Evidence of meeting #44 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 39th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was confidential.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
But regardless, there are a large number of these documents out there, and many, if not the majority, don't get enacted. I think that's also a reasonable assumption to make.
President, Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
May I respond?
President, Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
It is a reasonable assumption to make, except that all the cuts or reallocations are not necessarily in regulatory agencies that have specific mandates.
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
Do you have proof that cuts were made to CFIA in budget 2008? The last number I saw, actually, was a $62 million increase, and there was an increase in hard numbers of 200 inspectors over the last two years.
President, Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
They are reallocating resources to functions other than that of inspection. So the bottom line is that more money is coming in from the government to reallocate to different ways of doing things. But in the context of the document we were talking about, it means modifying significantly the way food inspection is being conducted and food labelling is being done, and--
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
I don't mean to interrupt, but we only have a limited amount of time. Are you speaking on behalf of your extensive experience as a scientist, or--
President, Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
I'm talking of the extreme exposure I've had to many of my members, who have repeatedly come to me, as experts, with these concerns.
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
Thank you. I wanted to give you a chance to answer that, because Mr. Evans, who was here yesterday and does have experience with CFIA since its inception, has repeatedly denied all the accusations made by the opposition--
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
--and I think it's important that we get that on the record.
I'd also like to ask you another question. When an employee--
Liberal
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
Mr. Chair, I have a point of order. Mr. Evans did not deny. He didn't confirm or deny a secret document.
What you said is wrong.
Conservative
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
Thank you very much.
When an employee is terminated for something--for example, there's a big conspiracy, as we saw under the formal Liberal government--they often apply for things such as whistle-blower protection. That is legislation we now have in this country. Would that be a reasonable route for an employee to go if they found there was corruption, scandal, or mismanagement?
President, Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
This employee who was brutally fired was not blowing the whistle. He was sending a document not to a journalist, to the public, to the integrity officer; he was sending a document to his union for advice. He's a shop steward, by the way.
Conservative
President, Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
What's your question?
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
This is a secret cabinet document you're talking about. This isn't just something that walked across his desk and he decided he wanted to look into further. This was a secret cabinet document, as all these hundreds, if not thousands, of documents out of 17 departments would be.
And there's a reason they are secret. There's a reason that cabinet has responsibility and a right to see these documents and judge their validity. And the members of the opposition realize this.
