Mr. Speaker, that certainly is not the case. We have been actively engaged with the Americans since May 2003 to open the border. In fact, we saw after 100 days the opening of the border to certain muscle cuts that could go to the United States. That was very helpful to the industry. Through that period of time we have had four separate programs to assist our producers in dealing with the BSE issue and we continue to work with the Americans. Last week's announcement in terms of the rule change is evidence of that.
In the House of Commons on November 29th, 2004. See this statement in context.