Bill C-97 An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 19, 2019 and other measures

Subdivision J of Division 9 of Part 4 amends the Pest Control Products Act to, among other things, allow the Minister of Health to (a) expand the scope of a re-evaluation of, or a special review in relation to, a pest control product rather than initiating a new special review; and (b) decide not to initiate a special review if the aspect of a pest control product that would otherwise prompt such a review is being, or has been, addressed in a re-evaluation or another special review. Subdivision K of Division 9 of Part 4 repeals the provisions of the Quarantine Act that relate to the laying of proposed regulations before Parliament. Subdivision L of Division 9 of Part 4 repeals the provisions of the Human Pathogens and Toxins Act that relate to the laying of proposed regulations before Parliament.

Fisheries committee  You can't do anything. However, when you have only one or two systems that are invaded, you can quarantine those systems. It's the most effective way to prevent the western spread of these animals.

Agriculture committee  For example, what about epidemiological and screening investigations, increased biosecurity and cleaning and disinfection activities, quarantine and movement controls, mass depopulation and euthanasia on farms, and options for the disposal of carcasses following mass depopulation? On March 27, Olymel held a discussion forum in Winnipeg with all stakeholders in the western Canadian pork industry.

Agriculture committee  As far as I know, no U.S. hogs are coming to Canada for slaughter or fattening. Any U.S. hogs entering Canada must be quarantined and comply with CFIA health regulations. On our end, we certainly ship a lot of hogs to the United States, but I am not familiar with the details of the paperwork that needs to be done.

Agriculture committee  The only ones I know of are breeding stock through genetic companies, and they have to go into a quarantine period before they are released to farms. At this time Canada doesn't import live animals from the United States for processing, that I know of. It makes no sense anyway to ship them here.

Justice committee  Legal, regulatory and social media frameworks fall short, not in defining hate but in identifying it and quarantining it before the virus spreads and wreaks its damage. We do not underestimate the scale of the challenge that legislators and social media firms face. During the two and half hours set aside for this hearing, there will be 54 million new tweets and 4.7 billion new Facebook posts, comments and messages.

Justice committee  Tyndall from the BC Centre for Disease Control last week that it is entirely within the purview of the public health statutes across the country...that when somebody's engaging in reckless behaviour, there are all kinds of statutes that the public health authorities can use, from basically saying, “no more contact with people”, all the way to quarantine, and that applies to TB, to Ebola. Shouldn't we be using the public health authorities in the kind of case that Mr. Cooper raised?

Public Safety committee  We proactively block known malicious destinations, so that if anything were to get into our enterprise, it would essentially be quarantined right away. We have layers of control and detections throughout our network and our infrastructure, where we can both identify potential bad-actor activity and quarantine devices in real time.

Finance committee  Does anybody else have questions? Thanks to Ms. Evans and Mr. Flint. On subdivision K, the Quarantine Act, we'll hear from Ms. Evans.

Finance committee  Chair, I'll speak to subdivision K, as well as subdivision L, given their similarities. The proposed legislative amendment to the Quarantine Act and to the Human Pathogens and Toxins Act would streamline the regulatory process under both acts by repealing the requirement for the Minister of Health to table proposed regulations before both Houses of Parliament prior to making new or updated regulations.

Agriculture committee  Also on March 1, 2019, Canada provided a letter of response to China's notice of non-compliance and requested additional information on their detection of certain pests of quarantine concern so that Canada could follow up. Canada also requested a scientific dialogue between the plant health experts in both countries. On March 7, 2019, China issued an additional warning notice indicating that all Canadian canola seed shipments to China would be subject to more stringent inspections.

Fisheries committee  MacIsaac, you talked about addressing the vectors. It's like a disease, basically. You need to quarantine to stop them. We've seen that the inspection stations that have been set up in B.C. have definitely stopped infected or infested boats and watercraft from coming in. These are not, however, on every point of entry.

Points of Order  I am willing to accept the arguments from the parliamentary secretary that the amendments to the Electricity and Gas Inspection Act, the Precious Metals Marking Act, the Textile Labelling Act, the Weights and Measures Act, the Quarantine Act and the Human Pathogens and Toxins Act are all part of the effort to modernize existing regulatory powers and obligations. I believe it is appropriate that those measures be included in the general vote at second reading and, if necessary, at third reading.

Points of Order  Sixth, subdivision J of division 9 of part 4 amends the Pest Control Products Act. Seventh, subdivision K of division 9 of part 4 repeals provisions of the Quarantine Act. Eighth, subdivision L of division 9 of part 4 repeals provisions of the Human Pathogens and Toxins Act. Additionally, I am simply disheartened by the Liberal government's attempt to hide within the budget bill implementation act two pieces of stand-alone legislation that will significantly transform the Canadian immigration system.

International Trade committee  They brought to our attention a number of weed seeds that we've talked about—quarantined pests. The other issue that you made reference to is a bacterium. They've told us what the bacterium is and they've asked us to look into it. We're doing testing on that. We've asked for the methodology, which they've provided to us.