Health Committee on June 17th, 2020

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you for that.

Could you tell us how many farm operations have been impacted by COVID-19 across Canada to date?

[Steven Jurgutis]

I don't have that information, but that is something we can look to get back to you on as well. It would be related to the same type of information gathering.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

On your web page under compliance inspections, it says, “All Service Canada employer inspections during the COVID-19 pandemic will be conducted virtually/remotely.” Given that the Migrant Workers' Alliance has documented over 1,000 complaints of abuse for migrant workers, do you believe that virtual inspections are sufficient at this time?

[Steven Jurgutis]

Thank you for the question.

Again, it's not under the purview of our department, but I do know this is one of the areas that is currently being looked at as the situation is unfolding.

As well, from what I understand in terms of the virtual inspections, they are by video, in which inspectors are asking the employers to go to various areas of the farm to provide that documented evidence. In terms of the specifics of that, again, it would be outside of our purview.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you.

I'll go back to CFIA.

Would you be prepared to work with the union on their national plan? They outlined the five points that they would like to see, moving forward, particularly if there's an outbreak of COVID-19 in the fall. It includes a national approach, slowing down line speeds, routine testing, inspectors at one facility, and appropriate and sufficient PPE.

Is that a plan that you would commit to work with the national Agriculture Union on?

[Colleen Barnes]

Our work has been ongoing with the union, and so obviously we would continue those conversations. Some of what is in the plan is not within our purview. It's more for industry to take up.

In terms of our commitment to our employees to make sure they have PPE, we are making efforts to try to minimize the extent to which inspectors have to go from one establishment to the other. We've committed to that. Certainly, we are working on elements of that plan today with the union.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Davies. You were correct, by the way, in pointing out my error in saying you had two and a half minutes left. You actually had three and a half minutes left. I did make allowances for the translation issues, and we will continue to do that as best we can as we go forward.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

We're starting our second round with Mr. Webber.

You have five minutes, please.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My questions, through you, of course, will be directed to the CFIA.

In the testimony you shared with the committee today, you mentioned you had hired new inspectors, 144, in fact, and 44 veterinarians. You've welcomed back some recently retired individuals, reassigned staff and also funded more overtime. I assume that you probably do not have a concern with a lack of inspectors.

However, have there been challenges in meeting minimum staffing levels? Have there been absenteeism problems with food inspectors? Should we be concerned that a lack of inspectors could further disrupt the meat supply chain?

[Colleen Barnes]

Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair.

I'll start, and perhaps Theresa will want to jump in.

Really, with the investment that we received, we've been able to service all of the shifts that the sector has asked for by virtue of that investment. Our employees have been incredibly dedicated. Former meat inspectors who are now working in another area of the agency are now putting up their hands to say they'll come back to help out.

With the dedication of our staff, we have not had issues yet to keep the plants running and we anticipate that will continue. With the investment, we have that extra surge capacity to make sure we can continue to be there when we need to be.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Great. That's good news.

You also mentioned that you're working with some provincial counterparts to train and equip provincial inspectors to provide the CFIA with inspection support on a temporary basis, as needed. What type of training is unique to the federal inspectors? What specifically do you have to give them, the provincial counterparts, additional training on?

[Colleen Barnes]

One example is the law. It would be different. It's the actual provisions that would be applied if a non-compliance were observed. The inspector would have to be able to move between their former regime and the current one.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

All right, thank you.

In your testimony you said that to ease the burden on industry and to support the food supply for Canadians, CFIA has introduced temporary compliance flexibilities. The changes include suspending some CFIA compliance activities and delaying compliance activities.

Can you elaborate more on this and give us some areas with suspensions and delays of compliance?

[Colleen Barnes]

Early on in the pandemic the agency moved to its business continuity plan. We determined where we absolutely had to be to provide critical service to keep the supply chain running.

Luckily we live in Canada where we have an incredible level of food safety and high levels of compliance in just about the entire food system. We were able to dial back or postpone some of our oversight in areas of the grocery store where risks are really pretty low, such as, for example, with cookies or manufactured foods of that sort.

While COVID was running, we delayed inspections that we would have done. Now that we're starting to normalize, we're going to start those inspections back up.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Being from Alberta, I have some questions for the CFIA with respect to the fishing season that has come upon us.

What plans does the CFIA have for ensuring that we have proper food inspections in place there? I understand that physical distancing and sanitation on board boats is a unique challenge. How is the CFIA going to deal with that?

[Colleen Barnes]

We'll approach it the same way we've approached the issues in facilities producing meat. To the extent possible, inspectors will keep that two-metre distance. You're right that in some cases that's not possible, so Theresa's group will be making sure they have the adequate personal protective equipment that is going to be needed.

We'll also be looking at whether there are other ways to do the inspections, like maybe looking at records or trying to be innovative in how we do the inspections. Again, we'll be making sure the food supply continues to operate.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Great.

Recently, there have been some media reports out there saying that the most recent COVID outbreak in Beijing may be related to fish preparation boards. Do you have any information on this? Have you heard anything about this issue? If so, could you share that? Should Canadians be concerned about the transmission of a virus through any part of the food supply and preparation process?

[Colleen Barnes]

This is something we are aware of. It came up yesterday evening, I think. We have been officially notified by China, and they've asked us to make sure there's no chance of COVID-19 coming to them in products they import from Canada.

The evidence is very clear on this globally. There have been no cases of transmission of COVID-19 linked to the food supply or even to the packaging of food. Globally, regulators are very clear that this is not a pathway for the transmission of the disease. We are communicating with China, as are all regulators, because this wasn't just a Canadian issue, and we stand behind the strength of our food supply.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Webber.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

We will now go to Mr. Van Bynen for five minutes.

[Tony Van Bynen, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to all of the witnesses, who have taken the time to be here to provide us with their information.

Overall there have been 13 disease clusters and approximately 3,000 cases associated with meat and poultry plants alone. Agriculture is an area of shared jurisdiction between the federal government and the provinces and territories.

What factors have contributed to the outbreak of COVID-19 in food production facilities in Canada? What impact have these outbreaks had on the security of the food supply in Canada?

I'll direct those questions to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

[Frédéric Seppey]

Mr. Chair, I can start and perhaps Mr. Jurgutis would like to add to it.

You're absolutely right that early in the COVID-19 pandemic there were a number of highly visible cases. We have in mind the case in Quebec of Olymel, which had a major impact on the production and slaughter of hogs. Now there are very few.

In the meat sector, there are still a number of small-scale operations in certain parts of the country that have cases and are not functioning at their full capacity. However, in terms of hogs and beef, the slaughter process now is almost at full capacity. Of course, since certain operations were closed, there has been a backlog of animals in the supply, but there has been a catching up. Thanks to companies doing overtime, with additional shifts, they're able to catch up on that backlog, but it will take several months before we can catch up.

At no point did we find the situation was such that it would create a food security issue. It was more a question of maintaining the pipeline operation ongoing.

[Tony Van Bynen, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

What are the roles and responsibilities of the federal, provincial and municipal governments in responding to the COVID-19 outbreaks in the food production facilities?