Mr. Chair, I thank the minister and the parliamentary secretary for staying for the debate. We have had late night debates before and we have not always had the attendance by them. Although, when I look across and I realize the amount of room they have, I think we might hear the duet “It's Lonely Out Tonight” .
I want to take a minute to thank my riding for my re-election and the opportunity to come back and represent the citizens of Cypress Hills—Grasslands on the issues that are important to them. Right now there is no issue more important than BSE.
As I was preparing for this speech, I was thinking about the times we have been here to discuss this. I think this is probably the third or fourth time we have been here late at night to discuss this. How many speeches have we given, I do not know. I cannot think back to the number of times I have spoken on this subject.
I was the question period coordinator last spring for our party and we asked enough questions on BSE and on agriculture. At times I think the agriculture critic was getting tired of being asked to ask questions. There has been a multitude of statements made on this, and the problem persists.
We all know what happened in the spring of 2003 and the problems that resulted from that. Actually, the minister admitted tonight, and I think it is the first time I have heard this, that there really was no long term planning right from the beginning.
There were some of us who immediately called for packing plants to be built immediately. I do not know why any of us were thinking at the time that this would be a short term problem. Momentum seemed to build that this would go away in a few minutes or a few months. That was never realistic right from the beginning. It was not possible for that to happen.
Think about the reaction other countries had to us and the reaction we had to other countries with the same problem. It was not going to be a short term responsibility. The government failed producers miserably when it pretended it was. It never acted in the long term interest.
Since then many things have happened. There have been at least two failed programs. The government was six to eight weeks late in getting money to the farmers and the ranchers. Both times the markets were beginning to stabilize and both times the money collapsed the market which collapsed the prices for producers.
Our plan last spring was one of which we were proud and it was a good one. It called for a billion dollars to be spent on this issue, with $400 million going to top up programs, $350 million towards the cull, $75 million for packing plants and other money allocated for things such as trade and establishing testing regimes.
This September the government came out with its program. I have heard lots of discussion tonight about that. The member for Lethbridge has done an excellent job of talking about the problems in which we find ourselves. He has also talked about possible solutions.
Some producers in my riding, who are not beef producers, have also been affected. I want to talk a bit about them tonight. One family farms sheep and has stayed in touch with me over the last year. I will read a section of a letter that he wrote me in the last couple of days. He has been brought into this, inadvertently I guess, and has paid a price as big as most of the beef producers have. He says:
The impact that BSE has had on us has been very tough and financially challenging. Our lamb trade here in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba has been north-south with the USA. Just 100 kms to the south of us, feeder lambs that go into a feedlot to be fattened are currently selling for $.95 to $1.18 USD per pound. We are currently being offered $.60-.65 CDN per pound. That's less than half of what American sheep producers receive.
Most of us are not familiar with why that happened. However, he goes on to say:
The problem is that because of the closed border, there is no American competition in the marketplace, only one packing plant for lambs in Western Canada and hundreds and hundreds of kms to get to a market in Ontario.
The main reason for low prices in the sheep business is lack of competition for buyers. With no American lamb buyers competing for our lambs the western packing plant,...only has to bid the already low price western lambs receive at auction in Toronto...
That is one reason why the lamb producers are suffering.
Then there is a problem with packing. The minister asked for suggestions tonight, so I will read his suggestion. He states:
The first order of business should be to have CFIA lift the ban on USA imports so that we show to them how ridiculous their ban on Canadian lambs is.
We have heard tonight from the member for Macleod. He has said that there is a continuing problem with anaplasmosis and blue tongue in cattle coming from the United States to Canada. The lamb producers feel some of that same pressure on what they see as a ridiculous ban on lambs coming into Canada.
We need to get the border open. These folks have been brought into this through no fault of their own. I understand that the government is meeting with them tomorrow. However, we are 18 months into the problem. That border should be open to those folks. The government has not been aggressive enough in dealing with that problem and it needs to be solved.