Mr. Speaker, the hon. member referred to the elk industry. As she knows, I have met with representatives of that industry. We have held events jointly for this group when they came to Ottawa.
She is quite correct in saying that it is a little hard to understand some of the judgment of the United States government in closing the border to an animal where, as far as I know, there has never been a recorded case of that disease in history. It actually does not make sense at all. On the other hand, keeping the border closed for a time that is totally unnecessary is not reasonable for beef either. Therefore, both of these propositions are unreasonable.
The member will know as well that for some of our oriental market for elk, there is also the matter of another disease. That disease is alleged to have been the reason particularly for some difficulties that we have for shipping certain products, particularly to Korea at the present time.
I for one happen to believe that those particular concerns were largely unfounded as well. They affect the constituency that I represent. I believe the allegation had to do with chronic wasting disease. The hon. member knows about that. That allegation was unfounded as well.
I do share some of the concerns that the hon. member has raised with the fact that not only was the border closed initially for health reasons, but it even went beyond what was supposed to have been the original target. Then that particular target, if it was reasonable at all to begin with, for health reasons stayed way too long and is still there for those sectors that are not yet reopened.