Madam Chair, I want to commend the hon. member for Huron—Bruce for his interventions tonight. This is an important debate for farmers and families in Kings—Hants and, in fact, for all Canadians. It is great to see the non-partisan spirit of cooperation here tonight as we are addressing a very important issue.
President Bush's statement in Monterrey and his recognition that this is a Canada-U.S. issue and not specifically a Canadian issue, but that it is an integrated industry, and that because of the fact that it is an integrated industry, Canadian and U.S. administrations, the public service and the industry have to work together to find a way to address this issue and then to jointly work together to defend our integrated industry around the world, I thought was very positive. It is also positive to see the cooperation at the public service level and the fact that the U.S. agencies have upgraded their standards to match Canadian standards.
That being the case, particularly in an election year in the U.S., there is a great deal of fear that this will be politicized more and more in the coming months at the congressional level.
While we are seeing great progress at the administration level between the Prime Minister and the president on this issue, I would appreciate the hon. member's feedback on the importance of dialogue between Canadian and U.S. legislators and between parliamentarians and congressional representatives in the coming months, and the fact that it ought to be a multi-partisan effort between Canadian and U.S. legislators in the coming months. That is something that is a priority for myself in my role but it is also one that I would appreciate the hon. member's feedback on as someone who is very involved in this issue.