Madam Speaker, I asked a question on SARS on March 18 and followed with the more general question that we are following up on tonight. I thank the minister for replying to both.
The second question dealt with infectious disease control in general and specifically how the federal government works with local authorities that inevitably have to deal with an outbreak. I deliberately introduced my question by comparing our system for coping with disease among animals, for example, hoof and mouth disease or TB, with that for human diseases, for example, SARS and West Nile virus.
I did this for three reasons, the first being that I have been working for a long time on how to keep our food safe and how best to protect citizens, animals and plants from deliberately or accidentally introduced diseases or poisons. I am very interested in how the Canadian Food Inspection Agency works and how to make it more effective, and I am interested in making Health Canada's and Agriculture Canada's protective systems more effective.
Second, health care workers, farmers, people involved in emergency preparedness and a distinguished veterinarian in my riding have persistently raised these matters with me.
Third, I raised these topics because food safety and animal and human health are highly interrelated. The link between mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is one example of this. That between SARS and the use of acutely ill animals for food in China is another. The link between birds, horses and West Nile virus is yet another rather different example of the same thing.
The reality is that in this tiny modern world we need both powerful checks and controls at the national level and powerful, effective, local agencies with truly effective communication, with linkages between the two levels.
At the national level, this involves Health Canada, Agriculture Canada, the armed forces, including emergency preparedness, and others. At the local level, among other things we need effective public health bodies, emergency preparedness groups, well informed farm organizations and a well informed public.
At the national level, I urge that CFIA and relevant parts of Health Canada and Agriculture Canada be studied and reformed. Once this is done, the agencies concerned should be well funded and staffed in recognition of the urgency of infectious disease and food poisoning risks.
At the local level, we need to put resources in the hands of local authorities, such as, for example, a symptom surveillance system that could give early warning of a new outbreak. These authorities need adequate resources and full knowledge of the national support they will receive in the case of an emergency.
I urge that the CFIA and Health Canada parts of this be given special attention. I look forward to the comments of the parliamentary secretary, who is particularly well qualified to respond on such matters.
