The risks of foodborne illness are also greater than ever before. Large scale farming and food processing…impacts of globalization…with access to foods from around the world, all contribute to increased opportunities for contamination. These same trends make it harder to trace the source….

I look at this one plant processing between 2,000 and 5,000 cattle a day, up to 40% of all the beef in Canada, and ask if perhaps the industrialized, concentrated corporate food model is not about food but about corporate profits and we would be better to support local farmers, local abattoirs and local processing

Hon. Ted Menzies: Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of nonfactual comments in that. We have a system in place to deal with the processes we have in place. It is all wonderful to think that we can go back to only providing food for a 10 mile radius around our homes. That would be a bit of a challenge in downtown Toronto.

We have a safe system that deals with our modern way of producing food, whether it is apples, strawberries or beef. The world moves on and the CFIA has moved on to meet that. We have recognized that.

I would like to correct the hon. member. We actually have more meat inspectors than we had in 2006, 700 more. That sort of rhetoric is what frightens people. That is not helpful. We need to reassure people that the plant is closed. There is no more meat coming out of that plant until the CFIA says that it is safe to do so.

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More information on Growing Forward 2 can be found here.

In committee meetings, witnesses offered criticisms and suggestions for improvement regarding the current BRM programs included in Growing Forward, and gave feedback regarding the usefulness of these programs to agriculture producers. Witnesses included representatives from the pork, cattle, poultry and potato industries, as well as civil society groups and producer organizations. The committee meetings were marked by concerns regarding the administrative burden placed on farmers by complex paperwork, the perceived lack of innovation in the agricultural sector, and the need for international market access.  Specifically, many witnesses expressed reservations about the effectiveness of AgriStability, {link} noting the long wait times in between applying for the program and receiving financial assistance.  Furthermore, many witnesses asked for clarifications regarding what types of ‘disasters’ would be covered by the government’s AgriRecovery program.

The committee went in camera at the end of each meeting to discuss committee business.

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