Chicken Farmers of Ontario Annual General Meeting

Speech for
The Honourable Tony Clement Minister of Health and the Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario

at

the Chicken Farmers of Ontario Annual General Meeting

Doubletree International Plaza, Toronto
March 20, 2006

Check against delivery

Introduction, personal context, government priorities

Thank you for your generous welcome. It's a pleasure to be here.

As you may appreciate, not every politician would see being handed the Health portfolio at this particular time in our history as a career-building opportunity! And I can't even plead ignorance about the daunting nature of the task, having weathered similar challenges as Ontario's Minister of Health during the SARS crisis.

But my experience then has taught me the importance of planning to meet the challenge of a pandemic. Indeed, in the initial days of SARS, we thought we were dealing with avian influenza. Thankfully, we were given a reprieve to get our plan into shape!

So my term in Ontario reinforced my desire to make a difference. And clearly, when it comes to the health and well-being of Canadians, my new capacity affords me that chance on a number of important fronts.

As Minister of Health, I am part of a government that has come to office with a focus on five key priorities for Canadians. One, of course, is a major focus of my responsibilities. And that is to deliver on our government's commitment to ensure that Canadians have the health care they need, when they need it.

My main emphasis in achieving that commitment is to establish a patient wait times' guarantee with the provinces. I have already spoken to my provincial and territorial counterparts and we are making progress in meeting that goal.

At the same time, my colleagues in Cabinet and our entire government are already at work on getting results on our other four priorities.

• We have made it clear that we will bring in a new Federal Accountability Act that will be a cornerstone of our efforts to clean up government.
• We fully intend to lower taxes for working Canadians. And that starts with cutting the GST.
• We will take the protection of Canadian families and communities seriously – by strengthening the justice system.
• And we will follow through on our commitment to support parents' child care choices. This will mean putting money in the hands of parents and the creation of more daycare spaces.

Those five priorities are the heart of our ambitious agenda. They provide a focus for my work – work that goes even beyond those priorities to include other issues affecting the health of Canadians.

But avian influenza and pandemic preparedness are also areas demanding and receiving acute attention.

Avian flu can be devastating to your flocks and farms. It could also be devastating to humans should the virus mutate in a way that is easily transmitted from person to person. And we all know how virulent pandemic influenza can be: in 1918 and '19, the Spanish Flu killed an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 people in Canada. Worldwide, the Spanish flu killed an estimated 20 to 40 million people.

As chicken farmers, you represent the front lines of the war on avian flu and I'm here today to salute the tremendous work you're doing in that regard. You are leading the way in terms of implementing biosecurity measures at the farm level and reporting signs of disease early on to authorities.

I'm also here to tell you what else the government is doing to support you, and to protect the health of Canadians.

Government initiatives

As you point out in your annual report, not too long ago, avian flu was a problem that existed a long way away from here. But now reports of its rapid spread -- from Asia to Africa, and across Europe – make the six o'clock news on a regular basis. In the past 10 weeks alone, avian flu in poultry and wild birds has been identified in 36 countries.

While we recognise the threat coming from migratory birds, we are also aware of the risk from illegally imported birds and bird products that might carry the virus.

Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency are working collaboratively with international partners such as the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN to monitor these trends and developments on a daily basis.

And we're responding to emerging threats with appropriate measures.

Accordingly, imports of poultry, products and birds – including pet birds – are banned from countries in which highly pathogenic H5N1 has been confirmed in the commercial sector. To that end, the CFIA is working closely with the Canada Border Services Agency to ensure such animals and products don't enter the country.

As you're no doubt aware, the 2004 outbreak of H7 in British Columbia affected 42 commercial and 11 backyard premises. In addition to those flocks, birds were pre-emptively destroyed in the surrounding three kilometres.

This devastating incident prompted the CFIA to review the response and determine best practices and lessons learned. This in turn led the Agency to develop a new pre-emptive cull protocol in consultation with provincial governments and industry, and to train a network of veterinary labs across the country to deliver rapid, accurate tests.

Human health initiatives

These measures are all critical. But how are we managing the threats to human health?

Let me assure you that in the wake of SARS, we have considerably strengthened Canada's capacity to respond to such threats. Indeed, Canada is recognized as a world leader in pandemic planning. Our flu experts have been working together for more than a decade on a national pandemic influenza plan.

Few remember that back in 1997, Hong Kong experienced an outbreak of H5N1 avian flu. What made it exceptional and worrisome was that for the first time, humans were being infected by a bird virus. Eighteen of them became ill and a third of those died.

Meanwhile, here in Canada, one of our leading flu experts, Dr. Arlene King, was busy going about her business in her Vancouver office. It wasn't until a television reporter parked himself outside her door and insisted on talking to her that she fully realized how little she and her colleagues in Canada knew about bird flu and how it could affect humans.

Indeed, since 2003, there have been 180 confirmed cases in humans, and over half of those people have died. The pandemic is closer than ever.

But here's the difference: Dr. King and her pandemic planning team from the Public Health Agency of Canada – working with their provincial and territorial colleagues – have now developed one of the word's leading pandemic influenza plans.

Released in 2004, the WHO regards it as a model for other countries to follow. It is being updated as we speak, and will be re-released later this spring.

Canada is also the first country in the world to have a contract with a domestic vaccine manufacturer to produce a pandemic vaccine once the new strain has been identified.

Does this mean we're done with our planning and we just wait and see? Absolutely not. In many ways the planning has just started, and I am committed to supporting the Public Health Agency and my cabinet colleagues who have a responsibility to help protect the health and safety of Canadians.

To better manage disease surveillance and outbreak management, we have established the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network. Our emergency operation centres in Ottawa and Winnipeg are linked to the WHO and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as to provincial and territorial emergency centres across the country.

In terms of treatment, we continue to pursue a variety of options, because it just isn't possible to know at this time what will be effective if the virus is being transmitted from human to human.

On the antiviral front, the federal and provincial governments have stockpiled approximately 37 million doses of Tamiflu, or enough to treat approximately 3.7 million people. Discussion continues regarding how we can enhance and diversify this supply.

In addition, the Government of Canada has established a vaccine development and testing capacity and service at the National Microbiology Lab. We are making investments in the development and testing of a prototype pandemic vaccine.

The over-riding challenge, of course, is that it will likely take at least six months from the time we're able to identify the mutated strain that is responsible for human-to-human infection to the development of an effective vaccine. We are, however, looking at ways to reduce this time lag.

International context

The international nature of this threat adds a critical element to how we address it. One of the lessons of SARS was that it's not enough for us to – if you'll pardon the pun – simply have our own ducks in a row; we have a vested interest in helping other countries to effectively manager theirs, too.

So we've been helping Vietnam improve its testing capability for avian flu. We're involved in another initiative designed to strengthen diagnostic and health infrastructure capacity in Asia.

And our Global Public Health Intelligence Network is monitoring reports on the Internet in five languages, serving as the world's early warning system for infectious disease outbreaks.

Last fall, Canada also hosted a forum on Global Pandemic Readiness involving health ministers and delegates from 30 countries and nine international organizations. This was the first time that international ministers of health gathered to discuss the link between avian flu and a possible influenza pandemic.

And one of our very own – Ian Shugart, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister of Health – is chairing the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Health Task Force. The Task Force recognizes that an influenza pandemic will impact health and economic activities, and is developing a work plan to help ensure the continuity of business in the event of a crisis.

We should all be encouraged by all of these measures. They won't stop us from being affected by avian flu, but they will certainly serve us well in managing its impact.

Appreciation of chicken farmers' efforts

There's a useful expression in the martial art form of aikido. They say, "Take the hit as a gift" – or turn the negative energy coming from an attack around and in the process, transform it into something positive that you can use to ward off the attack.

The initiatives you developed coming out of the cancellation of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair demonstrate the value of this advice. I applaud your decision to collaborate with other industry and government players in developing a public education program to address misconceptions amongst both consumers and the media.

The very existence of the CFO speaks to your recognition of and commitment to collaboration. The avian flu threat clearly demands a cooperative approach from all of us. Canadians should be encouraged by the fact that you've been solving industry problems together for more than four decades.

I've been impressed by the rigorous biosecurity measures that you've adopted to limit your birds' contact with other animals and humans. I'm sure that implementing and enforcing the access restrictions – keeping pets out of the barn, insisting that all visitors wear protective clothing and controlling the transport of equipment between barns -- hasn't always been easy.

But you've made good use of the lessons learned during the AI outbreak in BC in 2004. And you know the importance of collaborating with the CFIA and the AAFC, who are compiling the latest biosecurity measures and best practices.

Conclusion

As you know, avian flu remains an evolving issue that requires both your industry and related government agencies to be constantly vigilant. To follow what's happening on the international front; to pay attention to new developments and permutations; to do everything in our power to minimize our vulnerability and contain the spread of the virus as quickly as possible. To, as you so succinctly say, "keep AI out" or "keep AI in".

And, of course, the supply management system that you operate under helps ensure that this motto continues to be effective. Your continuing efforts not only protect the safety of a critical part of our food supply, but make it harder in every way for avian flu to gain a foothold in Ontario.

My promise to you is that I will use my capacity to continue to support your efforts – in protecting both Canadians' health, and your own livelihoods. Because they're intricately connected.

I pledge to use every opportunity I have to raise awareness about what you're doing to ensure the safety of our chicken supply. To explain to them that no cases have been linked to the consumption of properly cooked poultry meat or eggs, even in households where disease was known to be present in flocks. To remind them that your products are as safe to consume now as ever.

Unfortunately, we likely can't prevent avian flu from crossing Canada's borders. But we can certainly enhance our ability to detect it and contain its spread.

Thank you for doing your part.

View the photos