Mr. Chair, I will be sharing my allotted time with our agriculture critic, the hon. member for Haldimand—Norfolk. Let me just begin by acknowledging that this new member has demonstrated in her very short time here an exceptional dedication to the cause of our agriculture community and is providing strong leadership to help those who are affected by this case.
Mr. Chair, with you and others as our guide, we are taking our first steps on the lesser travelled road of minority Parliament. This is our first emergency debate, but it is one that we have been asking for since June 29th because there is nothing new about this emergency. We are not dealing with a situation that arose overnight or in the last few days.
BSE was first reported in Canada on May 20, 2003 and there was an emergency debate in the House on the issue only six days later. What has changed since then is that because of the inaction and insensitivity of the government the situation has grown much worse for the thousands of men and women and their families who depend directly or indirectly on our beef exports to the United States.
Our farmers are some of the toughest, most resilient and hardest working people in Canada and our country has quite simply the best and safest food and the best food producers in the world. However, these farmers today, our agricultural community, are looking for our help. This is not an administrative problem. It is not a political issue. It is a human tragedy that has been affecting many Canadian communities and many Canadian families. In our own family, my wife and my in-laws have long been in this industry. They are being severely affected by it. Farmers across the country are losing their farms, their homes and their livelihoods. The border closings have cost the industry in rural communities more than $6 billion and close to 5,000 jobs that depend on this industry.
Last February our party proposed a billion dollar action plan with built in flexibility to respond quickly to these unforeseen circumstances. The plan included: topping up the 2002 Canadian farm income program from 60% to 70% payouts to full 100% coverage; a mature livestock rationalization program; replenishment of Canadian agricultural income support programs for BSE affected operations; the establishment of testing regimes for all non North American markets; and working toward integrated North American rules and processes.
The Liberals had an opportunity to implement these ideas. They chose instead to put off helping this vital industry until the crisis reached a tipping point. Only months ago the government assured producers, coincidentally with an election, the border would be open at the end of the summer. There was no plan, no realistic target, this was only wishful thinking on the part of a government and it was a cruel deception of our farmers.
The latest measures announced by the government on September 10 are long overdue, but they are also woefully inadequate and administratively bungled, as other speakers in my party will talk about in great detail. The Liberal plan, I should add, is half of what we proposed in February 2004 when the industry was not nearly in the dire straits it is in today.
BSE is not a problem that affects only our beef producers. It is not a problem that affects only western Canada. The whole Canadian economy is feeling the effects of the closure of the U.S. border to our beef exports.
Many fundamentals and pressing issues already do require the attention of the House, but as we head into winter, I really do urge the government to pay special attention to the problem of the fate of our farm communities.
Canadian consumers across the country have rallied and demonstrated confidence and support in our beef industry. This is the only country in the world where we have been touched by this problem, where consumers have gone out, supported our industry and actually raised the consumption of beef. The people of Canada have done that. It is time that the House did something and it is time that the government did its share as well.