Anthony Rota

[Skiing, March 22nd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to North Bay native, Steve Omischl, who just last week captured the gold medal for the world freestyle ski championship in Ruka, Finland.

Steve performed two jumps in the event, including a quad-twisting triple somersault, which Steve claimed was the best he had ever done. This marks Canada's first men's aerials gold since 1997 and the sixth since the inaugural worlds in 1986.

Omischl's win comes as no great surprise. The 26 year old has been a dominant force on the world cup circuit for the last several seasons. He won the overall title in 2004 and finished second this year. With this victory, Steve Omischl is now considered the man to beat leading up to next year's winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

On behalf of the people of Nipissing--Timiskaming and all hon. members, I would like to congratulate Steve Omischl on a job well done. His community and, indeed, his entire country are proud of him. He should keep reaching for the stars.

[Arts and Culture, February 21st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Judith Fitzgerald, an acclaimed writer and poet who currently resides in northern Ontario's Almaguin Highlands.

Judith Fitzgerald is a writer of complex poems, a literary journalist and a biographer of Marshall McLuhan and Leonard Cohen. She writes about baseball and has edited a great number of books. She is the author of perceptive and controversial poetry reviews in The Globe and Mail and elsewhere. Her poem mouth to mouth recitation was recently featured as poem of the week on the website of the poet laureate of Parliament.

Ms. Fitzgerald is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Fiona Mee Literary Journalism Award and the Writers' Choice Award for Given Names: New and Selected Poems .

As World Poetry Day quickly approaches, I would like to congratulate Ms. Fitzgerald on all of her recent accomplishments and, on behalf of parliamentarians, I would like to thank her for her outstanding contributions to Canadian literature.

[Veterans Affairs, February 14th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, today is Valentine's Day and across this country, Canadians are once again remembering our nation's veterans. As part of the Valentines for Vets program, Veterans Affairs Canada has received more than 4,000 valentine greetings which have been forwarded to veterans in long term care facilities.

This year's selection of valentines include poems and handmade cards submitted by classes in schools, organizations and individuals from all over Canada. Valentines received this year contain messages of deep appreciation such as, “Brave and courageous you were and continue to be after your service. You are the greatest part of this country and your efforts will never be forgotten”. Another wrote, “You fought in defence of a nation and I would like to thank you for that”.

These valentines make the day memorable for many of our veterans. The year 2005 is the Year of the Veteran. If people know a veteran, I encourage them to take the time today to thank them for their service to our country. Let them know that their valiant sacrifices will never be forgotten.

[National Defence, February 9th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, could the government please update the House on the status of the search and rescue operation now underway in the Baltic Sea for Canadian Forces Leading Seaman Robert Leblanc?

[Raymond Klibansky Prize, January 31st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, Dr. Steven High, a history professor at Nipissing University in my riding, was recently awarded the Raymond Klibansky Prize. This award is presented annually by the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Professor High's book Industrial Sunset: The Making of North America's Rust Belt, 1969 to 1984 was deemed to be the best English language book in the humanities. This is the third prize that High has won for his book. Industrial Sunset explores national differences and how workers, unions, communities respond to plant closings in the mid-western region of the United States and in southern Ontario. Professor High examines the social, economic and political issues surrounding de-industrialization and compares labour and community responses using several sources.

On behalf of the people of Nipissing and all hon. members I would like to congratulate Steven High on his recent accomplishment and wish him continued success.

[Global Positioning System, December 8th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, a new instructional manual and DVD developed in my riding will help solve the learning dilemma for many global positioning system users.

A book entitled, What Do Those Numbers Mean Anyway? , written by Bill Steer, has recently been published by the Canadian Ecology Centre Foundation. The visual and written content explains the relationship between the map, the compass and the GPS unit.

According to Ken Waller, a professor at Nipissing University in North Bay, there is a real need to have consumers and those working in rural situations properly trained to understand these basics.

This book will serve to educate paramedics, police and fire personnel, educational and outdoor leaders, as well as those working for utility companies, so the GPS technology can be used efficiency and enhance overall safety.

On behalf of the people of Nipissing--Timiskaming and all hon. members, I wish to congratulate Bill Steer on his excellent work, and would encourage anyone who spends time in the outdoors to buy a copy of

What Do Those Numbers Mean Anyway?

[Veterans Affairs, December 7th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the government's veterans independence program has been providing home care, housekeeping and groundskeeping services for veterans for two decades.

Last year the program was extended to provide these services to surviving primary caregivers for life. Unfortunately many deserving widows were left out because of the time of death of their veteran.

What is the government doing to ensure that widows of veterans who died in long term care facilities or who died prior to 1990 are treated fairly and are given the groundskeeping services they need to stay in their homes?

[Agriculture, October 12th, 2004]

Mr. Chair, from what I can understand the member from across the way is asking me to comment on a specific case that I have no knowledge of. He keeps asking for an application. There is no application. The loan is being worked on with a lending institution. I do not think the government is going to be in the business of lending the money or guaranteeing the loan.

[Agriculture, October 12th, 2004]

Mr. Chair, once again, as mentioned earlier, there are no loan applications. The government is working with lending institutions to help these organizations get off the ground. We are very willing to work with these institutions to get things going. This is a cooperative model.

What has to happen is that people have to work together and get this thing off the ground. It is not a matter of just putting a paper forward and thinking once the form is done they can go ahead. What has to happen is that we have to work together with the lending institutions so these organizations have their business plan and they get their money in place. Then they get them off the ground so they are a viable business.

[Agriculture, October 12th, 2004]

Mr. Chair, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak in the House on such an important issue. Without a doubt, BSE has affected every Canadian in one way or another.

Certainly once Canadians found out about a cow testing positive for BSE the public sought assurances that their food supply was still safe. It was, and the government has taken steps to make sure it stays that way. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the agency responsible for food safety in Canada, has been implementing BSE safeguards since 1989, well before the disease emerged in this part of the world. These proactive measures detected BSE and kept it out of our food supply.

Members may recall that after the infected animal was found the agency took immediate steps to quarantine locations and conduct detailed feed trace-backs and trace-forward investigations. No additional animals were found to be infected. This was very encouraging news. It told us that the investment we made in BSE safeguards over the years had worked as designed to protect Canadian food safety and animal health.

Last December, the CFIA worked very closely with its American counterpart to identify the origin of the cow in Washington State that was found to be infected. Again, the agency was quick and was able to trace the cow back to a farm in Alberta.

This discovery of the second case did not mean that the disease was spreading. It served to confirm our suspicions that there was probably a previously undetected low presence of BSE in North America.

After detecting this first case, the government's first priority was to protect public health. Within weeks, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Health Canada had developed a nationwide program to require that specified risk material, SRM, be removed from all animals slaughtered in Canada. SRMs are tissues that in infected cattle have the potential to harbour BSE agent. This action keeps BSE from entering our food supply and is internationally recognized as the most effective measure that can be taken to protect public health from BSE.

Once food safety was protected, the government focused its attention on animal health safeguards. We increased our surveillance activities, because if there are indeed animals in Canada with BSE, we want to find them. We expanded our capacity for doing more BSE tests. We are also enhancing measures for the national database that identifies cattle through ear tags.

In terms of eradicating BSE, the most important step Canada can take is to enhance animal feed controls. Feed controls are internationally recognized as critical measures to eliminate BSE from the animal population. That is why on July 9, 2004, the government announced that it intends to require the removal of bovine SRM from the animal feed chain.

Doing so will add an additional level of security to Canada's current feed ban, which has prohibited feeding cattle with ruminant materials such as SRM since 1997. All the evidence indicates that existing feed controls continue to limit BSE spread, but we recognize that measures are necessary to prevent human error, which could result in inadvertent exposure of cattle to prohibited materials. Doing so will diminish the effect of potential cross-contamination of ruminant animal feeds that could occur as feed is produced and distributed, as well as any inappropriate on-farm use.

Based on risk analyses, taking this action will more quickly eliminate the incidence of BSE in North America by preventing future disease development. Enhancing our feed ban aligns with the recommendation of an international panel of experts that reviewed our BSE situation last July. The agency, together with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Health Canada, has consulted with the feed industry, provincial and territorial representatives and counterparts from the Food and Drug Administration.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is moving ahead as quickly as possible with these changes, but this is not a minor adjustment that can be implemented overnight. The regulatory proposal must be practical and verifiable. Removal of SRMs from feed will impact numerous stakeholders and jurisdictions. A certain amount of time is needed to properly develop this complex measure.

When BSE emerged in Canada, it brought potential new threats to human and animal health. Today the food supply remains safe and measures are in place to keep Canadian cattle healthy. Nonetheless, we recognize that even the best systems can be strengthened and, based on our commitment to continuous improvement and enhancement, these are on the way. Canadians can be confident that the elimination of BSE remains key to government priorities.