Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, witnesses, for coming out.
Just to be really clear at the start or as a quick preamble, Mr. Easter continually says we engineered the meetings. I think it's fit for the Canadian public to know that in fact, when the chair knew he would not be here, we offered to arrange different dates. That offer was not accepted by the opposition, and so here we are today. It was not engineered; in fact, it was engineered by them.
Second, the other comment keeps coming forward, and I know Mr. Christopherson brought it up. We talked a lot during our subcommittee, meeting after meeting, about the significant loss of life, the 22 people who died because of this and the significant debt that is felt toward those families. But I really want to be clear here. Just so that we know, Mr. McCain, in a recent editorial, said Maple Leaf was responsible for the loss of 22 lives. I quote: “We were accountable for the death of 22 Canadians.” So I don't think we need to be spending a lot of time pointing fingers and trying to instigate new.... I think what we should be doing is what we are now here for, and that's seeing what we can do to improve the process.
So I want to follow up on Mr. Christopherson's comments regarding resources, and I'll go to Mr. Evans—or maybe it's Mr. Prince, I'm not sure. When I look at a chart here regarding inspectors and inspection staff at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency from June 1997 to March 2009, if we start in 1997, the previous government actually cut the total number of inspectors. They did that for two to three years before they got even, and then there was an increase.
So I think, Mr. Christopherson, in terms of your comment on resources, I can just refer to the chart. In March 2005, there were 5,858 inspectors. In March 2006, that went to 6,121; in 2007 to 6,585; in 2008 to 6,961; and in March 2009 to 7,053. Then it is further broken down into inspection staff and field inspection staff. So each of those numbers has continually increased.
I'm not saying those are perfect numbers in terms of what should be there; I'm just asking, have we put resources forward? We have, and I think that's acknowledged by these numbers.
I also want to thank Mr. Kingston for his comments, because what he's really done is acknowledge—even though the report has just come out and the minister hasn't had a chance to respond to it yet, and he will be responding—the significant improvements that have actually been happening under the minister's direction, in collaboration and working with CFIA.
There are significant, significant improvements that have happened since the listeria outbreak and Ms. Weatherill's report has come out. One, the environmental testing that was scrapped by the previous government is now back in place. We recognize how important that is. I think one of the other ones, too, is that there have been positive tests, but there was no requirement. And I'd like you to just confirm that there'd been no requirement for the industry, in this case Maple Leaf Foods, to report a positive test. Now I understand that if there are positive tests, those have to come forward and be reported by industry to CFIA.
Can you confirm that?