Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to speak on Bill C-60, the Canadian food inspection agency act.
The creation of this agency is a good example of the government's commitment to better service for Canadians, food safety and that quality remains a top priority for Canadians.
An integrated approach at the federal level, as provided by this new bill, will improve our overall efficiency and effectiveness. Canada enjoys the enviable international reputation for excellence in producing and supplying some of the safest and highest quality food products in the world. A major pillar of that reputation is our stringent world class inspection and quarantine service.
However, mounting pressures including increased imports, changing export markets, new technologies, higher rates of production and continuing fiscal restraints are demanding new ways of delivering food inspection and animal and plant health programs that are more efficient, more scientific and more internationally compatible.
Today one-quarter of Canada's food production goes for export while one-fifth of the food we eat is imported. As part of our responsibility for ensuring a safe food supply for Canadians, we are involved in more than 1,000 inspection and quarantine agreements worldwide.
Here in Canada an integral network of responsibilities has developed over the years covering food production, manufacturing, distribution, retail, import and export and involving industry at all levels and government.
At the federal level, three different departments have roles to play, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Health Canada and
Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The introduction of this bill represents an innovative step forward by the Canadian government in its desire to get things right.
As the Minister of Finance announced in the 1996 budget, Bill C-60 proposes the creation of a Canadian food inspection agency to be responsible for delivering and enforcing all federally mandated inspection and quarantine services and animal and plant health programs.
The agency, which could be up and running by early 1997, will be a stand alone organization reporting to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. At the same time, responsibility for setting food safety standards and auditing the enforcement of food safety regulations will be consolidated and enhanced within Health Canada. This re-organization will have many benefits for all stakeholders in the food sector, consumers, industry and governments.
It will reduce overlap and duplication between the federal departments and set the stage for a more integrated Canadian food inspection and quarantine service. It will provide a single focal point for food inspection and quarantine services and help make the government more responsive to the needs of its clients. It will ensure the continued safety of Canada's food supply and help maintain our international reputation for safety and quality. It will facilitate the use of more efficient and up to date food inspection and quarantine technologies, and it will help lay the foundation for enhanced Canadian access to critical import international marketplace.
Federal food inspection services and animal and plant health programs currently involve over 5,000 people and cost more than $400 million a year. Consolidating these services in a single agency will allow us to achieve savings of $44 million annually and will make it easier for the industry, the provinces and the consumers to deal with the Government of Canada on food inspect and quarantine matters.
Let me underline that food safety will continue to be our top priority. In fact, the fundamental principle of this re-organization is that food safety cannot and will not be compromised. This means that Canadians will be assured of continuing high safety standards and stringent enforcement of our food safety regulations.
At the same time, the new agency will bring a more unified approach to enforcement of federal food inspection and quarantine regulations across this country. The agency will also help Canadian food firms implement a hazard analysis and a critical control point for the HACCP system.
Canada is a world leader in the implementation of HACCP which is internationally recognized as the best system available to ensure the safety of food products. Our department has $11 million in adaptation funding to help small and medium size businesses adapt to the system.
By continuing under the new agency to move to more scientific and updated systems such as HACCP we will achieve greater assurance of food safety for Canadians and improve international market access for Canadian businesses. That market access is another very important benefit of the new agency.
With more liberal trading agreements such as NAFTA and the World Trade Organization as well as rapid population and income growth in developing regions like Asia Pacific, international trade in all food products is booming. The Canadian food inspection agency will ensure that exporters of different types of food products will be able to deal with one contact for inspection and quarantine services.
By moving forward with harmonization of international standards the agency will help improve the compatibility of food inspection and quarantine requirements and reduce the possibility of artificial trade barriers based on sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures, an increasing problem for Canadian exporters.
These changes in the federal food inspection and quarantine services are the result of two years of extensive consultations with industry and the provinces. Over 60,000 newsletters and fact sheets have been distributed to stakeholders around the country. The proposed agency has received widespread support from the private sector and provinces.
At our annual meeting in July, federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers not only offered unanimous support for the Canadian food inspection agency, they also endorsed further development of a more comprehensive Canadian food inspection system that would involve all levels of government and which would respect appropriate governmental jurisdictions.
A Canadian food inspection system implementation group of federal, provincial, territorial and municipal representatives is now working with the industry in a variety of other areas which include the national dairy code, a food retail established code, a meat, poultry and fish code, and a transportation practices protocol.
The drive toward a Canadian food inspection system, one of eight initiatives to improve and strengthen the efficiency of our Canadian federation, was highlighted by the first ministers last June as the leading example of how we are renewing the Canadian federation and improving the way that provinces and the Canadian government work together in the best interests of all citizens.
As we continue to move forward on the long overdue reorganization of Canada's food inspection and quarantine services, our challenge and our commitment is to ensure that Canada maintains
its high standards of food safety and quality while improving the efficiency and reducing the cost to the taxpayer.
I believe the creation of the Canadian food inspection agency will be a major step in that direction.