On Oct. 6, rural Ontario Conservative MP Larry Miller rose in the House of Commons to present a petition from 26 constituents calling on Ottawa to settle a BSE class action suit.What the chair of the Commons agriculture committee and representative of Ontario’s largest cattle producing area didn’t know was that this moment was being hailed by the Toronto lawyer pursuing the class action as a breakthrough.”Larry Miller, member for Owen Sound, Ont. and chair of the PC rural caucus (sic), will be reading BSE class action petition in the House tomorrow,” lawyer Cameron Pallett e-mailed his contacts Oct. 5. “Whether that means it will be heard and debated remains to be seen.”In fact, petitions are routinely presented and never “debated” and rarely read, although the government must respond eventually.Miller said in an interview Oct. 7 presenting the petition was his duty as an MP and did not indicate support for the contents.”I present petitions all the time, whether I agree with them or not because that is my constituents’ direct communication to Parliament,” he said. “I tabled it because it was from people in my riding. I cannot comment on the lawsuit itself, one way or the other.”He said he was surprised at media interest in this petition until he was told that the lawyer was promoting this as an advance for the class action attempt to have the lawsuit replaced by appointment of former Supreme Court judge Frank Iacobucci to mediate a settlement.”I’m disappointed some lawyer in Toronto has been trying to make hay of this when I was just doing my duty as an MP,” he said. “I guess it reinforces my view of lawyers but I won’t say any more on that.”In the Commons, Miller said: “The petition calls on the government of Canada to appoint a mediator to facilitate the settlement between the Government of Canada and the cattle farmers in Canada in relation to the BSE crisis of 2003.”Under parliamentary rules, he is not allowed to say whether he supports the petition or not.Earlier, New Democrat Alex Atamanenko tabled a separate petition from Manitoba cattle producers. He noted that the class action suit is based on the premise that Agriculture Canada was negligent by allowing import of British cattle that brought BSE to Canada.Miller said that as a cattle producer, he understands the issue. “I got hit hard myself.”But presenting the petition was not an indication of support, whatever the lawyer implied.”It is before the court and as a member of the government, I can have no comment on a suit against the government,” he said.The class action suit was launched in 2005 but has yet to go to court. It is asking for billions of dollars in compensation for all producers who lost money after BSE was discovered in an Alberta cow in May 2003.
MP duty-bound to present BSE petition
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