Health committee  That's up to the individual provincial public health authorities. They determine when testing is done. Different provinces deal with that in different ways. That is one of the asks from us, that there be a consistent national approach in dealing with COVID-19. If somebody is ac

Health committee  When the plants had the outbreak, and they were trying to get things under control, many plants did slow down their line speeds. Since then, line speeds in many plants are back to normal.

Health committee  This, of course, is my opinion, but I don't think it is. It defers to the provincial health authorities to make a determination if these facilities are able to operate or not. However, CFIA is a federal agency and our members come under the Canada Labour Code, which is a federal

Health committee  Through you, Mr. Chair, to date I'm not aware of any non-meat inspectors who have been deployed, but I know some have received training. In case there's a shortage of the current meat inspectors, they would have to rely on these non-meat inspectors who have been retrained.

Health committee  To date, the number we have received is 40. That's a running total from the time this started.

Health committee  After the release, I was contacted by somebody from the office of the Minister of Labour. We had a discussion, and I expressed my concerns with regard to what was happening and transpiring in those plants. After that I did actually get a phone call from the Minister of Health and

Health committee  Yes. As of today, I checked. That's still happening. Some inspectors do what's called daily presence. They don't work for 8 or 10 hours in the plant. They go to various plants to check on a daily presence. They actually do go to different plants. They're continuing that practice.

Health committee  In my opinion, yes, because I don't think they have done a proper hazard assessment and determined what is the proper personal protective equipment to protect somebody from this biological hazard. Even the Public Health Agency and the provincial health agencies will agree that cl

Health committee  Thank you. Through you, Mr. Chair, to answer the question, I'm sure that the producers found this extremely frustrating and extremely confusing, as we did. As the union representing the food inspectors, we're extremely frustrated with this process. I sit as co-chair of what's

Health committee  I can't speak on behalf of the farmers, but I know that CFIA did hire some students. That would be under a different program, I think, the federal student workers program.

Health committee  Yes. That's correct.

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee. It's my pleasure to be here today. Approximately, 2,500 food inspectors, including 1,500 front-line meat inspectors, are among those who are members of the Agriculture Union. Their job is to make sure Canadians have safe food.