Agriculture Committee on Aug. 26th, 2009

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Mr. Christopherson, you've got the floor.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Then the Liberal vice-chair, it was necessary--

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair. Just so Mr. Christopherson doesn't get himself into any more trouble than he already is in, you cannot refer to what happened in an in camera meeting. You cannot. That is a point of privilege to members of Parliament. It has happened once already on the opposition side; we let it go by. He's clearly referred to what happened in an in camera meeting and that is very inappropriate.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Good point. I think I heard it from both sides, and I think we should all be reminded that whatever happens in camera stays in camera.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

I hear the point, Chair, but I do not accept that it was some kind of secret. As far as I know, you're still in the chair, and as far as I know, Larry Miller's still not here. Unless I'm in some kind of alternate universe, that's the reality in public, and it has nothing to do with what we talked about in camera.

Now, if I may proceed, we can get on with the witnesses. Thank you.

The vice-chair is now in the chair, and the purpose is that it now gives the government de facto majority control. That is not reflective of the House. The Canadian people did not elect a majority Conservative government, and if they wonder what it will look like if they ever do, watch the roughshod that's going on here.

That leads me to my second point, which is also the reason I'm going to vote against this motion. And the government is making sure that we're voting on this first. At the end of this, it says there's a view that we don't need a public inquiry. They say there's no need for a public inquiry because of, what, 50 hours, 878 pages of documentation? Yet not one of them is saying that this meeting shouldn't happen, that somehow this expenditure of time and money and effort is okay. The reason they'll make it okay, Chair, is that by passing this motion ahead of time, no matter what information comes out of the questioning, even if the public concludes by watching that it's obvious we need a public inquiry, the position of the committee will have already been taken. That's going to happen because the government members are going to ram this through using their artificial majority.

My last point is that if we really wanted to have the most productive meeting, then we would have ensured that Ms. Weatherill was here to present her reports, since she's done all that work, and secondly, that the minister was here, since most of the unanswered questions, or many of them, are around the actions of the government, and specifically the minister of the day.

Thank you, Chair.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Thank you very much, Mr. Christopherson.

We're going to bring this to a vote. I'd like to hear from Mrs. Swan this afternoon before she leaves, so let's make it quick, if you don't mind, Mr. Lemieux.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

It will be quick, Chair. I just want to address what Mr. Christopherson said.

The first thing is that the opposition set up this meeting. We voted in favour of it, but they're the ones who called the meeting.

Second, I don't understand why he's up in arms over commending Ms. Weatherill, as the independent investigator, on the excellent report that she did.

Third, the opposition is calling into question her very credibility, and I say shame on them for that. She is an independent investigator, and her own comments state, “I have been able to conduct my investigation independently and impartially. There has been no interference from any party whatsoever.” She also pointed out that everyone who was asked to participate agreed to the interview. Chair, her credibility is being questioned here by the opposition, and it's inappropriate.

Fourth, Mr. Christopherson has said many times that he's not part of this regular committee and he wasn't here for the previous meetings. That's absolutely right. He doesn't really know what he's talking about, because he was never part of the food safety subcommittee and he was never part of the agricultural standing committee. So it's fine that he vents like this, but I want to draw to the public's attention that he hasn't sat in on any of these meetings. He has no idea what he's talking about.

Thank you, Chair.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, all my remarks were about what happened today, and I've been here for every moment, so put it where it belongs.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

I think that was a little heavy, Mr. Lemieux, but anyway, let's bring this to a vote. Of course, we'll probably get a recorded vote, as usual, if the clerk will go through this.

[The Clerk]

Is that the will of the committee?

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Is it the will of the committee that we go to a vote?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Clerk]

Would you like me to read the motion?

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

We'll do the same procedure as before.

[The Clerk]

The motion as amended reads as follows:

That the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food would like to commend Sheila Weatherill, the independent investigator into last summer's listeriosis outbreak, for her excellent work. Ms. Weatherill's indepth examination has provided Canadians with a complete and comprehensive review of the events of last summer, and recommendations that will improve Canada's food safety system. Due to this extensive review, the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food is of the view that no public inquiry is necessary.

(Motion as amended agreed to: yeas 6; nays 5)

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Okay. That's it for that.

Mr. Lemieux.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

I would ask that this decision be reported to the House at the first available opportunity.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

At your request.

Now we're going to go to witnesses.

[A voice]

Is it agreed to?

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Are all agreed to take this to the House? It's a standard procedure.

Do we vote on that too?

I'm sorry, there is no consent.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Chair, do we need a vote? Then I put forward a motion that the passage of the previous motion and its contents be reported to the House at the first available opportunity.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

Mr. Chair, I want it to be clear that this is the opposition stalling this meeting. There have been many issues we've lost where we've still agreed to use the traditional procedure of this--

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

We're going to try to move on the best we can here. Let's bring it to a vote.

The vote is that we report it to the House at the first opportunity.

(Motion agreed to: yeas 6; nays 5)

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

We have only 35 minutes left for this meeting. We were notified that Ms. Swan, the president of the CFIA, has a few minutes. There are also some other witnesses who are not going to speak but are available for any comments.

We'll start off with Ms. Swan, followed by Mr. Kingston, and then see how it goes.

[Carole Swan, President, Canadian Food Inspection Agency]

Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and committee members.

As noted, I will have to leave at 4:45 p.m. However, Dr. Brian Evans, who is the executive vice-president of the CFIA, and other senior officials are here to answer the committee's questions as long as you would like to have them here.

I have a few brief remarks. I want to read into the record a few of the activities that the CFIA has been undertaking.

We have taken immediate action to investigate the circumstances of the outbreak and find ways to improve our food safety system to reduce the likelihood that similar tragedies will happen.

Our activities have included tightened and improved food safety controls in federally registered plants that produce ready-to-eat meat products. The enhanced requirements focus on early detection, reporting, and the control of listeria risks by both government and industry.

Ready-to-eat meat plant operators are now required to conduct more rigorous mandatory listeria testing and immediately report any positive findings to the CFIA.

We are verifying the effectiveness that plant operators take to respond to positive listeria findings, plus reinforcing and strengthening our verification of industry control measures through a program of environmental and end-product testing. To support this initiative, the CFIA is training its staff to implement these new directives effectively and consistently.

We are also ensuring that listeria controls in imported ready-to-eat meat products are equivalent to the new Canadian directives.

The agency has also convened an academic advisory panel to provide expert advice on a variety of topics. One of the first key tasks of the panel was to review and comment on the new listeria directives.

We have also increased laboratory capacity and research into the development and validation of rapid test methods, and there is ongoing work to increase capacity to conduct genetic fingerprinting.

In terms of more recent actions taken, both the Weatherill report and the report of the Food Safety Subcommittee put special focus on greater collaboration between all of the players in food safety.

The CFIA is working to improve collaboration with other jurisdictions, as evidenced by the work that is underway with the provinces to refine the Foodborne Ilness Outbreak Response Protocol, to make it more effective. To exercise our ability to work more tightly with other food safety partners, five mock FPT food safety exercises have been conducted.

A federal/provincial/territorial food safety committee has been established which will developed action plans in three key areas: enhanced surveillance, pathogen reduction in meat and poultry and a common national meat hygiene standard.

The CFIA Meat Hygiene Manuals have been updated and are now being prepared for publication.

With the understanding that industry is a key player in the food safety system in Canada, the CFIA is working with an industry working group on Industry Best Practices for control of Listeria monocytogenes. The target date for this group to report is fall 2009.

Canada has further formalized working relationships with the US Food and Drug Administration to both share information on food safety investigations and recalls and to collaborate on food safety initiatives of joint interest, such as risk profiling and fresh fruit and vegetable safety.

In addition, we have entered into an agreement on the sharing of training materials to ensure a consistent approach to best practices.

Mr. Chair, the CFIA acted to address the food safety concerns of Canadians. Much good work has already been done, yet we would be the first to acknowledge that more remains to be done. We will continue to work with our food safety partners to review and consider the reports of the subcommittee and of the independent investigator. These reports have guided and will continue to guide our future activities in these areas.