I understand, and my intention isn't to embarrass you with this kind of question, but these are questions that people ask us.
I also want to go back to the fact that the impression we get on this entire matter—and that's why I'm drawing a parallel—is that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency had control over management of the entire crisis when, in my view and that of the people who have spoken with us since this subcommittee was struck, Health Canada should have carried the greatest weight in the decisions made and in the coordination of this entire affair. I'm also intrigued by the fact that the agency wrote to you and told you that samples taken by Toronto Public Health were sent to Health Canada's Listeria Reference Service Laboratory, but should have been sent to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's Scarborough lab. In response to a question from me during his appearance, Dr. Butler-Jones said that you had acted correctly. And yet he signed the letter in which you are blamed for having done that. It states that it was because of that that the chance to reduce the time it took to confirm the source of contamination was lost. Mr. Jeff Farber, from Health Canada, also said that it was normal for the samples to be sent to the Health Canada lab.
How is it that, in 2009, we are still trying, after the fact, to toss the ball into our neighbour's backyard and say that he's the one who didn't do his job. I understand that we're trying to improve things, but when you talked about the lack of coordination earlier, here's a concrete example in which, after the crisis, the agencies figured they would quickly wash their hands of the whole affair and say that others hadn't done things properly. And yet when we question their representatives during their testimony—