Absolutely. I first met Ms. Weatherill when she was asked to take this task on. It is a formidable task to go through millions of pages of documents and come up with a report that actually builds a stronger food safety system in this country. I know she has the time, the talent, and the qualifications to do this. I only met her for about 10 or 15 minutes early on when she was just getting settled in. I have not talked to her since, but I see through media reports and the committee hearings that she's had a good response from everybody. She has not had a problem in getting access to anything and everything she wanted. She has asked me to meet with her in the coming days. I have told her, “Absolutely, let me know where and when and I will be there”. I'm quite excited to chat with her about this.
Having said that, I'm quite concerned when I keep hearing that somehow there's been political interference. I know that question has been asked of Dr. David Butler-Jones, of the CFIA, and of Sheila Weatherill. They have all denied that. All independently have said that there hasn't been any. In fact, Dr. Butler-Jones said that if this had ever happened he would have walked away and gone straight to the media with it.
I have a lot of respect for these people. They put their talents, time, and integrity on the line by dealing with politicians. If the public has any concerns out there at all, it's that politics will override the good work done by some of these investigations. That's my major concern.
I think Ms. Weatherill will weather the storm. I think she will do a great job. I'm not going to predetermine the outcome of her reports, but I can pledge to this committee and to Canadians that the recommendations that come forward through the lessons-learned reports and through the report that Ms. Weatherill will table will be followed up on and will be implemented.