Senator Harder, honourable senators will no doubt remember and you will no doubt remember the impact Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy had on our beef industry when it was detected back in 2003. A lot of work has been done in the years since to reopen markets closed to our beef. In fact, Japan only lifted its last trade restriction on Canadian beef in May of this year.

Senator Harder, a few months ago your government missed the deadline to apply to the World Health Organization for Animal Health Offices to have Canada’s BSE’s status upgraded in 2020 from “controlled” to “negligible.”

Senator Harder, will you make inquiries and let us know why your government missed this chance to improve our status on BSE that would have helped our livestock sector?