Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. McCain, you've talked about the importance of a role for both the company and the authority, and I think that's really important.
When we look back at SARS, we had shared understanding, shared responsibility, and shared lessons learned, so one of my greatest concerns is in looking at the chronology of events and seeing the repeated delay between the time information was gathered and the time it was shared. I'll provide some examples.
There was an increase in listeriosis cases in June and July; the first notification among partners was July 29. There were delays in sending samples. Toronto Public Health sent 11 samples on July 21, Ontario received them on July 22, that lab sent them on July 23, and they were received at the reference laboratory on July 24. The public health division detected an increase in reported cases of listeriosis on July 25. They requested additional data on July 28.
On July 21, the public health division asked the listeria reference laboratory to prioritize food samples submitted a week earlier. On the 24th.... As a result of the additional information entered by public health units retrospectively, public health identified 16 cases of listeriosis in the month of July.
Was there a delay in entering data? Was there not enough data entered? What is a reasonable time in which to enter data when the delay of a day can make a tremendous difference during an outbreak?
I'll give you a few more. On August 11, Ontario's central public health reported two open packages of meat cold cuts had tested positive for listeria. The Halton regional health department issued an advisory to local homes about a possible link. There was no other warning. CFIA informed the public health division and PHAC on August 13 that Maple Leaf was the manufacturer. Why was it two days later?
I could go on and on. Why didn't CFIA post a warning to its website until August 17, five days later? What other methods did it take to inform the public?
I have many other examples. I won't continue with them. I want to bring it back to you. You said there should be shared responsibility. You've talked about your responsibility. I'm wondering if you can comment on the delays that seemed to happen in many areas.