He said he had a chat with her, but was he interviewed? Could the parliamentary secretary bring that to committee? We need that information, and it seems strange that he has not.
In any event, to be brutally honest to the officials from CFIA, I had more confidence in the Canadian Food Inspection Agency before we started this process than I do now.
I think everybody tries to do their best in the system, and I don't want to be overly critical. My point of view is that there was undue pressure on CFIA, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and others due to the political situation at the time. We can't seem to get an answer on that either. Certainly the Prime Minister and those in ministerial positions knew there was an impending election, and there seemed to be some concern over political fallout. Whether that had any influence on some of the delays that took place, I don't know. It seems to be a question we can't get answered.
I don't want people thinking this is a comment on them personally, but I do question that in this town we have a predominant majority of people in management positions who may not have come out of the industry they're supposed to be managing. In terms of senior management at CFIA, how many people are there in that level of management? What's the number? Second, how many have actually worked in the field of food inspection in their lives?
I don't want this to be taken personally by anybody, but I will admit right up front that I have a bias that in this town much of the management hasn't worked in the very industries in which they're required to act either as deputy ministers or managers. I have a problem with that, because I don't think the understanding is there on the ground.
Can you answer that question in terms of the number at the senior management level and the number who have actually worked in the field?