Agriculture committee begins hearings on biosecurity

Government officials say Canada is prepared for potential animal disease outbreaks, even though there were delays in dealing with some cases of avian influenza.

Speaking to MPs during the standing agriculture committee’s first meeting on animal biosecurity, chief veterinary officer Dr. Mary Jane Ireland said stringent safeguards are in place, including science-based import controls at the international border, to keep diseases out of the country.

Avian flu, however, likely arrived with migratory birds before domestic commercial flocks were affected.

Conservative agriculture critic John Barlow said he heard from farmers saying they were frustrated because the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was slow to respond. He said Canada had avian flu outbreaks in 2004 and 2014.

“You’re supposed to be on farms within 48 hours (and) we were hearing within 10 days in some cases,” he said. “Do you have the resources necessary to handle these outbreaks? Was there something that was unexpected with the most recent flu outbreak?”