Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Minister, for being here today along with the officials.
I'm sure most of you realize that XL Foods Ltd. is in my riding in the city of Brooks. I want to thank you, first of all, Minister, for keeping me up to date on a regular basis, on a daily basis, including weekends, with what was going on in the facility. It was important for me and certainly for my constituency.
I also want to thank CFIA. You had stated that this facility should not be reopened until it could be recertified to make sure that it met all the standards. I believe that was the correct decision, and I support that 100%.
I've had the opportunity to give a couple of speeches, Minister, on this facility, and certainly on Bill S-11. I know the opposition has talked about things a number of times, and made a lot of noise about this, particularly around deficit reduction. I belive that CFIA’s reduction is $56 million, over time, and I understand that this is offset by $52 million in new dollars. That's what the opposition has said, and it complained that in fact inspectors have been cut. I understand that these are transfers of meat inspectors from CFIA to the provinces of B.C., Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, as federal inspectors were doing provincial work.