That's a good question. I'm not sure what the practical impact would be. If the practical impact were essentially to get away from looking at countries that are comparable to Canada and that have strict standards, then I would be a little more reticent. I'm not sure which agencies you're referring to, or the government would be referring to. I understand that some countries' situations may not be truly comparable to Canada's. For example, we may be talking about tropical countries that, in some cases, have different situations with regards to contaminants that may be linked to climate and so on. I can understand where it would not be useful to make comparisons with those countries. However, my only caveat is not to provide the minister with so much discretion that the bill really has no teeth. I don't know if there's a workable compromise that could still allow the bill to have meaning, but I understand that we don't want to overburden Health Canada with making comparisons that are not necessarily relevant.
On March 28th, 2018. See this statement in context.