The federal government should also funnel venture capital funding to encourage the development of more beef slaughtering facilities in Canada, the committee says.
The recommendations will help farmers and rural communities that depend on the beef sector to better withstand future outbreaks of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, said Senator Donald Oliver, chairman of the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry."We believe that there is going to be another case of BSE, " Oliver said in an interview Thursday. "We have got to take public policy steps now by legislation and rules and regulations to make sure the impact is never again as bad as it has been for this one BSE cow. It has cost us more than $2 billion."
The Senate report is based on submissions made to the committee over the past two months by the Canadian Meat Council, the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors, Agriculture Canada and others.The report says Canada, the United States and Mexico should use the lessons learned from the current BSE crisis to enhance the harmonization of beef handling standards. A permanent NAFTA agriculture secretariat made up of representatives from all three countries could regulate the trade flow of beef if another animal tests positive for BSE."The committee would say 'Look, this is just a standard case, there is no harm to eating the meat, let's continue with trade. This is not a crisis,' " Oliver said.
The United States and other countries around the world closed their borders to Canadian beef last May when a single case of BSE was discovered in an Alberta cow. Since then the federal and provincial governments have spent about $1.5 billion on aid to the beef sector.The Americans have allowed shipments of boxed beef from Canada since September, but the border remains closed to shipments of live animals.
The Senate committee says its report focuses on long-term solutions of dealing with BSE.Its members acknowledge reopening the U.S. border to the lucrative live cattle trade must be Ottawa's top priority.
Stumble It!
I say that the federal government should impose mandatory testing laws and ban meat or fish products from food destined for herbivores. Then they should sue the companies, that have been selling feed for herbivores which contained meat or fish products. These companies should be sued for criminal negligence or any other charge that might be feasible. In no case should a chapter 11 lawsuit claiming lost revenues by these companies against the federal government be allowed.
I dislike the way the article states that the Federal and Provincial governments have spent 1.5 billion on aid rather than state the fact that the tax payers have subsidized the industry and will likely continue to do so until they're all in the black again.