Mr. Speaker, on October 19, 2017, I rose in this House to discuss an issue that is very important to me and very important to the entire greater Drummond community, as well as to most Canadians. I am talking about the labelling of genetically modified foods.
Right around the time I was calling out the government on this extremely important issue, the organization Vigilance OGM reported that five million genetically modified salmon had been sold in Quebec. Meanwhile, major grocery store chains like Provigo, IGA, Metro, and others stated that they were not selling genetically modified salmon in their stores because their customers did not want that. Still, those five million salmon somehow found their way onto the dinner plates of Quebec consumers.
The question remains: did Quebeckers unwittingly eat genetically modified salmon? Unfortunately, the evidence suggests that they did. That genetically modified salmon probably ended up in hospitals, prisons, day cares, and so on. That is worrisome.
Canadians want the government to be transparent about genetically modified foods, especially in the case of salmon, which is the world's first genetically modified animal approved for human consumption. That is all happening in Canada now, and Quebeckers were used as guinea pigs.
I think Canadians have the right to choose what they eat. More and more, they want to know what they are eating. They want to know if their food has too much salt, fat, or sugar. They also have the right to know if they are eating genetically modified foods.
There is a broad consensus among the Canadian population for mandatory labelling of GMOs. A Health Canada survey revealed that over 80% of Canadians supported mandatory labelling of genetically modified foods. In May 2016, with Health Canada approving the commercialization of genetically modified salmon, Canada was the first country to authorize production for human consumption of an animal genetically modified.
While everyone knows there is GM salmon sold without our knowledge, the Liberal government needs to listen to the people. GM salmon is currently in circulation in our restaurants, hospitals, schools, and day cares. That is why the Liberal government must quickly tag genetically modified salmon. Canadians have the right to know what they are putting on their plates. We need the mandatory labelling of GMOs.
An article published in Le Journal de Montréal on December 18 unfortunately confirmed what we already knew, namely that Quebeckers have indeed unwittingly eaten genetically modified salmon. This was confirmed by the spokesperson for Vigilance OGM, Thibault Rehn, who said, “We were able to confirm that it was indeed genetically modified salmon that was brought into Quebec in June, as we suspected”.
Why is the government not answering the questions of Canadians who are calling for the mandatory labelling of GMOs?