In Question Period in the House of Commons in Ottawa recently Chris Warkentin, the Conservative Ag critic asked the Minister of Agriculture, Lawrence MacAulay if he would help Canadian pork producers stop a virus or keep it out that has killed eight million pigs in the United States over the last number of years. Warkentin was referring to the PED virus that the Canadian industry is working effortlessly to keep from coming into Canadian hog barns, again.

The Conservative Ag critic told Question Period, the Ag minister’s office says the minister would not intervene to help keep the virus out of Canada, but Warkentin wanted to give the Minister another chance to commit his support to Canadian farmers. “Someone famously said that budgets will balance by themselves; now it seems that the Ag minister believes similarly that issues will resolve themselves, Warkentin told the House.

“Hog producers are asking the minister to help them implement a truck washing protocol that will continue to keep PEDv from entering back into Canada. Unfortunately the minister’s office told these people that the minister would not intervene.” Warkentin then asks is it not the minister’s job to intervene?

“When will the minister stand in this house, start doing his job, intervene and help hog producers,” says the Ag critic. “I want to assure my honourable colleague that the safety of food in this country is a major priority,” says Ag minister MacAulay. “Agriculture and Agrifood and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, (CFIA), will inspect food and make sure it’s safe for consumers in this country, I can assure you Mr. Speaker.”

As one observer says, possibly a great answer by the federal minister of Ag, but it was the wrong answer to the question Warkentin asked of the minister. PED virus has nothing to do with food safety. It has everything to do with protecting baby pigs, and hog farmers livelihoods.

While the PED virus is dangerous to pigs, it has nothing to do with food safety when the hog producers want the feds to reinstate a provision to have those trucks washed at a credible wash bay in Canada as has been happening for some time until the provision ended May 2.

Corey Penner, a driver with Steve’s Livestock Transport, just back from his second trip into the U.S. with pigs the week of May 15, says that under the previous protocol which the pork industry still wishes was in effect, the empty truck would have had a seal placed on it at the border before entering Canada, then drive straight to the nearest designated truck wash bay in Blumenort.

As of May 2, when the protocol reverted back to the old system, they simply wash the truck in the U.S., where Manitoba Pork Council claims they used recycled water, meaning that trucks are washed with that water from wherever.

“The protocol in effect for Canadian trucks coming back into Canada today, a truck can haul pigs to a processing plant, back up to the unloading shoot, and the CFIA doesn’t require washing or disinfecting. But a truck that unloads at different farms, CFIA requires washing, but not specified at what facility or with clean or recycled water,” Penner said. “We think that is an absolute joke, putting Canadian hogs farms at risk.” He came from a farm, a clean disinfected unloading shoot, but had to wash his truck on the way home.

“At the border they ask me where do you deliver, if I say to a USDA inspected killing plant, they want me to have scraped out, but no need to disinfect and wash,” says the driver. “If I tell them, I’ve delivered to a farmer in Iowa, then I have to show a receipt that I washed and disinfected my trailer before they allow me back into Canada.” The message is – this doesn’t make any sense.

“This isn’t protecting our producers and it’s costing our producers money because we all know the buck always goes right back to the farmer coming out of his pocket,” Penner says. “It costs our producers money, but doesn’t do anything for them in fact it increases the risk.” He says for six months they’ve been scraping the trailers, sealing them up, so that they stay closed until the truck gets to the wash bay at Blumenort.

“To me that is a plan that makes a little bit of sense, especially when you see the quality of wash these trailers get at Steve’s at Blumenort, you can’t beat that.” •

— By Harry Siemens