Thomas Mulcair

[Food Safety, October 15th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot believe my ears!

On September 13, Canada stopped exporting beef from XL Foods to the United States. The minister had determined that the beef from XL Foods was not safe enough to be consumed by the Americans. The same Minister of Agriculture allowed the same tainted beef to be sold freely in Canada for another two weeks. That is what he is responsible for: for jeopardizing the lives of Canadians when he knew that this meat was tainted.

How can the Minister of Agriculture still hold his position in light of such negligence?

[Food Safety, October 15th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, there are now 15 confirmed cases of E. coli poisoning from beef from XL Foods. The crisis began 42 days ago, but chaos still reigns. One day, the workers are sent home and inspections cease, and the next day, the workers are called back to the plant. It is chaos.

The Minister of Agriculture has clearly lost control. Why has he not stepped down?

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, October 4th, 2012]

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.

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, October 4th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the director of meat inspection has said that up to 5% of the meat processed by XL Foods was contaminated with E. coli. If Canada had real regulations, all of the meat processed on the day that that threshold was passed would have been discarded. But thanks to the Minister of Agriculture, no such rule exists. It is up to the industry to decide what to do.

Even worse, the public was not informed of the danger posed by the tainted meat. That represents a serious breach of ethics and ministerial responsibility. The Minister of Agriculture has no other choice: he must step down.

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, October 4th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the government knew that some XL Foods equipment was damaged and not working properly. The government knew that XL Foods had no system in place to identify and trace the E. coli bacteria.

And the Minister of Agriculture knew that, even after the American government had sounded the alarm about E. coli, XL Foods continued to hide vital information on the safety of its facilities.

Why did the Minister of Agriculture hide this information about tainted beef from Canadians?

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, October 4th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the head of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency told reporters that key E. coli testing data had been withheld from government food inspectors by XL Foods. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food knew that food safety data was being withheld. He knew that there were unsafe conditions at XL Foods.

Why did the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food withhold that information and endanger the lives of Canadians?

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, October 4th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, is the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food willing to accept responsibility for the self-regulating food inspection system he put in place?

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, October 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, today two small grocery store chains in B.C. publicly acknowledged that they had stocked recalled beef. These were good, honest business owners who wanted to protect their customers. The problem is that the Minister of Agriculture still has not put those same retailers on the list of stores that carried tainted beef from XL Foods. The store owners are coming forward with information, but the minister cannot even get that information out to Canadians.

Why is the Minister of Agriculture busy doing photo ops instead of answering questions and being accountable?

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, October 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, more fairy tales about NDP positions.

Today, two small grocery store chains in B.C.—

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, October 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, it is not just one plant Canadians are worried about, it is all of them.

There are not even clear standards for when meat should be discarded if the risk of contamination is too high. No standards. The CFIA's director of meat inspection said yesterday, “we essentially asked people to keep [an] eye and look at it. But there wasn’t a lot of structure about how people went at that”.

Is this the kind of self-regulation that the Conservatives think will actually protect Canadians or are we just waiting for the next disaster?