Charlie Penson

[Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, February 4th, 2004]

Madam Chair, this is a great opportunity for me tonight to talk about the serious problem that we have in the entire livestock industry across Canada.

We left this place in June knowing that we had a problem. One case of mad cow was found and in fact, Madam Chair, I hate to tell you this, but it was found in my riding in Peace River.

It triggered a series of events that nobody a year ago could have possibly imagined. The seriousness of this problem has affected entire sectors of agriculture not only related to beef but as my colleague from Yellowhead just said, others are caught up in this whole thing, and there are a lot of innocent players whose very livelihood is at stake.

This is a North American problem. Up until this event happened, there were over seven million beef animals a year crossing the Canada-U.S. border. They were coming to feedlots in Canada from the United States. They were coming to grass in my riding in northern Alberta from Montana. Cattle from Alberta and other parts were going to feedlots in Montana and there was a great flow back and forth. That is how it should be. That is the integrated nature of the North American economy that really needs to be exploited further.

The fact that we have 40% of our cattle herd going into exports into the United States primarily is no accident. We have grown that market. We have a very good product to sell and I maintain that the risk factor here is still very low. In spite of that, we have a confidence problem that has to be overcome and that is why we have to address this problem in a North American manner.

The Minister of International Trade is sitting here. He knows that the growth of our market into Mexico has gone up 700% in the last few years. We have a quality product. We cannot lose those kinds of markets.

Up until now we had $4 billion of exports of beef, of which 90% was going into the United States. That has been essentially cut off. That is gone. Only 10% is moving through, the boneless box beef that is 30 months and younger and we need to have that expanded. We need to have North American standards. I suggest that the United States move to ban blood products and supplements is something that we must do here as well. It makes sense that whatever we do, we must do together. And we must get that border reopened.

The problem is, if it does not happen this year, what is our response? What is our response going to be because we are having a massive devastation in the agriculture sector and it does not just stop at the farm gate. Truckers are losing their trucks because they no longer have any cattle to haul.

I drove by a farm dealer the other day who had one four wheel tractor for grain and 10 for feedlots. That is the nature of what has happened in my riding. The growth of the livestock sector encouraged by government to diversify has been a great thing and something we should all embrace. But the fact that it is drawn and that it is in trouble now means that we have a problem that is going to be compounded because it does not stop at the farm gate as we all know.

In addition to that, with livestock being slowed down on the farms means that the problem is getting bigger because at some point they are going to have to be marketed into a market that is basically non-existent.

It is up to the government. Canadians expect the Government of Canada to respond to a national emergency in a manner that is befitting of Canadians and that means that it has to backstop these producers during this time. It can start by doing something about the traditional culls that happen, 600,000 animals per year would be a good start. If we were to get the U.S. border open soon, that would be wonderful. I suggest we cannot hold our breath because this is an election year in the United States and we all know what happens with politics there. We simply cannot wait for that to happen. These people need some help now.

The ongoing problem of when the border will reopen is something we have to continue to work at. The longer term solution is more harmonization with the U.S. and Mexico in NAFTA to address some of these serious issues.

[Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, February 4th, 2004]

Madam Chair, my colleague talked about how so many other sectors are affected by this, such as elk producers and sheep producers and so on. He is absolutely right. However, it is not only there. In the beef industry alone, organic beef producers are shipping only to the Canadian market and they are caught up in this as well.

One producer called me recently talking about the 30 month and under deadline and the criteria used with the identification of age through the examination of teeth. Her herd has been caught up in this. Some 17 of her animals have had to go through the special processing which is very expensive even though they have had ear tags since the day they were born and she can prove that to an independent audit. They are under 30 months. They are being sold into the Canadian market, not for export, and are still caught up in this.

Has my colleague faced similar situations in his riding and what would he recommend we do about it?

[Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, February 4th, 2004]

Mr. Chair, considering the remarks that you just made, I wonder if we could ask the minister to reconsider the request to extend this question period so that we could have a little bit of time. Do you know that some of the members here have only had a chance to speak for five minutes? I think this is a subject that deserves a lot more debate than that. We have people going broke left, right and centre in Canada over this issue.

I would ask that we put the question again to the Liberals, the other side that denied this, and ask if we could extend the question period for the minister to 30 minutes.

[Gasoline Taxes, November 3rd, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, it called for discussions that would hopefully lead to negotiations.

When he was the finance minister, the new Liberal leader had eight years to make this a priority and failed to do so. Given his track record, Canadians cannot count on him to follow through.

When will the present Minister of Finance correct this foot dragging and start these discussions with the provinces?

[Gasoline Taxes, November 3rd, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, last month members of this House passed a Canadian Alliance motion onthe federal gas tax. It called on the government to initiate immediate discussions with the provinces and to provide the municipalities with a portion to the gas tax.

Could the Minister of Finance tell us today when the federal government will start these negotiations with the provinces?

[Elk Industry, October 30th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the minister talks about what he is doing, but it has been a pretty slow process. It has been three years and my understanding is that it is the first discussion he has had on the issue.

The Canadian cervid industry has specifically requested that the minister launch a trade challenge at the World Trade Organization on its behalf. I want the minister to stand up today and tell us, when will he respond by launching that WTO challenge?

[Elk Industry, October 30th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the Republic of Korea closed the border to Canadian elk velvet in December 2000. It was due to concerns about chronic wasting disease, even though those concerns were not based on scientific fact.

Losing access to the largest market Canadians had has hurt Canadian elk farmers and their families. Canadians want to know when the Korean border will be open to Canadian cervid products again.

[Petitions, October 30th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of Peace River constituents, I would like to submit a petition with over 200 signatures calling upon Parliament to pass legislation that would recognize the institution of marriage in federal law as being a lifelong union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.

Most people living in my riding believe that marriage is the best foundation for families and the raising of children. They are also aware that this institution is being threatened. They wish to ensure that protection is provided to marriage.

[Criminal Code, October 29th, 2003]

Madam Speaker, I listened with interest to my colleague from Provencher. What I got from his comments, and I would like him to confirm that is where we are headed here, is that it is important to strike a balance between people's civil liberties, their privacy, and the security interests of Canadians.

We live in a very different world than we did a couple of years ago because of September 11. There is a lot of new technology that is being harnessed for information purposes which we embrace. It gives us a lot of freedom and an easier chance to communicate, but it also gives the opportunity for it to be misused.

The important part would be if there are amendments needed in the future to keep that balance in place, if we find that we have gone too far one way or the other, that we reserve the opportunity to go back and restructure it as necessary. Does my colleague feel that Bill C-32 gives us that opportunity as we need it in the future?

[Softwood Lumber, October 23rd, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the reason he has not had any questions for months is we have been waiting for him to do something in the meantime.

The trade minister has been boasting that Canada has won the dispute before a NAFTA panel and only needs to wait until December for confirmation of this. The final report is only eight weeks away.

Why then would the trade minister consider a deal that would limit Canadian softwood lumber access to the United States during this time?