The federal Conservative government is rejecting an opposition recommendation that it call a full-scale public inquiry into the 2008 listeria outbreak that killed at least 22 Canadians.
The recommendation that government actions around the listeria crisis be investigated under the broad terms and powers of the Inquiries Act was the key proposal by the opposition majority on the House of Commons subcommittee that held months of hearings on the issue.
Its report was tabled in Parliament June 18.
Conservative MPs rejected the proposal, issuing a minority report that did not mention it.
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Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said the committee report, a July report from a government-appointed investigator and other reports from government agencies have or will answer the questions that need answering.
“When independent investigator Sheila Weatherill makes her report public this summer, it will complete the comprehensive examination of last summer’s outbreak already done by the food safety subcommittee and numerous Lessons Learned reports,” Ritz said in a statement e-mailed by his office.
He declined an interview request.
Other Conservatives were more explicit in rejecting the call for an inquiry.
“We have been exhaustive in looking at this and Ms. Weatherill has been given the resources and access to do a thorough report,” said committee chair Larry Miller in an interview. “Let’s wait to see her report. To call for a further inquiry before her report is like voting against a budget before you’ve read it.”
Saskatchewan Conservative MP David Anderson accused the opposition of playing partisan games on the issue and said the recommendation was extreme.
But Liberal Wayne Easter said the committee lacked the tools to get to the bottom of many inconsistencies in figures or testimony.
He thinks Weatherill does not have a broad-enough mandate or enough independence to get to the bottom of whether the government reacted properly.
New Democrat Malcolm Allen said a full public inquiry is needed because “the lessons learned from the listeriosis crisis last summer are unclear and convoluted.”
The inquiry issue was the only significant dividing point between MPs on the committee that produced a report calling for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Public Health Agency of Canada and other departments involved in food safety crises to work more closely together, to improve communications between themselves and the public and to embrace new technologies that would help detect pathogens in food processing plants.
In light of confusion over how many inspectors CFIA has and what resources it needs, the report called for the agency and its main union to work together to figure out what resources are available.
