Question to the Official Opposition ~ September 23rd, 2003

Mr. Paul Steckle (Huron-Bruce, Lib.): Madame, Speaker, to my hon. colleague across the way, I understand and I quite appreciate his involvement in the cattle industry. As a member of the Standing Committee, I know of his hard work that he has done on behalf of his farmer friends.

My question to him is this. Of course he understands the western situation much better than those of us from Ontario, but would he agree that perhaps the fact that Americans have been buying a good number of cattle in the west, leaving them there to be fed until such time as they can be moved across the border as fattened cattle, means that we will see a great deal of pressure coming to bear on the powers that be in the United States, the packing houses, on their governments and legislators to open borders, and that perhaps is where the resolve will come from eventually?