38th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION
EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 067
CONTENTS
Tuesday, March 8, 2005

Mr. Ed Komarnicki (Souris—Moose Mountain, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the minister about what this government was doing when the USDA was making its decision and when the interim injunction court case was being held. The judge in that case said that the USDA “failed to provide the specific basis for the conclusion that its actions carried an acceptable risk to public health and failed to provide the data on which each of the agency's critical assumptions were based”.

Instead of making political speeches, the government members should have been building a case for what they say is the scientific case to say that this inter-border transfer will be safe. Were they making that case? Why were they not at the table when the interim injunction was being made?

The government applied late. It had no legal representation to make a case for Canada. Now this is in the courts and due process must be respected regardless. Political capital should be used to expedite that process to make it weeks and not months. The question is whether this government has that kind of political capital. It does not appear that it has because of what it has done.

Where was the Canadian government when the injunction was being granted? How much effort did the government put into substantiating Canada's case by evidence, facts and data?