House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2019, with 36% of the vote.
Food Safety October 2nd, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I would like to clearly state that Canadian food is safe. When it comes to food safety in Canada, two things are certain. The first is that the government continues to provide CFIA with the inspectors and operating budget it needs to ensure that the Canadian food safety system remains the best in the world.
The second thing that is certain is that the opposition always votes against any initiatives that would improve food safety in Canada.
Food Safety October 2nd, 2012
Mr. Speaker, it is important to note it is the NDP that has failed Canadians by voting against measures that we have brought forward to reinforce the CFIA.
Time and time again, we have underlined our commitment to CFIA by increasing the number of inspectors by over 700 net new inspectors since 2006. The NDP voted against that. We have increased funding for the CFIA by $150 million. The NDP voted against that.
We have legislation called the safe food for Canadians act to help improve food safety for Canadians. What are the NDP members going to do? They are going to vote against it.
Food Safety October 2nd, 2012
Mr. Speaker, as I said yesterday, Canadian consumers are always a first priority for our government when it comes to food safety. The CFIA has been fully engaged on this matter and Canadian food safety officials first began containing contaminated products on September 4.
What the member needs to account for is his voting against additional resources for the CFIA, both in terms of new inspectors and additional financing.
Agriculture and Agri-Food October 1st, 2012
Mr. Speaker, it is very important to put the facts on the table and, unfortunately, much of what the member has just said is inaccurate.
In the last four federal budgets, the government has invested significantly in our food safety system. In budget 2011, we committed $100 million over five years to build science capacity and implement inspection modernization, including enhanced training, as well as inspection tools for inspectors. In budget 2012, we provided $51 million over two years to the CFIA, the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada for continuing key food safety activities. The recent budget is strengthening, not weakening, the government's commitment to the health and safety of Canadians.
Like all federal departments and agencies, the CFIA is contributing to the government's deficit reduction action plan. By 2014-15, the CFIA will contribute $56 million. However, the most important thing is that over the past two budgets spending for the CFIA and for food safety has gone up by approximately $150 million. Since 2006, the government has hired more than 700 net new inspectors to help the CFIA do its job. Unfortunately, the member and the parties in the opposition have voted against these positive initiatives.
Agriculture and Agri-Food October 1st, 2012
Mr. Speaker, protecting the health and safety of Canadians continues to be one of the government's top priorities.
I would like to point out that the recent budget did not diminish the role of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency or Canada's investment in food safety.
All food products produced or sold in Canada must meet our high safety standards.
I am pleased to have the opportunity to review the series of events that led to the recall of a number of beef products over the past weeks.
On September 4, 2012, the CFIA first detected E. coli in products produced in an Alberta facility supplied by XL Foods. At the time, the CFIA determined that a recall was not necessary as none of the inspected product was in the marketplace. The CFIA immediately initiated an investigation to determine the source of the contamination. The agency then intensified its efforts when follow-up tests came back positive. As a result, evidence of a health risk was found and XL Foods voluntarily recalled affected products. As the CFIA continued investigating, more products were identified, recalled by the company and consumers were notified.
The CFIA immediately began tracing new products to identify where they had been distributed. This extensive process is ongoing and may result in more product recalls. The CFIA will continue to alert consumers immediately when it determines there are affected products in the marketplace.
During the investigation, the CFIA identified deficiencies in the plant's E. coli risk management measures. On September 26, 2012, the CFIA temporarily suspended the plant's licence as the deficiencies had not been corrected.
The CFIA acted immediately and continues to investigate and respond accordingly.
Food Safety October 1st, 2012
Mr. Speaker, let us look at the facts: since 2006, we have hired more than 700 food inspectors, including 170 meat inspectors. That is more than before. Under the latest budget we brought down in the House, the CFIA's budget will increase by $150 million, and the NDP voted against those measures.
Food Safety October 1st, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I want to reinforce that Canadian consumers are always a top priority for this government when it comes to food safety. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food is very much on top of this file, and he is holding CFIA's feet to the fire to ensure that it responds quickly and effectively.
The truth of the matter is that our party, our government, has put forward legislation to increase funding to the CFIA by $150 million over the last two budgets. That party has voted against it. We have hired an additional 700 net new inspectors.
Food Safety October 1st, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I must point out that this member has no credibility on this issue.
Earlier last week, this member said that there were no CFIA inspectors in the plant. This was untrue; there were 46 CFIA inspectors at the XL plant. That is a 20% increase over what there was three years ago.
Agriculture and Agri-Food September 24th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, let me just make a few comments about the labelling issue. Currently, industry must pre-register labels on meat products and certain processed products, but this is not true for all other food products. We are working to streamline our food safety regime and to bring it into the 21st century. The regulatory requirements for food labelling will not change.
The development of an online self-assessment labelling tool will enhance the range of guidance material available on the agency's website to industry and consumers. The new online labelling tool will reduce the amount of time agency staff currently spend dealing with industry to explain and clarify labelling rules. It will allow them to spend more time on core food safety verification and enforcement activity.
That is what we want. That is what Canadians want. They want the CFIA to focus on key food safety initiatives.
We have more budget implementation acts coming forward. I ask the member, for the good of our country, when there is increased spending in these implementation acts, will he please vote in favour of food safety for Canadians.
Agriculture and Agri-Food September 24th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, first of all let me say that protecting the health and safety of Canadians remains the top priority of this government. Let me be clear that no changes would ever be implemented that would put the health of Canadians at risk.
If I may just talk a bit about food safety, a report on OECD countries evaluated Canada's food safety system and stated that we have a superior food safety system. Why is that?
In our last budget, we allocated $50 million toward food safety alone. The member and his colleagues voted against that. In our previous budget before that, we put forward an additional $100 million toward food safety. The member and his colleagues voted against that. Here the member is concerned about food safety, but when we put forward actual concrete measures and funding to improve food safety, they vote against them.
I will also say that since having been elected as the Conservative government, we have hired an additional 700 new inspectors with no help from the Liberal Party.
The last thing I will say is that we did receive the Weatherill report. We studied the Weatherill report after the listeriosis crisis. We are implementing all 57 recommendations.
This is a strong track record for this government. I do not understand why the member and his government continually vote against food safety and vote against increased funding for food safety.