Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, folks, for coming.
You people, or certainly the processors, are from the part of the food chain that's under somewhat of an investigation, I guess; the horticulture or the vegetable industry, not so much.
I want to begin by saying why we're holding this committee hearing. Basically, the opposition had no confidence in the kind of investigation that the Government of Canada set up through Ms. Weatherill. She doesn't have the authority to subpoena documents or to subpoena witnesses, and she reports to the very minister who is really, to a great extent, being investigated. And this week we found out, in response to information that she provided to this committee, that six of the senior staff come from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Canadian health authority, and Environment Canada. Three of those are departments that are really under investigation.
So I will tell you up front that while your information is very important in terms of moving forward, our concern with this committee and with the investigator is that they're not really going to get to the responsibility and accountability of what happened, which cost 22 lives.
I had to point that out in the beginning. Now--