No, one would think the members opposite must lay at night and hear those words that were said by a member over here at one point in time. Every one of them seems to mention it. If President Bush were here, I am sure they would whisper in his ear “do you remember what such and such said”. They constantly remind the Americans of those words instead of trying to get to the issue.
Regardless of that, I think the member was here previously when I mentioned that no country has regained market share after BSE as Canada has. I want to underline the fact that we still have a serious problem at the farm gate because our live cattle are not entering the U.S. We have to accept some facts, and the fact is we are in at 90% pre-BSE levels.
I want to go back to what President Bush did say when the Prime Minister met with him on April 30. President Bush at the time promised to open the U.S. border to live Canadian cattle “as soon as possible” , but he added that any easing of the ban related to mad cow disease would be based on sound science. The United States President also noted, “My administration is committed to a policy of free trade when it comes to beef”.
Does the member opposite really believe that President Bush is abiding by that policy of free trade?