Health committee  The Government of Canada has requirements for food labelling that include genetically engineered food, which is genetically modified food. The Government of Canada also has a very robust and strict process to evaluate the safety of these foods as well as livestock feed, plants an

Health committee  Mr. Chair, the process that the Government of Canada uses in terms of the strict and robust evaluation of these products, which actually focuses on food safety, is the most important. Industry is able to appropriately label its products should it wish to, depending on how it want

Health committee  The only thing I would like to add is that the role of the CFIA is to look at labelling issues with respect to food products. Our mandate is focused on food safety. Therefore, we ensure that undeclared allergens, issues of food safety, and risks for special populations are clearl

Health committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I do not have any opening remarks for this session.

Agriculture committee  Absolutely. We have always used the management plan to continue to work to make sure that we protect P.E.I. potatoes and prevent the spread of potato wart in the—

Agriculture committee  Yes.

Agriculture committee  Absolutely, Mr. Chair. That is correct.

Agriculture committee  I will turn to David Bailey to answer on the specifics.

Agriculture committee  The difference is that once a federal order is up, it is very, very difficult to—

Agriculture committee  Yes. A federal U.S. order is very difficult to change. We looked at the past, and there were no examples of a federal order being lifted before. Therefore, the best thing to do at the time was to have an order that we had control over.

Agriculture committee  Absolutely.

Agriculture committee  That is misinformation. I will ask David Bailey to explain. There are a number of factors that have to be considered in terms of how many soil samples are taken on a yearly basis. It really depends on a number of factors, as I said. Soil samples are done based on a regulatory re

Agriculture committee  Mr. Chair, I would ask David Bailey to respond. We have pushed back. We have actually corrected those statements in the media, as well. David, if you want to explain....

Agriculture committee  When the minister announced the voluntary suspension, it was a suspension based on the recommendations that we had given. There were no other changes, to my knowledge, that were done as a result of the U.S. Maybe David can speak to that.

Agriculture committee  I would like to go back to the fact that we did not put a ban on ourselves. We did not do it for ourselves. It was based on the regulatory requirement, as I've said. The plant protection regulations speak to the fact that we can issue an export certificate to an importing country