No, that is not what he said. I listened closely to his comments, and that is not what was said.
There is something else that the hon. member surely knows. It was not Canada that closed the Canada-U.S. border but the United States of America. If the United States of America decides that the herd can leave Glengarry—Prescott—Russell and cross to the United States, I certainly agree. Go see an American customs officer and tell him that you have Canadian cattle that you want to enter the United States but it does not count because it does not come from the same region. It is not the Government of Canada that you will have to convince but rather the American authorities. They are the people who closed the border, not us. To claim somehow that it is the Government of Canada that is preventing the export of the Quebec herd to the United States is verging on the ridiculous.
We are moving mountains in our efforts to open all the borders all across the country, including Quebec, eastern Ontario, my region, and everywhere. That is the reality. Beginning March 7, for example, live slaughter animals less than 30 months old will be able to cross the border.
How was that done? Through intense lobbying efforts by all the parties in the House. The representatives of the parliamentary associations in the American Congress, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, all the ministers, our experts and our public servants have been working all this time. It did not happen overnight. It was not the Government of Canada that closed the border but rather of the United States. One should remember that.
In the beginning, when there was one case of mad cow, the Government of the United States closed the border. But after the Government of Canada, working together with the international community, demonstrated that there had not been any contagion, the American border should have re-opened.
I heard an interesting statement from a member of the U.S. Congress last week or the previous week. This is what he told his fellow Americans and especially the agricultural producers in his own region, his own state. He said that Americans would do well to be careful about telling Canadians that their beef is no good because there was one case of mad cow. He wondered what Americans would tell their own fellow citizens the day when they find a case at home. He added that that day would surely come, because if it had happened in Canada, it could happen to them as well.
Finally, I have heard someone in the United States who is able to reason in this regard. Canadian consumers have been reasoning from the outset. After this mad cow question, Canadian consumers rallied behind the farmers. Beef consumption did not even go down, as might have been expected. It even went up at first. In other words, Canadians showed solidarity. The hon. member does not talk about that. But that is what happened all across the country. That is not where the problem is; it is the American border. Furthermore, we must now increase our cull cattle slaughtering capacity, especially in eastern Canada. That is the reality.