Thank you very much, Chair.
Thank you to our guests for being here today.
I thank you and your members for your commitment to food safety. I appreciate the fact that you support Bill S-11 and what we're trying to accomplish here, by taking something that is good and robust and making it even better, particularly based on feedback provided by you, by the members of your organizations, and by the industry at large.
I wanted to ask a question regarding fines, because sometimes there can be confusion about fines or penalties. They basically break down into two groups, as you know. CFIA inspectors can use AMPS, which are the administrative monetary penalties where, I guess, a ticket can be written by an inspector for minor violations, serious violations, or very serious violations, but the monetary amounts are very modest. I think a minor violation is $1,300 and a very serious violation is $10,000.
Bill S-11 prescribes penalties through the court system. In other words, if someone is actually found guilty of contravening the act in certain circumstances and a judge rules on it, there are summary conviction fines and indictable offence crimes. I believe there has been a significant increase. Penalties used to be up to $250,000, if found guilty by a judge in a court of law. These have been increased to $5 million, as a maximum, and not in every case, of course. It's at the discretion of the judge, depending on the circumstances.
I wanted to ask each of you whether you feel this is reasonable, if you feel this is a positive step. What are your thoughts on that?