Bill C-36 (Historical)

Canada Consumer Product Safety Act

An Act respecting the safety of consumer products

This enactment modernizes the regulatory regime for consumer products in Canada. It creates prohibitions with respect to the manufacturing, importing, selling, advertising, packaging and labelling of consumer products, including those that are a danger to human health or safety. In addition, it establishes certain measures that will make it easier to identify whether a consumer product is a danger to human health or safety and, if so, to more effectively prevent or address the danger. It also creates application and enforcement mechanisms. This enactment also makes consequential amendments to the Hazardous Products Act.

National Strategy for Safe Disposal of Lamps Containing Mercury Act

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in favour of Bill C-238, an act respecting the national strategy for safe disposal of lamps containing mercury, put forward by the member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour. I would also like to congratulate the member on putting forth his first private member's bill in the House.

Bill C-238 would provide for the House to work in a bipartisan manner to not only pass the legislation, but begin the process of raising awareness and educating Canadians on the safe disposal of light bulbs containing mercury.

Mercury has the ability to be spread between water, air, and soil, which can significantly and negatively impact human and environmental health. It is well known that mercury is toxic and can cause health problems, including birth defects, rashes, and death. When low quantities are accumulated, they create a risk to mothers and their babies.

Mercury poisoning can also cause neurological damage, including slurred speech, memory loss, and tremors. The Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland did not get eccentric and zany from the exotic tea he was drinking; it was the mercury that led him down the rabbit hole of insanity.

Bill C-238 prescribes three important elements that need to be considered and supported. Precisely, it would establish national standards for the safe disposal of mercury-containing lamps; guidelines regarding facilities for safe disposal; and would create a plan to promote public awareness of the importance of those lamps being disposed of safely.

Previously, in 2010, our Conservative government released a risk management strategy for mercury, which proposed to reduce releases of mercury through the products containing certain toxic substances regulations. Supporting the bill is in line with the previous Conservative government's approach to controlling toxic substances that pose a risk to human health. For example, the previous government passed the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, Bill C-36, in 2010 and banned the use of bisphenol A in baby bottles.

As the environment is a shared jurisdiction with the provinces and territories, we also must be mindful to not overstep our boundaries as a federal government. I believe, however, the legislation would strike not only the right balance but could lead to a productive partnership on this file.

I appreciate that the legislation is focused and has a clear purpose as the thrust of the bill is to instruct the environment minister to develop and implement a national strategy for the safe disposal of lamps containing mercury. As it stands, many provinces and municipalities have different approaches to this issue. I believe that best practices can be shared, and when different levels of government work together, we will be able to educate consumers on how to safely dispose of these light bulbs without a considerable cost to the taxpayers.

In Brandon, Manitoba, the city has taken the approach of allowing our collection point for hazardous goods to be open six days a week, as an example. Furthermore, it has partnerships with hardware stores across the city at which people can drop off hazardous goods. The city communicates on a regular basis with its residents on which goods should not be tossed into the regular garbage pickup to ensure they do not end up in the landfill.

There are many other examples of municipalities having programs that accept household products that contain mercury. Some have implemented collection programs specifically for fluorescent bulbs, while others collect them as part of their household hazardous waste programs.

The reason the legislation is timely is many Canadians have fluorescent bulbs in their homes, their businesses, or farm operations. The reason we still use fluorescent bulbs is that they are more energy efficient than incandescent lights. The use of fluorescent lamps in place of incandescent bulbs can reduce energy consumption and in turn keep our electricity bill down. Nonetheless, we must not forget about their negative effect on the environment and on health.

The knowledge curve on properly educating consumers on how to safely dispose of them needs to be enhanced, and this legislation is a good starting point for that to occur. In fact, I hope the legislation will spur hardware stores, department stores, and just about anyone who sells florescent bulbs to take it upon themselves to share with their customers how to safely dispose of the bulbs and how to take the appropriate measures when a bulb is accidentally broken.

Moreover, the legislation can provide an opportunity for light bulb manufacturers to review how they package and ship their products to further enhance the safe transport of their products.

As with all programs and activities in the federal government, it is important to measure the effectiveness of specific initiatives. Far too often governments have good intentions, however, do not have systems in place to see if goals are being met. That is why it is necessary to emphasize that under the bill the Minister of Environment and Climate Change would have to report to Parliament. In particular, under clause 3, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change would be responsible for preparing a report setting out a national strategy and implementing it. Moreover, clause 4 describes the review of the report where within five years of the tabling of the report and every five years after that the minister of environment would set out his or her conclusions and recommendations regarding the national strategy.

It is imperative that all levels of government work together to keep toxic substances out of Canadian landfills and waterways. I am pleased to highlight that in the member's riding of Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, a company called DAN-X recycles mercury-bearing light bulbs, which is reducing the environmental risk to its landfills. Many members might be interested to know that recyclers can recover the mercury for reuse.

I am pleased that we have such effective facilities in our country. We need to encourage their growth and success in order to keep our lands and waterways clear of hazardous materials. It is important that all members of the House support the legislation as the associated risks from mercury to our health and the environment are too high.

I know all Canadians care about our environment, which is why it is so important to involve the provinces, territories, municipalities, and private industries in developing and implementing this national strategy. Working together and supporting each other is the only effective way to make positive changes in our communities, and in Canada as a whole. Together, we can provide strong environmental leadership and can protect our lands and waterways. After all, this is what Canadians expect from us. The time to fulfill this obligation in a tangible way is right now.

Food Safety

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to contribute to this important debate.

As many members know, XL Foods is located in my riding in the city of Brooks, Alberta. I know many of the people who work there and know that they are very hard-working people.

First, I will reiterate what my colleague, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture, said. Food safety is a top priority of our government, and I will give some examples.

We have hired over 700 food inspectors since 2006, including 170 meat inspectors. Our government has implemented all 57 recommendations from the Weatherill report.

If opposition members believe that the powers of the agency are not sufficient, they should support our government's legislation to make sure that CFIA will have greater authorities. Unfortunately, the member for Welland has already said that his party will challenge this important legislation. That is hypocritical.

We increased CFIA's budget of $744 million by $156 million, a 20% increase. It is clear that our government takes its job on food safety seriously.

The Liberal member for Malpeque has said that he personally believes our food is safe in Canada.

Moreover, an independent report states:

Canada is one of the best-performing countries in the 2010 Food Safety Performance World Ranking study. Its overall grade was superior—earning it a place among the top-tier countries

How about what Albert Chambers, executive director of the Canadian Supply Chain Food Safety Coalition, who said:

[The government] will position Canada's food safety regime well in the rapidly changing global regulatory environment.

I agree with these assessments and with the people of Brooks who strive every day to produce good quality food.

When Canadians buy food at the grocery store they expect it to be safe. When there is a recall of unsafe food products, it can shake people's confidence in our food safety system. It is easy to think that the system has broken down and needs to be replaced.

The ingestion of bacteria such as E. coli can cause serious and potentially life threatening illnesses. Our government takes any threat to the safety of our food supply very seriously. In fact, an OECD report has demonstrated that Canada has one of the best food safety systems in the world.

However, no system is foolproof. That is why there are safeguards in place to detect problems, and clear procedures and policies to address these problems as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

Clearly, there is still some confusion about how the food safety system works. Given the ongoing concerns about E. coli in beef produced at XL Foods Inc., I think it would be useful to examine the elements that make up Canada's food safety system, including food recalls. I will also comment specifically on the expanded alerts issued by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Everyone plays a role in food safety: consumers, industry and government. Research shows that most Canadians know how to handle food safely, but many do not follow through on a daily basis. For example, in a survey, half of the respondents said that they sometimes defrosted meat and poultry at room temperature. However, this practice can allow bacteria to grow on food and can lead to illness.

There are four key rules to food safety that bear repeating: clean, separate, cook and chill. Food safety rules in the kitchen will still go a long way towards keeping families safe from harmful bacteria.

Industry obviously plays a critical role in the food safety system in Canada. All federally inspected meat and fish processing facilities must follow strict guidelines and rules for food safety. This involves identifying what can go wrong, planning to prevent a problem and taking action when a problem is identified.

Industry must adopt science-based risk management practices to minimize food safety risks. To that end, industry works to identify potential sources of food contamination, to update production practices to reduce risk, to comply with inspection and testing protocols and to pull unsafe product from the market.

I will come back to the process of food recalls in a few moments.

Food safety begins with effective laws. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, or CFIA, delivers all federally mandated programs for food inspection, plant and animal health products and production systems. In short, food safety is CFIA's top priority. As Canada's largest science-based regulator, the CFIA holds industry to account for the safety of its products, responds to food safety emergencies, carries out food recalls and prevents the spread of animal disease to humans. However, food safety is a complex mandate. That is why to protect our food supply, the CFIA works closely with a variety of partners, including Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada.

One of the CFIA's key jobs is to inspect both domestic and imported food. It also inspects, audits and tests products to verify that industry is complying with food safety regulations and enforces those regulations in federally registered food processing facilities.

Once the food safety system has identified a contaminated food product in the marketplace, an investigation takes place that can lead to a food recall. As in this case, most companies initiate a recall once a problem is identified with their products. They do this to protect the health and safety of Canadians and certainly to protect their own reputation.

When dealing with potentially unsafe food, the CFIA's investigations are driven by three considerations: accuracy, thoroughness and expediency.

First, the CFIA works to get the facts straight. It analyzes production and distribution records, which can be in several locations. It locates food samples and conducts tests. It reviews labels, distribution and information and identification codes to help inform consumers about potential risks. In this way it strives to identify all affected products.

The gathering of facts is critical to a science-based thorough investigation. In the case of XL Foods, routine testing identified a positive E. coli sample on September 4. The CFIA has been investigating the problem and taking appropriate measures ever since.

The CFIA must balance the need for accurate and reliable information with the need to inform the public as soon as possible about potential risks. To achieve this balance, the CFIA issues regular alerts for recalled products while an investigation is ongoing. As a result, it may issue several public alerts for the same recall. Once a product is posed a health risk, it is recalled immediately. The CFIA does not wait.

This is an important point. The series of expanded alerts issued over the past weeks related to XL Foods reflect new information obtained during the course of a continuing investigation. This is a normal part of the recall process and in no way indicates unnecessary delays in informing the public about a health risk.

The CFIA expects industry to monitor higher than normal detection rates and to modify control measures accordingly. The agency's investigation has shown that XL Foods did not conduct its monitoring measures consistently at the Alberta facility. Moreover, the agency has discovered deviations from the company's control measures for E. coli. The company was not able to take adequate corrective action. As a result, the CFIA temporarily suspended the company's licence, and the meat plant remains under government oversight until further notice. At the same time, XL Foods continues to work with CFIA to identify and trace contaminated food products that may be in the market.

Let me be clear. The XL plant will not reopen until CFIA has certified it is safe.

As soon as it was aware, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency acted immediately to address the concern about the presence of E. coli in beef produced by XL Foods. The investigation continues, informed by science-based evidence and an ongoing commitment to protect the safety of Canada's food supply and the Canadian confidence in that food supply.

I want to take a few minutes to talk about the proposed safe food for Canadians bill introduced by our government in the Senate earlier this year.

In 1997 the CFIA was created to improve and modernize federal inspection activities related to food safety, animal health and plant protection. However, the creation of the agency was only the first step. Even in 1997, it was recognized that the legislative base for the agency would in time need to be modernized.

The aim of the proposed safe food for Canadians bill is to modernize and consolidate CFIA's food inspection and enforcement authorities. The successful passage of this bill will deliver more consistent inspection and enforcement authorities covering the food safety aspects of CFIA's mandate. In this way our government can provide a more consistent and comprehensive approach to the agency's inspection enforcement and compliance activities around food.

This new food safety statute falls under the responsibility of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. It enhances public and food safety security by modernizing and consolidating provisions in the current Canada Agricultural Products Act, CAPA; Fish Inspection Act, FIA; Meat Inspection Act, MIA; and provisions related to food in the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, CPLA.

The proposed legislation strengthens the agency's ability to protect Canada's food supply. It provides more consistent authorities for the food commodities regulated by CFIA. What we will have is a uniform set of powers, duties and functions for all CFIA inspectors, no matter what sort of food product is being inspected. This can only deliver better food safety outcomes for Canadians.

Let me mention some of the major provisions of the bill. The proposed legislation will allow our government to take appropriate actions when safety issues arise by issuing tougher fines and penalties, establishing a system to better track, trace and recall harmful products and prohibiting unsafe foods from entering the Canadian market.

An extension of regulation making authorities for export certification will provide Canadian exporters with business predictability if trading partners make certification a condition of market access. This will be accomplished by providing credible assurance to importing countries that Canadian exports are safe.

The bill would make it illegal to knowingly submit false or misleading information to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food with regard to any commodity or products covered by the act. This would protect consumers from fraud.

There are elements of the bill that industry would like to see enacted. The bill includes specific prohibition related to threats of tampering, making claims to have tampered and actual tampering. It covers hoaxes with regard to food and packaging. Currently these activities fall under the general of mischief in the Criminal Code. They need to be specifically identified for what they are: criminal activities which should be covered by very specific legislation.

Of great importance to all Canadians is that the bill prohibits the import of food commodity that is adulterated, that has poisonous or harmful substances, that is unfit for human consumption or that is injurious to human health. Products that are labelled contrary to the proposed regulations will also be prohibited.

I do not want the House to misunderstand and believe there are no current provisions protecting Canadians from such things, but the proposed bill consolidates the various pieces of prior legislation so these prohibitions reside in a single act instead of several different acts which only had bearing on specific commodities.

These acts, enacted at different times in our nation's history, provide an uneven and outdated legislative base that makes it difficult to deal with various issues in a uniform way. We need to enact this new legislation which brings all of these various commodities under a single umbrella.

By consolidating the authorities in the act into one consistent set of authorities under the bill, we give the CFIA the tools it needs to better protect Canadians and to enhance industry compliance. The CFIA will be better able to strengthen the security of the food supply and better protect Canadians' health.

They will give the CFIA enforcement and inspection powers that are similar to those in the consumer products legislation, Bill C-36. The bill will enhance existing inspection and enforcement tools at the Canada-U.S. border, providing the Canada Border Services Agency officers and CFIA inspectors with better controls when enforcing CFIA legislation on our border, at airports and in our shipping ports.

It is important to make clear what the bill does not do. The current roles and responsibilities of the Minister of Health and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food will not change as a result of the bill. The Minister of Health remains responsible for setting policy and standards for food safety and nutritional quality. The CFIA will be responsible for enforcing these standards, as well as setting and enforcing other standards.

We are all familiar with the tragic deaths and illness resulting from a listeriosis outbreak in 2008. Hard lessons were learned from that event. Since the agency was formed, we have also had to deal with BSE, salmonella, E.coli and other threats that keep the importance of food safety in the Canadian consciousness.

It is because of this awareness of the potential threats that the concept behind the proposed safe food for Canadians bill has support from stakeholders and is seen as a benefit to all Canadians.

The listeriosis outbreak of 2008 prompted the Prime Minister to name an independent investigator, Sheila Weatherill, to look into the circumstances of the tragedy and make recommendations to our government on how to avoid having similar events occur in the future.

One of the recommendations, number 43 of 57, states that the government should “simplify and modernize federal legislation and regulations which significantly affect food safety”.

That is precisely what this proposed bill sets out to do. Our government committed to addressing all 57 of the independent investigator's recommendations. We are therefore duty bound to protect Canadians from future tragedy and see this legislation through.

Our government has a solid reputation for the safety of our food supply and we want to give the CFIA the inspection and enforcement capabilities that it needs to maintain that reputation and to build on it. I urge all hon. senators to join me in supporting this bill.

I want to reiterate that the XL Food plant will remain closed until such time as it meets all regulations and requirements of CFIA.

[Robert Goguen, Conservative, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Minister, for bringing forth this important piece of legislation. I think all the parties agree it's definitely a step in protecting Canada's most vulnerable.

You've noted and have spoken on a couple of occasions about another piece of legislation, which I believe goes in that same direction. That's, of course, Bill C-21, the Standing Up for Victims of White Collar Crime Act. That's a significant piece of legislation, of course. It includes a mandatory minimum penalty of at least two years for fraud of over $1 million. It toughens sentences by adding aggravating factors that the courts can consider. These are significant factors, which include whether the fraud has had a significant impact on the victim, given the victim's particular circumstances, including his age, health, and financial situation, and also the offender's failure to comply with applicable licensing and professional standards. It also considers the magnitude, complexity, duration of the fraud, and the degree of planning that went into creating it.

How can we reconcile the proposed aggravating factors in Bill C-36 to be differentiated from the aggravating factors we have in this other important piece of legislation, Standing Up for Victims of White Collar Crime Act?

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Right. Okay.

When you get a bill that is reintroduced from one Parliament to the next, does it get re-costed? In asking this question, the bill that comes to my mind--although it's not one that's under consideration here, it's just one that I've followed with interest--is Bill C-6, an act respecting the safety of consumer products, which came back as Bill C-36. I think I have it backwards. It started off as Bill C-36 and wound up as Bill C-6. But at any rate, for a bill like that, would there be a re-costing that would go on?

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

I have the honour to inform the House that when the House went up to the Senate chamber His Excellency the Governor General was pleased to give, in Her Majesty's name, the royal assent to the following bills:

Bill S-3, An Act to implement conventions and protocols concluded between Canada and Colombia, Greece and Turkey for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income--Chapter No. 15

Bill S-210, An Act to amend the Federal Sustainable Development Act and the Auditor General Act (involvement of Parliament)--Chapter No. 16

Bill S-2, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and other Acts--Chapter 17

Bill C-3, An Act to promote gender equity in Indian registration by responding to the Court of Appeal for British Columbia decision in McIvor v. Canada (Registrar of Indian and Northern Affairs)--Chapter 18

Bill S-215, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (suicide bombings)--Chapter 19

Bill C-464, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (justification for detention in custody)--Chapter 20

Bill C-36, An Act respecting the safety of consumer products--Chapter 21

Bill C-31, An Act to amend the Old Age Security Act--Chapter 22

Bill C-28, An Act to promote the efficiency and adaptability of the Canadian economy by regulating certain activities that discourage reliance on electronic means of carrying out commercial activities, and to amend the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Act, the Competition Act, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and the Telecommunications Act--Chapter 23

Bill C-58, An Act for granting to Her Majesty certain sums of money for the federal public administration for the financial year ending March 31, 2011--Chapter 24

Bill C-47, A second Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 4, 2010 and other measures--Chapter 25

It is my duty pursuant to Standing Order 38 to inform the House that the questions to be raised tonight at the time of adjournment are as follows: the hon. member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, Canadian Council on Learning; the hon. member for Vancouver Kingsway, Public Safety.

Product Safety

[Gerald Keddy, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margaret's, NS]

Mr. Speaker, last night the Senate voted in favour of Bill C-36, the Canadian consumer product safety bill. This important legislation will give us the tools to adequately protect Canadians and their loved ones. It replaces a law that was over 40 years old and now enables us to stand on a level playing field with our trading partners. It will protect us from unsafe products.

Part of the future of our health care system is passing good legislation. Although the bill, as well as its predecessor, passed through the House with the support of all parties, the Liberal senators consistently voted against it.

As they did last year at this time, all 36 Liberal senators who were present in the chamber for the vote last night stood and voted against it. Unbelievably, they voted against the health and safety of Canadians. Worse yet, they voted against consumer and product safety for our children at Christmas.

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

Thank you, and thank you again to the committee for the hard work on Bill C-36. I'd like to also thank the member for the question on the very important issue of lead.

I announced this week the regulations on consumer products containing lead, and these regulations will limit the lead content in certain products, including surface paints on children's toys, mouthpieces or musical instruments, and many other products that children may come into contact with, put in their mouths.

These challenges are another step in our government's implementation of the lead risk reduction strategy for consumer products to establish allowable lead limits in a variety of consumer products, particularly those that are used for children, but not exclusively. One example that we use all the time is pencils. We chew on pencils even as adults. So that's one of the areas we've targeted.

As the member is well aware, our government also proposed the Canada consumer product safety act, which is currently before the Senate, and I hope it will pass without further delay. Once it is passed into law, the act will modernize the government's approach to consumer product safety and include new measures such as the ability of Health Canada to order mandatory recalls of consumer products that represent an unreasonable danger to human health or safety and/or mandatory reporting of incidents or deaths from any consumer products. So we have initiatives like the consumer product safety legislation, Bill C-36, which would really give us the authority to respond and remove unsafe products from the marketplace.

Thank you for the question.

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Thank you.

Good morning, everyone.

Madam Chair and members of the committee, it's a pleasure to be here to discuss supplementary estimates (B).

Before we get into the details of today's discussion, I would like to thank you for the hard work on Bill C-36, which is now before the Senate. The piece of legislation, once it comes into force, will provide us with the tools needed to recall dangerous consumer products.

Canada's Consumer Product Safety Act will have a profound effect on the marketplace. It will give consumers greater confidence in the safety of the products they find on the shelves of stores everywhere in this country.

We know that the discovery of things like lead in toys has rightly caused parents to be concerned. They know that young children put objects in their mouths as a form of discovery. The new limits on lead content that I announced this week indicate, not only to our industry but to those around the world, that we mean business.

Bill C-36 will give us new powers to deal with those kinds of problems more effectively. The new inspector powers in Bill C-36 are both fair and consistent with those of other federal laws. They are also consistent with the Supreme Court of Canada's decisions on the acceptable scope of inspection powers.

The safety of consumer products is something from which we can all benefit. We are working with industry to enhance consumer product safety and we are developing new tools to help us take corrective actions where problems arise.

While we have given a great deal of attention to that legislation and other safety measures, Health Canada has also continued to focus on the business of funding and administering other programs that protect and improve the health of Canadians.

Health Canada's 2010-11 supplementary estimates (B) include a net increase of $48.1 million, which brings its total budget to $3.731 billion for the current fiscal year.

We recognize the important part that research plays in ensuring the continued health of Canadians. This is why we have provided ongoing support and additional investments to Canadian Institutes of Health Research to support innovative and patient-oriented research that could have an impact on the health of Canadians.

Another important funding initiative supported by our government is an international initiative on Alzheimer's, and $5 million has been added for this purpose. Our government has invested more than $88 million in research regarding Alzheimer's disease and related dementia since 2006, and we are funding a four-year national population study on neurological diseases. In addition, important international MOUs have been signed with our partners from France, Germany, and the U.K. on Alzheimer's research.

I am particularly proud of the accomplishments we have made in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The Canadian HIV vaccine initiative, led by our government, along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, highlights Canada's world-class HIV and vaccine research expertise.

CIHR is investing approximately $40 million per year in support of HIV/AIDS research. Canadian investigators, supported by this funding, are at the forefront of discovery, improving the health of those infected, and are working toward a vaccine. CIHR continues to invest strategically in HIV research and is actively implementing the CIHR HIV/AIDS research initiative strategic plan. This will ensure continued knowledge development and research capacity-building, as well as the application of new findings in HIV/AIDS research in Canada.

The landscape for health services on population health research in HIV/AIDS is changing in Canada through the support for two centres for research development in HIV/AIDS. These centres are building research networks, addressing high-priority research questions, and building knowledge translation capacity in Canada.

The Public Health Agency's national HIV laboratories and their surveillance and risk assessment divisions are active members of the World Health Organization's advisory network of experts that support the development and implementation of the HIV drug resistance, prevention, and assessment strategy.

The lab is designed as one of the very few specialized HIV drug resistance laboratories in the world. It will also provide training and technical support to laboratory staff in resource-poor countries, and will continue to lead the way in developing new technologies that will facilitate testing worldwide.

This past summer I travelled to Vienna, where I met with international leaders, and particularly with Bill Gates. As a result, our government will help advance the science for the development of a safe and effective HIV vaccine that will benefit those who need it most, and that's all Canadians.

I would also like to take the opportunity to inform members of this committee of the announcement I made yesterday, along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, on the appointment of Dr. Singh and Dr. Esparza as co-chairs of the advisory board that will oversee the renewed Canadian HIV vaccine initiatives and its research development alliance.

Addressing the health concerns of Canada's aboriginal people comprises a portion of the funding under the supplementary estimates. It is targeted for programs that are helping aboriginal people, especially those living on reserve. One of the commitments in the supplementary estimates is our contribution to the Indian residential school resolution health support program. The Government of Canada is committed to supporting former students of residential schools and their families throughout the implementation of the Indian residential school settlement agreement. Health Canada is responsible for the resolution health support program that is part of the agreement, and we hope this will continue to have a positive impact on the health of first nations people.

We are committed to offering support services that take into account the culture and heritage of aboriginal people. Community-based healing programs, such as those for mental health and addictions, will assist these communities by addressing the health and social challenges they face. These investments represent a total of $5 million.

Additional funds have also been required to help in the transition from the outdated food mail system, which had been in place for more than 40 years. It is being replaced with Nutrition North Canada, a new retail-based subsidy program that will ensure northerners benefit from improved access to healthy and nutritious food throughout the year. Health Canada is allocating $1.5 million this fiscal year and $2.9 million annually beginning in 2011-12 for nutrition and education initiatives under Nutrition North Canada.

We also recognize that the availability of nutritious food and access to it is a starting point for a nutritious diet. These education initiatives will help northern Canadians put nutritious meals on their plates. Nutrition North Canada will be more efficient, more accountable, and more transparent. It will help make sure that northerners get the maximum benefit from the government subsidy for healthy foods. It will give retailers more control over their supply chain and therefore create more competition. That means there will be more incentives for greater quality control.

Fresh foods will get to the shelves sooner, making them more attractive to consumers. Our government is particularly proud of the efforts that have been made in the health promotion. Encouraging a healthy lifestyle is instrumental in maintaining a healthy body. It also means an overall improved quality of life and a healthier Canadian population, while being less onerous on our health care system. This cannot be truer than for young Canadians. Our intention is to encourage them to lead a healthier lifestyle right from the beginning.

For example, we have recently launched a bold new education campaign aimed at 13- to 15-year-olds to teach them about the dangers of illicit drugs. The centrepiece of this campaign is a commercial called “Mirror”, which dramatizes the harmful effects of drugs. It shows a young woman looking into the mirror and seeing what her life would be like if she experimented with drugs. The commercial began running two weeks ago and will be airing until March. During that time, we expect two-thirds of all Canadian teens between the ages of 13 and 15 to see it. This campaign is designed to be a powerful deterrent. Deterrence is an essential component of the government's national anti-drug strategy.

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Gil Kerlikowske, an important figure in the battle against illicit drugs in the United States. We discussed many issues of common interest that have a bearing on the health of young Canadians and Americans. The most effective way to help Canadians is to give them the information they need to make informed choices. In fact, we have made many announcements in the past and there are more to come in the future about sources of information for parents with regard to the health and safety of their children.

Information and education are also playing an important role in our efforts to curb childhood obesity. Obesity rates among children and youth have nearly tripled over the last 25 years. Obesity increases the risk of developing some chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.

The federal, provincial, and territorial governments recently agreed to a framework for coordinating their approaches to promoting healthy weights among children under the age of 18. We have agreed to focus on making the environment where children live, learn, and play more supportive of physical activity and healthy eating. We will also try to identify the risk factors that can lead to obesity in children and address those issues early in a child's life. We agreed to find ways to increase access to nutritious food and decrease the marketing to children of foods and drink that are high in fat, sugar, or sodium.

An equally essential part of the plan to reduce obesity is the need to promote more physical activity. All levels of government need to be involved in finding more ways for kids to be active, both indoors and outdoors throughout the season.

The campaigns we are currently leading are designed to have an impact on the long-term health of many Canadians. By helping them change their lifestyles or avoid dangerous substances, we can prevent a wide variety of health problems in the future.

Through our nutrition facts education campaign, we are helping Canadians understand more about the foods they eat.

Our children's health and safety campaign strives to help parents protect their children from many potential hazards, and our national anti-drug strategy is helping to prevent young people from experimenting with illicit drugs and becoming addicted in the first place.

In the year ahead, we will continue to develop initiatives that support our long-term vision for health care in Canada, while tending to the short-term needs of Canadians.

I will be pleased to take questions from the committee.

Thank you.

[Athana Mentzelopoulos, Director General, Consumer Product Safety Directorate, Department of Health]

Thank you, Madam Chair, for the opportunity to appear today to discuss the consumer product safety-related aspects of the Public Health Agency's “Child and Youth Injury in Review, 2009 Edition”.

As you said, my name is Athana Mentzelopoulos. I'm director general of the Consumer Product Safety Directorate at Health Canada, and I'm accompanied today by Denis Roy. He is a mechanical engineer who works in the mechanical and electrical hazards division of my directorate.

The “Child and Youth Injury in Review” is an important publication for those who work in product safety. It helps to increase the public's awareness of the dangers that consumer products can pose, and it has helped us in our ongoing efforts to make products, and particularly children's products, safe.

Any product can pose a risk if it is used inappropriately. No doubt you have heard this truism in a variety of forms. Water, for example, is essential for life, but drinking a profound volume of water can be fatal. Equally so, no product can substitute for a parent or a caregiver.

In my area of work, one of our ongoing priorities is to inform consumers about the appropriate use of products. It is essential to follow manufacturers' instructions for use, for example. We also routinely issue reminders about safe use of and practices related to consumer products, and we frequently advise consumers about risks posed by consumer products, either as a result of their normal use or because of unseen or unintentional hazards.

Some recent examples of our work have been the series of warnings we have issued about the presence of lead and more recently of cadmium in children's jewellery. We have also continued to remind Canadians about safe sleep practices for infants, including the need to ensure that infants sleep in a crib that has been properly assembled and is free of bumper pads, pillows, and other decorations.

In the Consumer Product Safety Directorate, we regulate certain products and classes of products, and wherever we cannot sufficiently address and mitigate a risk through regulations, we have prohibitions. This is the case for, among other things, toys.

In Canada, safety requirements for toys are currently specified in the Hazardous Products Act and its associated regulations. Under this act, certain toys are prohibited, while others are restricted. There are requirements concerning the size of component parts of toys, allowable stuffing materials, and limits on the presence of lead and toxic substances, among other requirements.

It is the responsibility of manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers to ensure that they are complying with the Hazardous Products Act and the regulations. Product safety officers routinely monitor the marketplace and take appropriate enforcement action on toys and other products that contravene the legislation. We also have a laboratory, the product safety laboratory, that examines potentially hazardous products in order to assess the nature and degree of any hazards.

In our work on product safety we are attentive to the normal and foreseeable use of products. We consider dangers posed by consumer products to be those unreasonable hazards that are posed by a product during or as a result of its normal or foreseeable use and that might cause injury or death. There is a reasonableness standard that must be adhered to and that guides our work.

As many members here today know, Health Canada is currently proposing to change the legislative framework for consumer product safety. That legislation is now before a Senate committee.

As I mentioned, we currently work in the context of the Hazardous Products Act. That legislation is 40 years old and is a framework that only permits us to react to risks and hazards as they emerge through the preparation of regulations and prohibitions.

On the basis of this legislation, we have developed specific and very prescriptive regulations for toys, a prohibition on baby walkers, regulations for cribs and cradles, limits on the use of lead in children's products, requirements for teethers and rattles, and a prohibition on yo-yo balls, among many other things. All of these regulations and prohibitions will be transferred to the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, should it pass, and the level of protection they afford will be maintained.

The proposed Canada Consumer Product Safety Act—the CCPSA—will fundamentally change and improve the way we approach product safety in Canada. Bill C-36, the CCPSA, includes a number of elements that will help us to further strengthen consumer safety. It has a general prohibition against consumer products that are a danger to human health or safety. It would also require industry to report product-related incidents and would give the government the authority for mandatory recalls. That's something I know members here are very familiar with.

These authorities all support a three-pillar approach to product safety: active prevention, targeted oversight, and rapid response. These are essential pillars to our program, because we have a post-market regulatory regime for consumer products in Canada. That means there is no requirement for certification or for approvals by government for industry before they introduce new products to the market.

We need the tools in the CCPSA so that we can generate product-related intelligence that will be the basis of an early warning system when problems with the product emerge. In the future, should the CCPSA pass, we will be able to act quickly and proactively at the first signs of emerging product-related problems. Rather than necessarily going through the process of developing regulations to deal with product-specific hazards, we will be able to use the general prohibition as part of our step-wise enforcement to act quickly when we have determined that a danger to human health or safety exists.

Given the post-market nature of the consumer product market, the rapid innovation in consumer products, and the insatiable desire for new products and new design, work in product safety is never done. The CCPSA is one element of the government's food and consumer safety action plan. Through that plan, we have also been resourced for more inspectors, more outreach work to consumers and industry, and more work in the area of standards development. Through its elements, the food and consumer safety action plan is building a consumer product partnership in which industry is more aware of its obligations for safe products, consumers have more information about the products they are purchasing, and government has more flexible and modern powers to help ensure safety.

The Hazardous Products Act has served us well over recent decades of work. We have a significant body of regulations and prohibitions, and we also have an aggressive work agenda for modernizing some of those regulations and for developing new ones.

Just yesterday, our minister announced new changes to regulations under the act that will restrict the amount of lead in a variety of consumer products, including children's toys. We are also currently involved in a project with the United States and the EU, and more recently Australia has joined, to improve safety standards for corded window coverings. Our requirements in Canada for these products are already among the strictest in the world, but we are working with our international partners to address certain hazards posed by Roman shades and by roll-up blinds.

We also have ongoing initiatives to improve our toy regulations, including dangers posed by small, powerful magnets; to address infant bath seats, potentially to regulate them; to improve our already world-leading regulations for cribs, cradles, and bassinets; and to review potential standards for ski helmets. Most of all, we are looking forward to the passage of the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act and to the changes the legislation will bring to product safety in Canada. We are hopeful that our focus will soon turn to implementation of that legislation.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, our record in dealing with toxic substances in products is as a leader in the world market. The regulations that will be in force by December 8 will be rolled out in the next six months. Again, I am proud to say that our country is taking a leadership role in getting unsafe products off the market.

I hope the Liberal senators will support Bill C-36 in the Senate this week and will pass it so we have modern legislation to further protect Canadians.

Health

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, lead is toxic, even in small amounts. Our regulations will be amended to reduce the level of lead on surfaces, in paint, in children's toys and in other artists material, such as paint brushes and pencils. This regulation will be among the strictest in the world. As a mother, I am very pleased with this change in the regulations as young children, who tend to put things in their mouth, will be further protected.

Our Bill C-36, which is currently before the Senate, would help with the enforcement of this change.

Product Safety

[Glenn Thibeault, NDP, Sudbury, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is not the colour of the unelected senators' tie, it is whether they will respect the will of the House.

The protection of our children should be paramount to the government. Parents have a right to know that the products they are giving their children are safe and toxin free. This is why the government needs to ensure that Bill C-36 is passed before Christmas.

Will the government show some leadership and tell its unelected bagmen in the Senate to adopt this important legislation for the safety of our children?

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians should have confidence in the consumer products that they buy and the best way to do that and to ensure that countries and their importers comply is to pass our Canadian consumer product safety bill, Bill C-36. We are eagerly awaiting the passage of the bill in the Senate and we hope this time around the Liberal senators will not hold it up.

[Glenn Thibeault, NDP, Sudbury, ON]

Mr. Speaker, across North America today marks Black Friday, the beginning of the holiday shopping season. Bill C-36, Canada's updated product safety legislation, passed by the House with all-party support, is being held hostage in the Senate for a second time in the past 14 months. Canadians need up to date product safety legislation now. Our children should not be opening toys this Christmas laced with cadmium.

Will the Senate again be obstructionist and act in contravention of the House, or will it respect the will of the House and pass Bill C-36 before the holidays?

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

No, but I had another suggestion. Because of the ninth meeting on the draft report, we have an open meeting now. We agreed on an agenda before. Unfortunately, we used up three meetings on Bill C-36. I believe it was healthy living that we had to move forward.

Would it give the officials enough time if we could continue our study on healthy living? I don't think we would like to lose a meeting. We could give you enough time to get back on track with that important study. I would recommend that we put one in on the seventh.