Leaders of Canada’s livestock and poultry industries are trying to convince the federal government that developing a strategy for infectious imported animal diseases should be moved higher on the government’s agenda.
Late June 6, a delegation of leaders from cattle, hog, sheep, poultry and dairy sectors were in Ottawa for an evening meeting with agriculture minister Andy Mitchell to prod him on the issue.
“We remain very vulnerable to an imported disease crisis but after some emergency preparedness work after foot-and-mouth, it kind of got knocked off the agenda by BSE,” said Canadian Cattlemen’s Association president Stan Eby.
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“We are looking for a planning process that will result in preparing a plan. We are looking for more interaction between industry and government.”
After a major outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom in 2001, officials scrambled to increase defences to keep it out of Canada.
Surveillance of travellers arriving at Canadian airports from Europe was stepped up, industry and parliamentary meetings were held to discuss creation of a national plan and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was put on the hot seat to lead planning.
Even though Canada successfully avoided foot-and-mouth and the CFIA created the outline of a national plan, there were complaints that not all segments of the industry knew how to react in the event of an emergency.
Momentum was building for creation of a national plan when the discovery of BSE in Alberta forced a switch in focus. Eby said the industry is united in urging the government to refocus on the dangers of imported diseases and the need for a plan.
“We are international traders in a global market and diseases like foot-and-mouth, avian influenza and others are out there. We need to talk about surveillance, zoning, the quarantine process, plans to keep our export markets.”
Eby said CFIA should take the lead but a workshop that involves the animal industry and government should be organized to create clear centres of responsibility.