Madam Speaker, before asking my question this evening, I will briefly review the situation to show what led the Official Opposition to raise this issue.
The whole thing started when we learned that the director of the Health Canada Bureau of Veterinary Drugs, who had been on leave without pay for about a year, was lobbying on the Hill to convince some government members of the merits of the hormone called somatotropin. You will remember this hormone stimulates milk production in cows. This issue raises many questions.
The main question is: How can the minister allow the director of the bureau currently examining the possibility of releasing this hormone for market to "pressure" his colleagues or at least try to convince them of the merits of this hormone while on leave without pay?
He is still the director even though he is on leave without pay. Let us be clear on the principle of leave without pay. The person on leave whithout pay does not lose his or her seniority, and continues to be entitled to his or her insurance plan, pension, disability insurance and everything else.
Even if this individual is on leave without pay, he knows the staff of this bureau. We find the minister's inaction on this rather deplorable.
This week, I wanted the minister to tell us why she did not respond before and what she intends to do about this director who, in my opinion, is unduly lobbying certain members of Parliament, in view of his previous functions.
I would like the minister or her parliamentary secretary to tell us whether her departmental staff feels that this is normal and what action they will take immediately to stop this activity, so that the health department can have some credibility with the public. This department has extremely serious responsibilities, and I do not think that we should play around with such things.
I would like the parliamentary secretary to tell us what the Department of Health intends to do about that.