Thank you, Mr. Chair.
This is kind of a practical situation. In the next few weeks we're going to have a grocer and entrepreneur, whose name is Mark Loney, come to us and explain his experience and frustration of getting a product identified and labelled in Canada. The problem is that the product has already been sold for about 50 years under a different name. Last year he received approval by the United States government to sell it in the United States.
The issue is very interesting. We talk about “100%-grown”. His is 100%-grown in Saskatchewan. The product is assembled here, and it's obviously something we can sell a lot of, not only domestically but as an export. The issue is—and I'll ask if any of your members have had similar experiences and frustrations with the CFIA—that it took 46 days just to change a capital “T“ back to a small “t“.
Right now, in Canada—and it would be hard for any of us not to share Mr. Loney's frustration—the major jam companies are non-compliant because they have the error on their product, but he has been held back. He points out very clearly that imports from China do not have to be registered; they don't have to have French or any nutritional guidelines. To me, it's a national disgrace.
So I'm going to ask this question to you. How many of your members have come to you, in your various associations, with similar frustrations; and should it be that any imported foods should be subjected to the same rules, regulations, testing, inspection, and labelling as Canadian producers have to follow?
Maybe we should conduct one of our meetings as a standing committee in a grocery store and just reach back and take a look at some of these things.
Thank you.