Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to acknowledge the work done by my colleague for Welland. He has handled this file in a very professional manner. He has been very thorough in his research and in keeping all of us updated.
It is difficult to ask for the resignation of a minister. It is not a step that we take lightly. However, we have today a motion that reads:
That, in light of the current contaminated meat scandal at XL Foods, and considering that the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has not learned the lesson from the 2008 listeriosis scandal that cost twenty-two Canadians their lives, this House call on the government to restore Canadians’ confidence in Canada's food safety system by: (a) removing the current minister from office and assigning the food safety portfolio to a minister who can restore public trust—
Those are heavy words for us to raise here and I want to focus on the history.
This is the same Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food who was in charge of the portfolio when we had the listeriosis crisis in 2008. One would think that after all the recommendations that came out to avoid another food disaster that the minister would have made it his top priority. However, obviously not, since here we are years later facing another situation where public health is being placed at risk.
We have a minister who finds it difficult to take his portfolio seriously. During the previous disaster when 22 Canadians died, he joked during that time. I am a teacher and if someone makes a mistake I hope that they learn from it. However, Canadians cannot keep giving this minister chance after chance to learn because it puts Canadians' safety at risk. That is just not acceptable.
It took this minister 14 days after the Americans had already pulled the beef and told us that there was a problem. It took him that long to implement a major recall.
As members know, we are facing the largest recall of our beef in our history. We have over 15 cases of E. coli all traced back to the XL Foods meat processing plant in Brooks, Alberta, and the agency has recalled 1,800 beef products. The recall extends to every province and territory, 40 states in the U.S. and 20 other countries.
What is absolutely amazing to me is that, despite all of this, the Prime Minister has left that portfolio in the hands of the minister. That baffles me beyond belief.
More than that, knowing all of this, we have a minister who has not demonstrated ministerial accountability by taking responsibility and stepping aside. Therefore, it is left up to the opposition to move this issue forward.
We are very concerned not only about our farmers and cattle ranchers who have raised this beef but also about the employees in Alberta. Whole communities are being devastated.
When looking at all of this, people in most walks of life would think that the minister would step forward. Instead, on October 1, we had the minister, not having learned from the crisis in 2008, at a Rotary Club in North Battleford, saying:
Is there an epidemic of E. coli outbreaks? Turns out there's not.
We’re actually 40 per cent lower than we were three years ago, which is great news, because we’re doing more testing, better testing and industry has stepped up and is doing a much better job.
Then, the most disturbing thing, when the Americans had already informed us that they were pulling our beef because of E. coli and we know that we had an E. coli situation right here in Canada, was the minister saying this:
We had some great Canadian beef for lunch. I don’t know where it came from; I don’t care. I know it’s good, I know it’s safe. You have to handle it and cook it properly. Certainly, we’ve identified some anomalies....
That is utterly irresponsible.
This is the same minister who was not present to answer questions during debate. That is the time we need the minister up front, reassuring the public that he has things in hand. However, we have a minister who, instead, was out there making lighthearted jokes about the E. coli breakout, assuring people it was perfectly safe if only they cooked the meat properly and, as another minister later said, washed their hands.
That is absolutely outrageous.
As I said, if this were the first incident, where the minister was new to the portfolio or did not know too much and was on a learning curve, we could maybe give him some space. However, this is the same minister who in 2008 made a joke. I am sure he must have been admonished at that time, but he did not learn a lesson from that nor implement any of the issues raised at that time.
If we consider the food inspection that takes place at the XL Foods plant, we know first of all that it is a huge meat processing plant. It covers many city blocks, I have been told. I have not been there but I am still quite impressed by its size, from what I have read.
We trusted XL Foods to do a lot of its own supervision. I am sorry, but when it comes to food inspection, the Canadian government has a major role to play.
UFCW Local 401 said in its report of October 10 that it had some major concerns, including that the line speeds were way too fast, that in order to speed up production, the conveyor belts had been speeded up. They went on to mention the lack of proper training and that although people were trained to sterilize knives between cuts, they were discouraged to do so because it would slow down production.
I would also point out that a third of the workers at this plant are temporary foreign workers and the staff turnover at this plant is huge as a result. Because it is so huge, I am worried about the kind of training that is given and the kind of investment that is made in training the staff.
In any event, I want to get back to why we are here today. We are here today for one simple reason: we do not need another disaster like this. We have a minister who, under his watch, with the portfolio in his hands, has now had a second major disaster. It is time for the minister to take responsibility and admit he has not learned the lesson of 2008. He failed this time and needs to resign as minister.