Mr. Speaker, before I begin, I would like to say that I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Edmonton—Strathcona.
I will get right to the heart of the matter. In my riding of Saint-Hyacinthe, doctors and nurses at the Honoré-Mercier hospital witnessed first-hand the Conservatives' failure with regard to food safety. In early October, they had to care for the first victims of the tainted meat scandal in Quebec.
After eating ground beef from Alberta's XL Foods, the victims, a man and a woman from the Montérégie area, had to go to the hospital urgently. They were both infected with E. coli and suffered terribly.
The couple, who are originally from Beloeil, had labour-like cramps, intense diarrhea and a fever. The man was affected more severely and had to be hospitalized for several days. He was in such agony that he needed morphine every two hours to control the pain. The only thing they could do was wait. This man, like his wife before him, had to get rid of the bacteria naturally. The only things that eased the pain were morphine and water. But the worst was yet to come. Over the course of his treatment, his condition worsened. He experienced intestinal paralysis and had difficulty breathing. The doctors even considered removing his large intestine. Believe me: having your large intestine removed changes your life.
His battle lasted five days. Five days of pain, but he made it through, even though he never thought he would. The worst part is that this couple has two young boys, aged 18 months and three years. Can anyone imagine what an E. coli infection could have done to these two little ones? I cannot, and I do not want to know.
Doctors at the Honoré-Mercier hospital can speak to the failure of the Minister of Agriculture. They saw the horror. And, I repeat, this horror was avoidable. The Minister of Agriculture said too early that his government had fixed the problem. That had tragic consequences across the country.
I will remind members of the facts. Canada is currently experiencing the largest beef recall in its history. Fifteen cases of people infected with E. coli were linked to the XL Foods plant in Brooks, Alberta, and more than 1,800 products were recalled by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency because they were contaminated with the bacteria.
The XL Foods plant produces over 40% of the beef in Canada. This has even more tragic consequences for Canadian beef producers and for the 2,900 employees who work at the plant. All of this could have been avoided if the Minister of Agriculture had acted when he was supposed to.
Two weeks passed before the government issued a recall of the tainted meat, even though a problem was identified on September 3. If a recall had been ordered immediately, the couple from Beloeil may not have been infected. I would even go so far as to say that they probably would not have been.
Canadians and food workers are demanding better protection from this government by means of a better monitoring system. Must I remind members that the beef industry is just getting back on its feet in the aftermath of the mad cow crisis? It needs clear, reliable rules, and so do consumers.
The NDP understands that, which is why we are demanding three things of the government. First, the Minister of Agriculture must resign and be replaced by someone who can restore public trust. The facts support that. On September 26, the minister said that no contaminated meat had made it to the shelves. In the meantime, Canadians were getting sick. This is the same minister who made jokes while more than 22 Canadians died from the listeriosis crisis. He has truly lost public trust and must be replaced immediately.
Next, the NDP is calling on the government to cancel the budget cuts to the CFIA. The agency must be given the resources it needs to carry out its mandate on behalf of all Canadians. Its mandate is simple: ensure food safety in the food industry.
Recent events demonstrated the importance of making sure the CFIA is able to do a good job.
The CFIA is extremely important both in Canada and in my riding. The region of Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot has always been proud of having a regional office. The CFIA operations centre in Saint-Hyacinthe is affiliated with the University of Montreal's faculty of veterinary medicine. The two organizations work on common issues in both research and development.
My riding is also proud to be the home of the Centre d'insémination artificielle du Québec, the CIAQ. It accounts for 45% of the Canadian insemination market. Cutbacks to our CFIA operations centre could significantly compromise the quality of the product the CIAQ offers.
Saint-Hyacinthe is one of Quebec's most important regions in terms of agricultural production. The CFIA's services are, therefore, crucial to the region, which relies heavily on economic activity tied to agriculture.
It is a simple equation. Cutbacks to the CFIA mean job losses in my riding and economic losses in my region. Moreover, cutbacks open the door to less rigorous inspections and a greater likelihood that Canadians will fall ill and die. This is not what Canadians want.
The Conservatives must, therefore, take responsibility for slashing the resources allocated to food safety. The cutbacks were not insignificant: the budget was slashed by $56.1 million, and hundreds of jobs at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency were culled.
Everybody knows that the Conservatives were fighting for greater self-regulation, but the inspectors are now poring over paperwork rather than inspecting meat. The problems that we are currently facing in terms of food safety are the direct result of the Conservatives’ incompetence, and particularly that of the Minister of Agriculture.
Once again, Canadians are paying the price. This is why, third, we are calling on the auditor general to immediately carry out an audit of food safety procedures and submit a report to Parliament.
It is high time that Canadians be once again able to trust in the food safety system. The health of Canadian families is at stake. These families should be able to trust Canadian products. Food safety is also crucial to producers who want to be able to sell top-quality products.
We are therefore calling for an immediate review of the compliance verification system, as suggested by the Weatherill report on the listeriosis crisis, which cost the lives of 22 Canadians in 2008.
After the events of last month, we can no longer afford to wait years before improving the system. It is a matter of urgency. The doctors and nurses at Honoré-Mercier hospital do not want to have to deal with any more cases of E. coli bacteria contamination. Now is the time to act.