Health Committee on June 17th, 2020

[Fabian Murphy]

That statement came from a supervisor who said, not that there were no issues, but that the plant had put in a process in order to protect workers at the Cargill plant to mitigate the hazards. They were going to implement social distancing, they were putting plexiglass barriers between the workstations and they were issuing face shields.

The statement came from a supervisor in the Alberta region to try to reassure our inspectors that it was safe to go back in and go to work.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Was that before or after you said that half of 2,000 workers and half of the inspectors at that Cargill plant became infected?

[Fabian Murphy]

I believe it was before that.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

What's the situation now at the Cargill plant?

[Fabian Murphy]

The situation now is that Cargill is back to production. I believe they're back to full line speeds again. They're monitoring things very closely and we're not hearing that there's another outbreak, or there aren't a lot of new positive cases of COVID-19. That could be for a number of reasons. We're not seeing it across the country, so perhaps it's because of the time of year and things are settling down.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I want to ask you quickly about virtual inspections. I understand there might be a move by CFIA to not have in-person inspection, but virtual inspection.

What's your view on that?

[Fabian Murphy]

I have heard that's something that CFIA is looking into. To be quite honest, I'm skeptical, because our inspectors actually can stop the line when the carcass is going by. If they see an anomaly, they can manipulate the carcass to look closely.

It's going to be interesting to see how that would happen, but as far as I'm concerned, if I'm doing an inspection on something, I want to be there in person.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

That brings round two to a close.

To our panel, thank you for sharing your time with us, and all your expertise and all your great answers to our questions.

We will now suspend the meeting as we bring in our second panel.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Welcome back, everyone. We are resuming meeting 28 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health. We are operating pursuant to the order of reference of May 26, 2020. The committee is resuming its briefing on the Canadian response to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

To our witnesses, before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name, except during questioning, when the questioner will indicate to whom the question is addressed. When you are ready to speak, you can click on the microphone icon to activate your mike. All comments should be addressed through the chair.

Interpretation in this video conference will work very much the way it does in a regular committee meeting. You have the choice at the bottom of your screen of floor, English or French. As you are speaking, if you plan on alternating from one language to the other, you will need also to switch the interpretation channel so that it aligns with the language you are speaking. You may want to allow for a very short pause when switching languages. When you are not speaking, your mike should be on mute.

I would like to welcome our second panel of witnesses. From the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, we have Ms. Colleen Barnes, vice-president of policy and programs, and Ms. Theresa Iuliano, vice-president of operations.

For the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, please go ahead. You have 10 minutes for a statement.

[Theresa Iuliano, Vice-President, Operations, Canadian Food Inspection Agency]

Good afternoon. I'd like to thank the committee for the opportunity to talk about this important issue. More specifically, I appreciate being able to provide details on how the CFIA supports the Canadian response.

As you all know, the COVID-19 pandemic is a human crisis that requires governments and industry to work together and to be agile, caring and smart. In April 2020 the Government of Canada committed $20 million to the CFIA to support critical food inspections that help ensure that Canadians will have continued access to safe, high-quality food to feed their families.

The CFIA is a science-based regulatory agency. In the face of COVID-19, the CFIA took immediate and decisive action to protect the integrity of the Canadian food supply and to protect our employees.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I'm sorry, Ms. Iuliano, the sound is way weak. Could you speak louder?

[Theresa Iuliano]

I'll turn it over to Colleen Barnes, my colleague. I believe she has better sound quality.

[Colleen Barnes, Vice-President, Policy and Programs, Canadian Food Inspection Agency]

Thank you.

Theresa was at the point of saying that CFIA is a science-based regulatory agency and that in the face of COVID, the agency took immediate and decisive action to protect the integrity of Canada’s food supply and to protect our employees. These are the areas that we would like to address today in our remarks.

To support a stable food supply and the work of thousands of food businesses, CFIA has taken steps to maintain vital inspection services. The agency has hired 144 new inspectors and 44 veterinarians as of June 11. We've welcomed back some who recently retired, reassigned staff to priority areas and funded more overtime. This is being done to maintain capacity, and these measures enable us to continue fulfilling our mission without placing undue burden on our employees.

CFIA is also working with some provincial counterparts to train and equip provincial inspectors to provide CFIA with inspection support on a temporary, as-needed basis.

Mr. Chair, you can see how an effective response requires a collaborative approach. CFIA is monitoring and responding to the pandemic by consulting regularly with employees, unions, provincial and territorial partners, international trading partners and industry.

Whether it is on the front lines or in remote work, safeguarding the wellness of CFIA employees is a top priority. When COVID-19 outbreaks occurred in meat slaughterhouses, CFIA told these businesses they needed to put a response plan in place and provide a safe workplace for inspectors. When outbreaks occurred, we worked with local and provincial public health authorities, labour ministries, occupational health and safety experts, unions and staff to ensure that appropriate measures were in place before we resumed the inspection service.

To further protect staff, CFIA created a health self-assessment tool for inspectors, expanded leave options, and reduced face-to-face interactions between field staff and industry.

For situations in which inspectors are not able to physically distance, the agency has procured masks, face shields and other protective equipment for critical service employees.

All of this, together with risk mitigation measures put in place by industry, is producing positive results, with no new COVID cases reported among CFIA employees since early May.

Now we want to talk a little bit about our work with industry.

To ease the burden on industry and support the food supply for Canadians, CFIA has introduced temporary compliance flexibilities. The changes include suspending some CFIA compliance activities for non-food safety labelling requirements and delaying compliance activities for parts of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations that come into force in July of this year.

Working with the provinces, we have implemented a protocol that can be used in the case of meat shortages, which would allow provincially regulated meat to cross into other provinces.

In addition, given the impacts on stakeholders that we are seeing, CFIA has delayed the timelines for all regulatory initiatives in our forward regulatory plan.

Further, CFIA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have agreed to provide a six-month extension for approved facilities to continue to export certain animal products and pet foods from one country to the other. This extension will help to maintain bilateral trade during the pandemic.

Notwithstanding this flexibility, industry remains responsible for the safety and quality of the food that it produces, imports and exports. Despite the current pandemic situation, CFIA will continue to exercise its enforcement discretion as appropriate.

For me, this evolving situation highlights the importance of continued collaboration and communication between CFIA, industry partners and stakeholders.

There is more work to come in order to stay ahead of the pandemic, to be sure. Every day, the CFIA, our partners and the industries we regulate deal with unprecedented challenges from COVID-19. It demands the best of us.

For the CFIA, we will continue to monitor the pandemic closely, rethink procedures and innovate where possible as we work with our stakeholders towards a common goal—to carry on delivering the front-line services that support our way of life in Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you.

We will now hear from the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food. You have 10 minutes.

[Frédéric Seppey, Assistant Deputy Minister, Market and Industry Services Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My colleagues and I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the agriculture and agri-food sector and the Government of Canada's response to date.

The current situation is stressful for agri-food operators. Our food production system has nevertheless shown strong resilience since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring the continued and reliable provision of food for Canadians.

The food sector experienced unanticipated declines in demand from some industries such as food services and spikes in demand from retailers. This created short-term challenges across the supply chain.

The government has been working with processors, producers and the provinces to rapidly assess shifting demands, share critical information and find solutions to address the impacts of COVID-19 on the agriculture and agri-food sector.

We witnessed significant stresses in the system earlier in the crisis. For example, some meat processing plants had to significantly reduce slaughter capacity or temporarily close owing to impacts of COVID-19. This presents challenges for livestock producers upstream, needing to feed animals for longer periods of time without a destination for processing.

The horticulture sector is another critical component of Canada's food system. Our food supply in fruits and vegetables is highly dependent on access to labour, trade and the timely transportation of goods. It is also vulnerable to weather, disease and insect pests, as well as access to crucial inputs such as bees for pollination.

On the health and safety side, workers in the food supply, from the field and the barn to the processing plant and beyond to retail stores, are playing an essential and critical role in securing our food supply every day.

To ensure their health and safety, food processors, among others, across the country have adopted new measures including investments in additional personal protective equipment, temperature testing of employees with scanners, and retrofitting facilities to include plexiglass shields on processing lines.

In addition, Agriculture Canada, with the help of the Public Health Agency of Canada, has developed an evergreen document bringing together existing and relevant federal public health guidance for the agriculture and agri-food sector to help the sector implement measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

The availability of a range of personal protective equipment for the food sector remains a challenge. For example, the use of masks is a common practice in meat-processing facilities to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. However, some food processors, particularly the smaller facilities, are facing challenges procuring stable supplies of PPE.

As the growing season is under way, farmers are also facing challenges accessing the PPE they need to use on a daily basis to protect themselves from hazards, such as inhaling spores when handling and caring for mushrooms, or when using crop protection products.

The Canadian and global supply of PPE is slowly growing. The government and provinces have been very active in working to increase the Canadian supply of PPE. They have developed a number of mechanisms to improve access through supply hubs and programs to support PPE purchases, which we hope will help to alleviate some of the pressures the sector is currently facing.

I would like to turn to Mr. Jurgutis to continue on our behalf.

Thank you.

[Steven Jurgutis, Director General, Policy, Planning and Integration Directorate, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Thank you, Frédéric.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for welcoming me back to this committee.

I'll start with temporary foreign workers, TFWs and labour. Labour challenges have been an ongoing issue for the sector. We are continuing to look at ways to address these challenges. Attracting Canadians to certain jobs in the sector has proven difficult. Despite efforts to increase wages, with provincial and territorial recruitment campaigns and job portals, the fact remains that we rely on TFWs to fill critical jobs in the sector.

Early on in the pandemic, the Government of Canada recognized the need to ensure that TFWs could continue to safely enter Canada, and worked quickly to put in place an exemption from travel restrictions. While ESDC and IRCC are responsible for administering the TFW program, AAFC is working closely with them, and has put in place a team to assist with logistical issues and to share information. We also work closely with our provincial and territorial counterparts and employers to help get TFWs into Canada.

As of mid-June, there are close to 32,000 TFWs in Canada, with more than 21,000 of those having arrived since the travel exemptions were granted. Despite this progress, there remains a gap in the total number of TFWs, when compared to 2019, and a risk that shortfalls in labour could negatively impact harvesting capacity.

At the same time, the sector has been impacted by a number of COVID-19 outbreaks. Most recently, there have been increased reports of outbreaks on farms in Ontario and other parts of the country. We were saddened to learn about the recent deaths of two workers from Mexico. We understand Mexico's recent decision to temporarily pause the arrival of some workers to certain farms in Canada while it examines information about the outbreaks and measures being taken to protect all workers from further spread. We will work closely with the Mexican government, provincial authorities and the sector to ensure that workers can continue to arrive and stay safe while in Canada.

Testing and inspections are key elements to identify origins of outbreaks, protect workers and prevent future outbreaks. Provinces are taking action by engaging with provincial public health agencies and increasing the frequency of inspections. Ensuring the health and safety of all workers, whether they are domestic or foreign, is a top priority.

In response to the immense pressure being placed on Canadian agri-businesses and producers, the Government of Canada has created several initiatives to support the sector. For example, the Government of Canada announced a $77.5-million emergency processing fund to help producers and processors.

Measures have been put in place to fund up to 700 new positions for youth in the agriculture industry through the youth employment and skills program. A total of $50 million was allocated for the mandatory isolation support for temporary foreign workers program. An additional $5 billion in lending capacity was made available through Farm Credit Canada. An investment of $100 million was made to improve access to food for Canadians under the local food infrastructure fund. A total of $50 million was also earmarked for the surplus food rescue program, and the list goes on.

The sector will continue to face challenges, which are expected to continue over the medium term. We have also seen farmers, processors and retailers adapt to help put new protocols in place, respect new rules and regulations, and find new ways to continue to ensure a supply of safe food for Canadians.

The health and safety of agriculture and agri-food producers, processors and manufacturers, as well as the safety of all Canadians, remains a priority as we continue to explore new ways to adapt.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you for your statements. We will now start our questioning.

We will do two rounds of questions. We will begin round one with Dr. Kitchen, for six minutes.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Thank you, everybody, for being here today and for your presentations.

I'm going to start with the CFIA. I just have a couple of questions and clarifications. You talked about how the CFIA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture provided a six-month extension. When was that six-month extension going to expire?

[Colleen Barnes]

I don't have that exact date with me, but we can get it to the committee. I'll have to follow up.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

When was it established?

[Colleen Barnes]

Again, I'll have to get back to you with the date.

What happens is that the U.S. comes up and audits our facilities from time to time. The extension was in a period when they wouldn't be coming, because no regulators are really travelling right now to do these kinds of audits. It was a grace period, if you will, when they wouldn't shut off trade but would allow that trade to continue.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

If it was done back in March, six months is almost up.

Anyway, I'll go on. You did bring in an issue. You went to companies, in particular Cargill, and said they had to have a response plan in place. Is that not CFIA's job, to make certain that a response plan was in place even before the COVID virus started?

[Theresa Iuliano]

We promoted guidance to industry very early in the pandemic indicating that they should have a response plan in place to respond to any outbreaks in their establishments, and that was in place very early on in the pandemic.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Part of PHAC's position is for it to have established protocols in place for hospitals, etc., as well as food agencies. I'm surprised that such a response plan would not be in place prior to COVID actually even coming into existence.