Mr. Chair, I have two very brief, non-inflammatory questions. Back in October when he was running for the Liberal leadership, the Prime Minister met with the Canadian Beef Export Federation. According to the Red Deer Express , Mr. Thorlakson, the chair of the export federation, said:
I thought he showed a real concern for the issues. He made a commitment that he was strongly supportive of some type of program for cull cattle.
So my first question is, has he given the new minister of agriculture any direction on implementing a program for cull cattle?
My other question comes from the Moose Jaw meat plant. People who work at that plant were less than impressed upon learning that Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan were consuming American beef until the quarantine went into effect. They want to know why, at a time when 34 countries had closed the door to Canadian beef and it was difficult to move that beef, no extra effort was made to get beef for the Canadian military from this country as opposed to the United States.