Evidence of meeting #9 for Subcommittee on Food Safety in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was inspectors.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
Yes, you are. We always have witnesses for two hours. I see in the agenda now that it's only an hour and a half, but that's typical of you, Mr. Chair. Okay, that's fine.
Thank you, Mr. Kingston.
5:30 p.m.
Cypress Hills—Grasslands, CPC
We've had a number of witnesses here for an hour and a half; that's what we've done consistently over the last two weeks. Mr. Easter has left some of those meetings, so he wasn't here and may not know that, but the reality is that most of the witnesses have been an hour and a half.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
Mr. Anderson, that's a falsehood, and you know it. I've been here at every meeting.
Do you want to go back to my letter, which you suggest denied these two witnesses? I believe I said in that letter, for two hours, from 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock. Now, Mr. Chair, you can't have it both ways. You denied those two witnesses, because you said you interpreted it to mean we only wanted Mr. Kingston, but in the very same letter I said he should be here for two hours.
Is that correct, Mr. Chair?
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
You may have said that, but I'm going to tell you, Mr. Easter, that I haven't talked to the clerk, who isn't here—we have a sub in—and he'll have to speak to this. I can only presume that because he has three sessions on tonight, he made a decision to go with an hour and a half. I did not ask him to do that.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
Mr. Chair, let me tell you that when we started this committee, the committee was supposed to be able to meet from 4 o'clock in the afternoon until 10 o'clock at night. We're going to be well done before 10 o'clock tonight, no matter what, and we have not met one night until 10 o'clock. Are you providing cover as chair for the government too, or what's happening here?
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Mr. Easter, we've been trying to get everything scheduled and have had a number of issues with getting witnesses here, as you well know when you quit playing politics with it, because of the H1N1.
Thank you, Mr. Kingston, for being here. We'll recess for five to ten minutes to get the new witnesses in.
5:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Order, please.
We'll proceed with our second segment of tonight's meeting. We have members here from the CFIA. We have Ms. Airth, Ms. Fowler, Mr. Irons, and Mr. Stamatakis. Thank you very much to all of you for being here.
I understand that there are no presentations. Am I correct in that? You're here to answer questions.
So with no further ado, I'll turn it over to Mr. Easter first. You have seven minutes.
5:40 p.m.
Liberal
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, folks, for coming.
My first question is to you, Ms. Airth. I'm just looking at the witness list here. Are you with management at CFIA? Where are you located?
5:40 p.m.
Catherine Airth Associate Vice-President, Operations, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Yes, I'm located in Ottawa. I'm the associate vice-president of the operations branch with the CFIA.
5:40 p.m.
Liberal
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
What we have then is three or four inspectors.
Don, are you an inspector, or are you an overall supervisor in Toronto?
5:40 p.m.
Don Irons Food Processing Supervisor, Complex 3 - Toronto, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
I'm a processing supervisor.
5:40 p.m.
Food Processing Supervisor, Complex 3 - Toronto, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
I don't on a regular basis.
5:40 p.m.
Liberal
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
One of the problems we had when I used to be on the fisheries committee was that fisheries officers would be fearful of telling us the truth about the system if managers were present. What we had to do in that case was to hold in camera meetings without the supervisors there.
Let me ask you this way. I've been led to believe that the witnesses who are before us today were invited to Ottawa last week. Is that correct?
5:45 p.m.
Food Processing Supervisor, Complex 3 - Toronto, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
That's correct.
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
It's understandable that you would meet with the CFIA officials, but I believe you also met with Department of Justice officials. Is that correct?
5:45 p.m.
Food Processing Supervisor, Complex 3 - Toronto, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Yes, we did.
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
I would ask CFIA management why that would happen. Why would witnesses coming before this committee be asked to meet with Department of Justice officials and senior management of CFIA prior to coming before this committee?
5:45 p.m.
Associate Vice-President, Operations, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Perhaps I could clarify a little bit.
They weren't asked to meet with senior management of CFIA. They were invited to meet with Department of Justice lawyers, and that possibility would be offered to any CFIA employee asked to appear at a parliamentary committee, to receive additional information, because some of our staff don't work in the Ottawa context or in the Ottawa area. We thought this process would be new to them. If they wanted to meet with Department of Justice lawyers, these people were available just to give them a bit of information about how parliamentary committees work and how they could present as being public servants.
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
Just to be clear then, the inspectors who are here—and I don't really want to put the inspectors on the spot—shouldn't be fearful of intimidation by management or fearful for their jobs should they say something that management disagrees with?