it would be a very positive thing.
The beef industry, the farming industry, is extremely important. We have had an incident of one cow that has caused a great deal of damage to the economy. Then we have a federal government that has been very slow to react in terms of trying to provide some assistance to the farmers of Canada. That is what a government is all about, to provide assistance to those who are in need. This a case where people are in need. This is a case where people need some help.
As I said before, the Americans have been very insensitive to the fact that we are their major trading partner. They have been insensitive to the fact that it is a very integrated industry. They have been insensitive to the fact that there was only one cow, and that cow may have eaten food that came from the United States.
Our government should have taken a much tougher stand with the Americans. It should have been much more aggressive with them on this issue. It should be providing more assistance to the cow calf producers and ranchers right across the country.