Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate the member opposite has not followed the hearings of the special committee on this very subject. If she had, the member would have a clear understanding of the timelines which were gone over at the committee.
We have seen some of the leadership of the opposition party on the other side failing to even follow what is going on in the House of Commons. I guess I should point out that the House of Commons agriculture committee has declined to support a public inquiry, so we believe the matter has been discussed at length.
I thank the member for the opportunity to speak to all of the positive action that the government has taken since the report of the independent investigator, which came out this summer. These investments that we have made improve our ability to protect Canadians from outbreaks related to food-borne illness. That is something the previous Liberal government failed to do as the Liberals continuously gutted food safety funding during their tenure.
Indeed, to restored trust in our food safety system, our government has studied and is acting upon all of the recommendations made in the reports of the independent investigator and the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, as well as the respective lessons learned by PHAC, Health Canada and the CFIA.
The government has reviewed Canada's food safety systems and emergency response operations in the context of the outbreak and each of the lessons learned reports. The reports are detailed and frank assessments of what worked and what did not and demonstrate our government's commitment to a robust and effective food safety system.
Our Conservative government is responding quickly, professionally, tirelessly and effectively and has worked co-operatively with its partners during the outbreak investigation and the subsequent recall process. However, we recognize there are areas where we can improve, and we are acting on these. We are also moving ahead on all 57 recommendations made by the independent investigator, Sheila Weatherill, who was commended by the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food for her excellent indepth investigation.
Seventy-five million dollars is being invested over the next three years to immediately begin implementing these recommendations. Action will focus on prevention, surveillance, a detection and better response, including the hiring of 166 food safety staff, which includes the training of 70 new front line inspectors of ready-to-eat meats. It also includes providing 24/7 availability of health risk assessment teams to support food safety investigations, and implementing a national public health surveillance tool to improve detection, recording and analysis.
Already our Conservative government has made significant changes to Canada's listeria management strategy, including making environmental testing and reporting mandatory at ready-to-eat meat plants and reinstating end-product testing by government inspectors.
Food safety is a number one priority of our Conservative government, and we now have tougher food safety regulations than ever before. That is why it is this government and not the Liberal Party that Canadians can trust.