Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  We're still in discussion on this. Right now, we are talking to our provincial colleagues to see how we can make sure that we have as common a standard as we possibly can, recognizing that there are differing circumstances.

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are a number of questions there. Let me take them in order. First, in regard to the letter that we prepared for Dr. Williams and the issue of the use of the Scarborough lab, our intention was not to indicate that it was the wrong place to send the samples to, but rather a missed opportunity.

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The three lessons learned documents that were prepared by the three federal departments/agencies involved were in fact developed individually by the agencies, but with a great deal of communication and connection amongst the three. The areas of responsibility have some overlap.

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  I would have had a number of conversations with representatives of Maple Leaf Foods, both in terms of the closure of the plant and the very detailed protocol that the agency put in place in order to allow the plant to have a phased re-opening.

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  I don't typically keep logs. I may keep a scribbled note on occasion. I don't have a large system of keeping logs. No, I don't.

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  Mr. Chair, let me tell you that all of the decisions about plant closure, plant re-opening, and plant protocol were made at the regional level, at the level of people who were most familiar with the plant. I do not have the log of conversations in front of me. Michael McCain on occasion would call me.

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  Following the listeria incident, as part of our lessons learned, we took a very hard look at our inspection forces, at our inspection programs. It is a normal part of dealing with a large inspection force that we are obliged to move resources to areas of highest risk on occasion.

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can assure members that the CFIA comes here with full transparency. Before I answer that question, I would suggest that while I recognize that confidence, perhaps, has been shaken--there is anytime there is illness or death--to state that there is a crisis of confidence in our system is perhaps a little overstated.

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  Mr. Chair, let me begin, and I will ask Paul Mayers to give more detail on the system I'm about to describe. In fact, the CFIA was first informed directly of information on possible listeriosis illness on August 6. On July 29, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in Ontario posted a message on a network called the Canadian Network for Public Health Intelligence, noting that there was an increase in listeria cases across Ontario and asking health units to post new listeria cases on an integrated public health information system.

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  Mr. Chair, thank you for the question. I can tell you that at the most senior levels of the CFIA we have a mixture between people who have a background in one of the three predecessor departments that formed the CFIA, some people who have actually worked in the field in the CFIA, and others who have come to the senior level of the CFIA more recently.

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  Mr. Chair, I'm not aware that....

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, honourable members, ladies and gentlemen, we appreciate the opportunity to appear before the committee again. As I indicated to the committee at our last appearance, all of us at the CFIA were saddened and disheartened by the food-related illnesses last year, and we do express our sympathy to all those affected.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to thank the Auditor General for the audit. It's not always an easy audit to get, but it's a very important audit, and I think you can see from our action plan and our comments here today that we take this very seriously. I would also like to thank the committee for its interest and guidance.

Public Accounts committee  We will develop the action plan that we have tabled with the committee into a much more detailed approach. I would think we would need at least until the fall to do that, and we would certainly be happy to come back to the committee. I think we would want to get the views of the Auditor General before we do that, but certainly we would be glad to appear before the committee then.

Public Accounts committee  We have looked at a number of models. I know that Australia has quite a robust model, particularly with regard to plant health.