Government and opposition MPs agreed Oct. 22 to quickly approve new food safety legislation and send it to committee for study and possible amendment.
Parliament Hill hearings on the bill could start as early as next week.
At press time, MPs had agreed to vote Oct. 23 to send the Safe Food for Canadians Act, S-11, to the Commons agriculture committee for study.
Opposition MPs said they want the Conservative majority to accept some amendments at committee, including a call for an audit of Canadian Food Inspection Agency resources by the federal auditor general.
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Conservative Senators defeated that proposal last week before the bill was sent to the Commons. Government Senators argued the auditor general can do an audit anytime but as an independent parliamentary officer, he should not be ordered when to do an audit.
S-11 was introduced last spring into the Senate and would require a mandatory traceability system in the food industry, tougher fines for those caught tampering with food safety, a consolidation of various food safety acts, more power for CFIA to demand company records and strengthened power to inspect food imports and to license importers.
The bill was fast-tracked in the Commons as the government is fending off questions about its handling of E. coli tainted meat shipped from the XL Foods plant in Brooks, Alta.
“This proposed legislation will provide the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) with strengthened authorities related to traceability and the recalling of food and new tools to take action on any unsafe foods,” Ritz said in debate.
The minister said timing of the bill in the middle of the XL fiasco is appropriate because of the failure of the company to make timely information available to CFIA.
“During a food recall, one of the most time-consuming activities is getting access to a company’s records to try to sort out who their suppliers are and who in turn they supply,” he said during the Oct. 22 Commons debate.
Opposition agriculture critic Malcolm Allen argued during the debate that while the bill should move to committee hearings quickly, it must be strengthened.
Along with Liberal critic Frank Valeriote, he will be proposing that an audit of CFIA inspection resources be conducted now.
In the Senate, Conservatives accepted an amendment that a resource audit be done every five years by an independent body, whether the federal auditor general or a third-party auditor. But there was no provision for an audit before the bill has been in operation for five years.
“An audit now will create a baseline for future comparisons,” said Valeriote in an interview. “It is crucial for credibility.”
Ritz has argued that the opposition must quickly pass S-11 to avoid future XL Foods incidents.
Allen said that is an absurd argument since existing enforcement powers available to CFIA are not used.
“I will take a moment to speak to the idea that somehow this legislation would have averted what has happened at the XL Foods plant,” he said Oct. 22. “Unfortunately, it would not have.”
He said opposition MPs will propose ways to improve the bill and if the government really wants to improve food safety rather than play the politics of looking like they are improving food safety, they will support amendments at committee.
