Mr. Chair, I would like to speak briefly to the parliamentary secretary's comments on testing.
As I see it, the issue around testing is not about any disagreement with the science. Rather it is a disagreement with the results. What I mean by that is the government can say that it does not want to assist farmers in testing animals destined for export markets or assist farmers in testing animals destined for niche markets such as Japan and Korea. Those countries are going to insist upon testing for a very long time, the next 10 to 15 years at least I suspect. The only way we will ever access those markets is if we test our animals. If an affordable test is put in place, I will guarantee that a loss will become cheaper over time. As we test more animals, we will find a better way to do it. It is not a matter of disagreeing with the science. If we do not do the testing, we will not export our beef to those niche markets.