Mr. Chair, I listened very closely to my colleague from the Bloc and I could not help but wonder if he would not agree that this is a more complicated issue than simply a regional issue. If it were only a regional issue, we could say that all the grass fed beef in Nova Scotia should be excluded. There is a good argument for that but that is not how the market system works. We have a North American market.
The fact is we now have had a mad cow, regardless of where that cow came from, in the U.S. and we have had a mad cow in Canada. That means we have the problem on both sides of the border, and there is absolutely no reason for this border to be closed.
I see the Minister of Agriculture here and I would hope that is the system on which he is working.
In the meantime, there are a number of things that we should be able to do right here in Canada, and we can actually start right now. I see the Minister of Agriculture smiling but I think this is a fairly serious issue. We can start by taking the spinal columns out of the food chain. We can remove the brain out of the food chain. That could be done tomorrow. We do not have to wait for that.
It is a government issue and it will require government money, but it will also require determination. If we speak to farmers in the country, at first they were frustrated. Then they were simply suffering from despair. Today they are angry because they see their livelihoods simply washed out through the barn doors. They absolutely do not see anything, not a mention in the throne speech and not a mention from the government on some type of responsible action.