| Historical Information |
|---|
| This post is about a previous Session of Parliament. Any legislation here that did not receive Royal Assent has been terminated. |
C-355 – The Prohibition of the Export of Horses by Air for Slaughter Act – makes it so horses can’t be exported by air to be slaughtered.
Anyone who wants to export a horse by air first needs to sign a declaration that the horse is not being shipped for slaughter. This declaration needs to be sent to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the pilot or operator of the plane, and the chief customs officer responsible for the airport. If the pilot hasn’t received the declaration they aren’t allowed to take off, and the customs officer is required to detain the horse until the declaration’s been received.
Failure to follow C-355 can be punished with a fine up to $250,000 and/or two years in prison.
Progress
C-355 went up for its Second Reading and passed with 181 voting in favour and 137 against.
| Party | For | Against | Paired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | 151 | 0 | 1 |
| Conservative | 0 | 107 | 1 |
| Bloc Quebecois | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| NDP | 25 | 0 | 0 |
| Green | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Independent | 3 | 0 | 0 |
The Conservatives have a few issues with C-355. First, they argue it’ll create extra red tape that’ll discourage a number of industries from transporting their horses to and from Canada. They call out events like the Olympics, as well as international races at Woodbine racetrack. Requiring approval from the Minister of Agriculture would bog things down. They also argue that the horses being shipped out for slaughter are being raised for that purpose, and that these aren’t injured race horses being slaughtered.
The Bloc would rather just change existing legislation instead of introducing new legislation, and don’t like passing legislation to protect a single type of animal when we’re shipping all sorts of animals by air. They’d prefer passing more sweeping animal welfare legislation.
The NDP want to see what’s found about C-355 during committee review. They also mention that this was originally a Liberal campaign promise back in 2021, and call out the fact that if we’re transporting live horses for slaughter in other countries we’re losing out on the economic benefits of doing the actual raising and slaughtering here then shipping out the meat instead. They point out that during COVID it became obvious that we lack processing facilities, and want to encourage more of those facilities here instead of leaving them in other countries.
C-355 will now be sent to committee for review.
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