Mr. Speaker, that is a highly relevant question.
First I would like to extend my sympathies to the workers currently affected, who deserve our compassion as a result of what is going on. They are currently in an absolutely impossible situation.
In fact, most of the facts, indicators and alarm signals about the way things were being done came from the workers and the union. I say that even though I know the government does not like the unions very much.
With regard to my colleague's question, I believe there is indeed a conflict of interest. One of the responsibilities of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food is to promote economic development and the production and export of our agricultural products, to support producers, processors, all intermediaries and exporters.
At the same time, the minister is responsible for monitoring threats to the public health of Canadians through the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. That is the agency's job in a nutshell. Consequently, I believe there really is a conflict of interest. We should seriously consider the possibility of withdrawing responsibility for the agency from the Minister of Agriculture and reassigning it to the Minister of Health or to any other minister who could do the job.