A government bill designed to strengthen food safety rules goes to public hearings today when the House of Commons agriculture committee opens its consideration of Bill S-11.
The first witness will be federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz, who faced a day of opposition calls last week for his resignation over the government handling of the XL Foods E. coli episode.
On Tuesday, Conservative MPs rallied around him to defeat an opposition motion that Ritz resign 153-123.
MPs also unanimously approved in principle that evening Bill S-11, the Safe Foods for Canadians bill, that proposes new powers for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to enforce a national traceability system, to demand prompt provision of information from packing plants and to license and monitor food importers.
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Parliamentary study of the legislation, generally lauded by industry and promoted by Ritz as a way to strengthen the CFIA as it struggles with criticism over its handling of the XL Foods debacle, will include some heated opposition accusations of government neglect of food safety.
NDP leader Thomas Mulcair set the tone in a major speech yesterday on the government’s mammoth omnibus budget implementation bill when he accused the Conservatives of proposing tens of millions of dollars in CFIA budget cuts that will put Canadian food safety at risk.
The NDP and the Liberals also have proposed that the huge budget bill should be broken into separate sections to be studied by appropriate and qualified parliamentary committees.
The proposals would include a separate bill outlining changes to the Canada Grain Act and the Canadian Grain Commission, changes that now are embedded in the 400 plus-page budget bill slated to go to the finance committee once it clears the House of Commons approval in principle vote expected within weeks.
The opposition suggestion would send grain commission changes to the agriculture committee for study.
However, the Conservatives are unlikely to agree to the proposal, insisting the massive budget bill simply implements promises made in the March 2012 budget and should be dealt with as a legislative whole.
Arguments over breaking up the bill undoubtedly will be a major part of Commons debate over Bill C-45, the budget implementation legislation.
Today’s Commons agriculture meeting on S-11, which already has been approved by the Senate and given unanimous second reading approval-in-principle by MPs, will be the first public meeting of the committee since Brandon-Souris Conservative MP Merv Tweed took over the chairmanship from Ontario MP Larry Miller.
The change in committee leadership was decided in the summer by the government, although in theory each committee elects its own chair.
