Question Period Note: AFRICAN SWINE FEVER

Q1 – What measures has the Government of Canada already put in place to address the threat that the global spread of African swine fever poses to Canada’s swine industry? Q2 – How does the launch of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) African Swine Fever Prevention Program help to mitigate the risks and impacts of the disease? Q3 – How has the Government of Canada reacted to the recent find of ASF in wild boar in Sweden?

R1 - The Government takes the threat of African swine fever seriously.
A pan-Canadian plan is being implemented that focuses on prevention, biosecurity, and preparedness as well as promoting business continuity and communications including international zoning agreements.
As part of this plan, strong import controls are in place, including restrictions on importation of live pigs, pork products and by-products as well as plant-based feeds from affected regions and including the use of Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) sniffer dogs at entry points. R2 - The African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program was officially launched in November 2022 and will accept applications on an ongoing basis until November 30, 2024 or otherwise indicated by the program. This $23.4M funding over three years (2022-23 to 2024-25) will support projects like, wild pig management, the retrofit of existing slaughter houses, disposal preparations, sector analysis and related research projects. R3 - The Government of Canada responds to the reporting of ASF in any country with strict measures, such as restrictions on importation of live pigs, pork products and by-products as well as plant-based feeds to protect the Canadian herd and industry from the potential impact of the disease and continues to monitor the situation closely.

Risks and impacts of African swine fever to Canada’s hog industry
African swine fever (ASF) does not pose a food safety risk and has never been reported in Canada.
• The introduction of ASF into Canada would have a significant impact on the entire pork value chain.
• Initially, all export markets of live pigs and pork products would immediately close and some could remain closed for several months.

ASF is a contagious viral disease that can cause high death rates in infected pigs.
• It can be spread directly between sick and healthy pigs as well as by indirect means (e.g. spread via ticks and contaminated objects, such as farm equipment, clothes and livestock feed).
• There is currently no treatment or vaccine for ASF that is approved for use in Canada.
• ASF is a reportable disease under the Health of Animals Act. This means that any suspected case of ASF must be reported to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The CFIA encourages pork producers to maintain a high level of biosecurity on their farms. ASF is also a World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) listed disease, meaning that member countries such as Canada must submit timely information on disease situations

The hog/pork industry is an important part of Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sector and the Canadian economy as a whole.
• Canada is the 5th largest pork producer in the world, representing roughly 2% of total global production,
• Canada is also the 3rd largest pork exporter after the European Union and the U.S., representing 13% of the world pork trade.
• In 2022, over 1.39 million tonnes of pork, valued at $4.8 billion, were exported to 77countries. The Canadian hog sector contributes an estimated $28 billion to the economy and supports roughly 100,000 jobs.
• There are 7,330 hog farms and 26 federally inspected processing facilities.
• In 2022, 28 million hogs were produced, with inventories concentrated in Quebec (31%), Ontario (26%) and Manitoba (23%).
• Slaughter capacity also resides primarily in Quebec (38%), Ontario (19%) and Manitoba (28%).
• Exports of live hogs are also an important segment of Canada’s hog industry. In 2020, 5.3 million live hogs were exported to the U.S., which represents approximately 19% of Canada’s total hog marketing (i.e., slaughter and live hog exports).
• The Canadian hog sector is highly integrated with the United States (U.S.) sector

The Government of Canada is committed to protecting Canada’s agricultural resources and animals, against animal diseases, such as ASF.

 
Detection of ASF in Various Countries
On August 3, 2018, China notified the WOAH of the presence of ASF in the province of Liaoning. Since then, outbreaks have been confirmed throughout China and affected over a dozen other Asian countries.
• ASF continues to spread in both domestic pigs and wild boar across Europe and Asia at an alarming rate.
• Wild boar played a significant role in the persistence of the virus. ASF has been detected in the Americas region with findings reported in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti in 2021.
• In September 2023, Sweden detected ASF for the first time in wild pig populations. While a source of the disease has not been confirmed, human mediated spread is suspected given the large distance to the nearest cases.
• The ongoing spread and persistent presence of ASF poses a serious threat to the global swine population.
The Government of Canada continues to work extensively with international trading partners to prevent entry and mitigate the impacts of ASF in the Americas.
• Zoning is a disease control tool that separates areas of the country where disease is present and where disease is absent. Recognition of zoning decisions allows trade to resume from the disease-free parts of the country.
• In an effort to proactively minimize the impact of a positive ASF detection, Canada has confirmed zoning arrangements with key trading partners such as the European Union, the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam. Canada is also exploring zoning arrangements with Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Colombia.
• In March 2021, the CFIA and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture signed a protocol to guide bilateral trade in the event that ASF is detected in wild pigs.

Roles and Responsibilities:
CBSA:
• Enforce import controls to prevent entry of ASF into Canada
CFIA:
• Lead the disease control and eradication activates
• Handle compensation for animals destroyed, where appropriate.
• Secure international acceptance of zoning and compartmentalization approaches.
• Lead strategy to regain disease-free status and international acceptance
AAFC:
• Help provincial governments develop cost-shared programs for depopulation and disposal efforts.
• Coordinate discussions in multi-jurisdictional areas, such as welfare culls at processing plants.
• Develop and deliver federal support programs, where appropriate.
• Lead the public communications response to the market interruption and hog surplus challenge in conjunction with PT and industry partners.
Industry:
• Proactively manage business risks by leveraging existing programming and private risk-management tools and making business decisions based on market conditions.
• Implement on-farm biosecurity standards to help mitigate against disease introduction.
• Lead on surplus hog depopulation and disposal activities on the ground, as well as developing and implementing biosecurity measures, supported by FPT governments, as necessary. 
Provincial-Territorial governments:
• Coordinate surplus hog depopulation and disposal efforts on the ground, with the assistance of AAFC (for example, funding transfer, coordination, oversight, wellness /mental health support).
• Coordinate the development of a strategy to manage healthy surplus hogs across provinces.
• Facilitate implementation of mass carcass-disposal options, and work with municipalities to establish capacity.
• Develop and deliver support programs that meet regional/sector needs, in co-operation with municipalities and industry.

Actions to Date
Mitigating and responding to the potential threat of an ASF outbreak in Canada has been a government priority since 2018.
• The CFIA and AAFC have been engaged with industry and the provinces and territories through an Executive Management Board (EMB).
• The EMB provides leadership and strategic direction, through the Pan-Canadian ASF Action Plan, to provide a focused and coordinated approach to ASF prevention and preparedness under four pillars: preparedness planning; enhanced biosecurity; business continuity; and coordinated risk communications.
The Pan-Canadian ASF Action Plan provides guidance and strategic direction to industry to coordinate the wide range of ASF activities in Canada.
• In 2023-2024, the key priorities include supporting the advancement of the Invasive Wild Pig Strategy, clarification of roles and responsibilities and inter-organizational communications in the event of an ASF outbreak.
• The Action Plan also supports the development of tools for response (e.g. depopulation and disposal decision tools), financial recovery support for producers and processors, an ASF communication plan which includes preparing Canadians in advance on what to expect regarding ASF response efforts, and gathering resources to support mental health in the event of an ASF outbreak.
• The Pan-Canadian ASF Action Plan is broken down into four pillars:
1. Prevention and Enhanced Biosecurity
2. Preparedness Planning
3. Ensuring Business Continuity
4. Coordinated Risk Communications
On August 26, 2022, AAFC announced an investment of $45.3M into preventing and preparing for ASF.
• Of these funds, $23.4M is being made available to industry through the African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program (ASFIPP) for activities such as biosecurity assessments, wild pig management, abattoir retrofits, wild pig management, and research and analysis.
o To date, up to $1.7M in funding has been approved to help industry in managing and eradicating wild pigs.
• $19.8M is being dedicated to supporting CFIA efforts such as increased surveillance, laboratory testing capacity, supporting international partners in the development of an ASF vaccine, and establishing ASF zoning arrangements with key trading partners.
• The remaining $2.1M is being used to enhance the CBSA’s border control activities.

 
The CFIA is following the international situation closely and has strong import controls in place to prevent the import of live pigs, pork products and by-products from countries and zones affected by ASF. For example, the CFIA:
• has issued border lookouts for countries where active outbreaks are occurring;
• has worked with the CBSA to increase the number of food, plant and animal detector dogs at Canadian airports;
• is following the situation in the European Union closely and is only allowing imports from areas that are not contaminated or that are not identified as high-risk zones for ASF (this is in accordance with the agreed-upon zoning protocol); and
• continues to work with the CBSA and airlines to mitigate the risks related to illegal imports and travellers.
Canada has been recognized as a global leader in scientific and technical expertise to address problems relating to ASF. In May 2022, the WOAH officially recognized the CFIA's National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease (NCFAD) in Winnipeg as a WOAH Reference Laboratory to address ASF. There are only six other laboratories in the world with that designation.
The Government of Canada has led significant work in communications surrounding ASF, through airport signage and in-flight messaging to travellers and is currently delivering targeted communications directed at small producers, retailers and travellers.
Detector dogs are the CBSA’s best tool for detecting undeclared food, plant and animal (FPA) products.
• To help prevent ASF from entering Canada, the CBSA received approximately $31M through Budget 2019 to acquire and train an additional 24 FPA detector dog teams.
• To date, 21 of the additional 24 detector dog teams have been deployed at Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver airports and mail centres. The deployment of the remaining five teams is on track for 2023-24.

• The Government takes the threat of African swine fever seriously and recognizes the impact that this disease could have on our pork sector if it were detected in Canada.

• In August 2022, we announced $45.3M to help prevent the spread of African swine fever into Canada and to put contingency plans in place to allow for swift action, should the worst happen.

• The Government will continue to work with Canada’s pork sector to support their efforts to prevent and prepare for the potential introduction of African swine fever into Canada.