Allan Rock

[Health, February 6th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the transactions referred to by the member are the subject of an inquiry, either by the police, by auditors or by both.

As I mentioned in response to an earlier question, we are before the courts in Manitoba this week to make sure we get access to all the documents necessary to understand how public funds were spent.

I assure the member and the House that we will do everything possible to trace every one of those public dollars, and if any were misspent to recover them on behalf of the public.

[Health, February 6th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, some of the transactions the member refers to and the entire activities of the centre are now under careful scrutiny, not only by Health Canada and auditors but where appropriate by police authorities.

I share her concern that those public funds be accounted for fully. I assure her we will do everything to make certain that occurs.

[Health, February 6th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, first let me congratulate the member on her appointment as the health critic for her party.

Let me first say that she should know we have ordered a forensic audit of the centre to which she has referred. In fact, we are before the court this week to ensure that we get full access to all the records so that we can trace all the public moneys.

I share her concern that there be a full accounting for all public moneys spent. We have stopped funding the centre. We will get to the bottom of this. We will do everything possible to recover any funds that were misspent.

[Health, February 5th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Burlington raises an important point. In fact one of the reasons the ministers of the environment, agriculture and health appointed an arm's length panel to look at the whole question of regulating GM foods is to know how the government could equip itself with the scientific capacity to handle the volume of requests we will receive in the years ahead.

This report gives us some important guidance on how the regulations should be carried out and puts us in a position to know what scientific capacity to put in place. It is one of the reasons we are so grateful to the Royal Society of Canada for its work.

[Health, February 5th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I hope the hon. member and her colleagues want the government to do the responsible thing, which is to go out to a body of experts at arm's length, independent of government, show them what we are doing and ask them if they have any recommendations on how it can be done better. That is exactly what the government did.

We have now received the report, and I am here to tell the House that as my colleagues, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the Minister of the Environment and I set about making our system better, we will carefully take this report into account. I look forward to an opportunity to meet with representatives of this special expert panel.

[Health, February 5th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, let me repeat how grateful we are to the Royal Society of Canada for its very complete report that was received today. Let us remember that the government, the ministers of the environment and agriculture and I as Minister of Health asked the royal society to undertake this work.

Canadians have the safest food system in the world. We want to keep it that way and we want to make it even better. I am happy to see that the royal society raised no question about the safety of GM foods already on the market. I am happy to see that it has added to many of the recommendations made in other countries.

We will be looking carefully at the recommendations. We have set aside $90 million to strengthen the regulatory system. We will look closely at this report as we do that work.

[Genetically Modified Organisms, February 5th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, public safety must remain the top priority of all the ministers of the government.

Last year, we spent $90 million on consolidating the food regulatory system. My colleagues and I will study the report closely. I hope to have the opportunity to meet some of the members of the panel of experts. We will continue to protect public safety.

[Genetically Modified Organisms, February 5th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, I would like to thank the Royal Society of Canada for this important report. I note that it raised no concerns about genetically modified foods already on the market.

Naturally, the safety of our food and of the public is of the highest priority for this government. We will examine this report carefully in the process intended to strengthen the system.

[Marine Liability Act, February 2nd, 2001]

moved that Bill S-2, an act respecting marine liability and to validate certain bylaws and regulations, be read the first time.

(Motion agreed to and bill read the first time)

[Health, February 2nd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is recognized as BSE free. We are determined that will remain so. As a result, acting on information received and on the advice of scientists, today the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will announce the suspension of beef imports from Brazil.

For its part, and consistent with that suspension, Health Canada will recall from the Canadian market any products containing beef.