Thank you, Mr. Allen.
I think you are paraphrasing what Ms. Swan said in her testimony. I've actually had a chance to review and read a lot of that. I question the way you've worded it. So I would suggest you go back and read it again.
You are quite right, in that there are a number of players involved in food safety. It depends on what you're talking about, where you're talking about it, and so on. There are a number of different players, including whoever is working with that chicken on the kitchen counter before it goes on the barbeque. That's a major, major component of it.
A lot of what CFIA does and did over the years is reactionary. They came in to mop up after the spill. Some of the new regulatory powers and policies that have been asked of them, designed by government and implemented by government, ask them to be more proactive when it comes to inspecting produce coming in from offshore, or inspecting different things at different levels.
You would also recognize the fact that Canada is not an island in a global community. The situation that we face as a government, and that regulatory bodies like CFIA face when it comes to economies of our industry, is that we have to make sure that our regulations are not burdensome. They have to get the job done without adding extra layers of cost and time delay when we're talking about “best before” products and so on, whether it's meat, vegetables, or so forth.
You're absolutely right that there is always that quandary. I've heard this from producers when it comes to an export situation and they'll ask me, “Who the heck does CFIA work for? Because they are tougher on me.” Well, that's the nature of being a regulatory agency. Sometimes you do have to be tough to enforce those regulations.
I think we have learned a lot from this, as we do from every situation. CFIA always does a retrospective report whenever there's a situation such as this or even lesser situations. They always do that and then they always adjust. They come back to government to say we need this addressed, we need this policy changed, we need new regulations in this area, and then we go to work as a government. Most of those things come back through the agriculture or health committee and we strive to build a better system. It's never a done deal; it's always a work in progress. We can consistently work day and night to do a better job.