Mr. Speaker, key safety equipment was damaged and inoperable; there was no clear testing standard, no monitoring system for tracking high rates of E. coli, and withholding of key food safety data. All of this is just four years after the same minister of agriculture presided over another tainted meat scandal that killed 22 Canadians and he made jokes about it.
This time the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food knew what was going on. He withheld what he knew from Canadians and he is refusing to be accountable. He is the one who put the self-regulating system in place. He is responsible. Why is the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food still in his position? He must resign.