Because we don't have a traceability program in Canada for seafood, which was promised, how can we determine where the salmon that comes to the parliamentary restaurant might be sourced from?
It's an approved and accepted industry in Atlantic Canada. To have this committee try to determine what the House of Commons serves in the restaurant, food that has obviously gone through all the inspection and approval processes required to be served commercially.... Any food that is sold in a restaurant or café has to go through very stringent processes that determine, number one, where the salmon may have come from, and number two, whether it is safe or not, which is another thing. I can't agree with trying to pin this down when I really doubt that the source of the salmon could be pinned down.
We've heard from groups like Oceana, which did the survey of traceability, intake or origin of seafood in retail outlets in Canada. They found, I believe, that 75% to 78% were not as they were labelled. To try to amend this motion somehow to make it applicable and workable.... I think we need to reject both the amendment and the premise that we can direct the House of Commons on what they serve.
As I stated, the industry in Atlantic Canada is promoted and welcomed by many of the provincial jurisdictions there. We don't know that the food and the salmon being served doesn't originate in those provinces.
With that, I'll turn it over to my colleagues, who may have comments on this amendment as well.
Thank you.