Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be able to once again question the government on an issue of lack of transparency and lack of truthfulness on the part of the government.
During question period on April 21, my colleague for Malpeque and I asked the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food to clarify some information in a report that he had tabled on April 17. In the report that he tabled, he claimed that on July 18, 2008, the National Microbiology Laboratory had informed the Ontario Minister of Health that it discovered matching genetic fingerprints in two separate human cases of listeria.
Everyone knows that when the listeriosis crisis hit, 22 Canadian lives were lost. However, Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health contradicted the report of the government and said that the information was in fact received on July 30 and not July 18 as the minister's report contended. We asked the minister to please clarify whether it was on the 18th or the 30th.
At that time, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture claimed that the matters and issues had all been dealt with in committee. He said:
Mr. Speaker, all of these questions were answered in the subcommittee last night. We heard from both Mr. McCain of Maple Leaf Foods and from the CFIA itself...I would recommend that he review the transcripts.
I reviewed the transcripts, and there is no clarification there. I ask the government once again when, in fact, was the Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health informed that the National Microbiology Laboratory had discovered matching genetic fingerprints in two separate human cases of listeria? Was it on July 18 as the minister claimed in the report tabled in the House on Friday, April 17, or was it July 30, as the Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health mentions in his report of April 2009?
It is a simple question. Which is it?