Hon. Paula Simons: Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate.

It’s a question about avian influenza, which I don’t think is a topic we have discussed here before. Alberta is in the midst of an avian influenza outbreak, with 24 farms affected to date and 900,000 — almost 1 million — birds having been destroyed. The hardest hit, primarily, have been turkey producers and hatching-egg producers.

Can the government representative tell us what the CFIA is doing to track and contain avian flu outbreaks, which I believe are happening in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec right now?