Agriculture committee  The appeal process hasn't changed. The question is, can you better answer to the courts what action you've taken? I think we've greatly improved on that side. Appeals like that have happened with various products coming from various countries. In each case we found that whenever we went ahead too quickly with something that maybe wasn't quite ready, the appeal was successful.

Agriculture committee  I think we are learning, and we're learning very quickly. A good example is on potatoes, what we just had with the potatoes, this nematode, something that hit our producers in Idaho last spring and then in Quebec in August. Within six weeks, or something like that, after this happened we had a protocol that lays down that if something happens in the future, here's what each of us is going to do.

Agriculture committee  First of all, just to be clear, the fees would apply to airline passengers and to all commercial conveyances crossing by land. They would not apply to people going across in a personal vehicle or whatever. We are incurring real costs. About three years ago we created the Department of Homeland Security.

Agriculture committee  Fruits and vegetables have never been inspected, but yes, cattle got inspected. Fruits and vegetables from Canada were exempt from all inspections. Now part of the new thing is that some of these products would be inspected. There are alternatives that we are willing to look at.

Agriculture committee  The rule-making that was done is an interim rule. It came into effect ninety days after that was published, but a government agency can delay or suspend it. Yes, from a rule-making aspect, that is a possibility. I don't know if it will happen, but it can legally be done.

Agriculture committee  I wouldn't dare to comment on that. I can say that we fully expect this rule to be challenged in the court system. But we learned a lot the first time around, in Billings and Seattle, and we are taking those lessons to heart. This time around we have a solid case and I think it will hold up to any challenge, frankly.

Agriculture committee  I don't think this is an election issue. It's not a Democrat or Republican issue. Every time we've given timeframes we've been wrong on this issue. But the idea the secretary has been laying out is that we would try to get this out by the end of the year. That is his goal. Certainly, he has indicated that this is on track as a proposed rule.

Agriculture committee  The issue you raise doesn't actually involve customs tariffs. It involves what we call user fees, which are for recovering the costs the USDA or Department of Homeland Security incur in order to inspect products coming across. This issue actually has a rather long history to it.

Agriculture committee  The actions they took in that case are all in accordance with the international rules. They have the right to make these appeals and to file these cases. We can't just stop doing that. It has to go through its process. I would hope that when we set our international trade rules....

Agriculture committee  Bluetongue. The case of bluetongue is something that goes back to restrictions I believe were started maybe thirty years ago on our bringing U.S. cattle into Canada--basically western Canada. There were concerns they would bring bluetongue, and it became focused around feeder cattle.

Agriculture committee  Regarding this whole saga that we've been through over the last three years or so, there have been frustrations on our part as well. From the start, I remember Secretary Veneman saying Canadian beef is safe, but we have this process--and we have tried to do what we can too. Now you mentioned the political angle.

Agriculture committee  It's not really a presentation. I would like, first of all, to thank you for the invitation to come here to share views on the state of agricultural trade relations between our two countries. As you mentioned, I'm the minister-counsellor for the U.S. embassy here in Ottawa. In my role here, I'm the principal USDA representative in Canada.

Agriculture committee  Frankly, I'm a diplomat, and I don't let that interfere with me either. On the topic today of agricultural trade relations between our two countries, frankly, we think we have a very good relationship. It is our number one relationship, in many ways. We are each other's best markets for agricultural products.