PM announces tougher food and product safety legislation to protect Canadian consumers

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.  Thank you, Gerry, for your introduction and thank you for all the work that I know you have done on today's announcement.  Thanks also to Tony Clement who will speak to us momentarily.  Tony has demonstrated exemplary leadership on this file as Canada's health Minister. 

And a special thank you to our host today, the Canadian Consumer Specialty Products Association.  For 50 years, this organization has been at the forefront of advocating for consumer safety.  Just last week, for instance, the CCSPA announced an industry-led initiative to inform Canadians of the ingredients of such household products as cleaning solutions and polishes.  The initiative provides accountability and transparency and this organization and your member companies are to be commended for this leadership.  So through president Shannon Coombs, I want to thank all of you for your dedicated efforts in this regard.  Thank you again for hosting us.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, we all know that we are truly fortunate to live in a country as wonderful as Canada, not just because we enjoy a high standard of living, but because we also have a high quality of life.

Throughout our history, Canadians have worked together and have come to expect such things as high quality food, safe drinking water and rigorous product safety standards.  Yet, a growing number of Canadians are becoming increasingly concerned about the safety of some of the goods they bring into their homes.  And for good reason.  We've all seen the stories in the news, about food contaminated with bacteria, medicines containing undisclosed drugs or children's products manufactured with lead or other hazardous substances.  These are just a handful of such stories from the past year alone.  Canadians rightly expect their national government to police the safety of consumer products, and while consumer products are generally safe, the fact of the matter is the system could be significantly better.  Product safety regulation in Canada needs to be more rigorous.  The Hazardous Products Act, for instance, hasn't been thoroughly reviewed for almost 40 years.  The Food and Drugs Act is virtually untouched in 50 years.  As a result, we are falling behind other industrialized countries, including some of our major trading partners. 

As more and more products from all over the world find their way on to Canadian store shelves, we need to set and enforce state of the art safety standards on domestic and imported goods.  Last December, I announced our government's intention to do just that by introducing the Food and Consumer Safety Action Plan.  The plan includes a comprehensive set of new measures aimed at making Canadians safer, by legislating tougher federal regulation of food, health and consumer products.  Ministers Clement and Ritz have been working hard to put this plan in place.  They began by consulting dozens upon dozens of consumer, patient and industry groups, and most importantly, ordinary concerned Canadian citizens.  Today we're unveiling sweeping new legislation that is the result of these efforts.  I'll let Tony get into the details in a minute.  But just let me say that these measures, which we tabled in the House of Commons this morning, represent an extraordinarily tough and thorough approach to consumer safety. 

Our government knows that the vast majority of Canadian manufacturers, importers and sellers are conscientious corporate citizens who take their responsibilities for consumer safety seriously.  When problems or mistakes happen, they are more than willing to take action.  There are a few, however, who care more about the almighty dollar than the safety of their customers.  They cut corners and play fast and loose with safety.  To these outfits I say be warned.  You will soon face severe punishment if you wilfully expose Canadians to danger. 

Ladies and gentlemen, today's action on consumer safety is good news for Canada.  It will improve our safety and our health.  It will help make Canadian brands more competitive among global consumers, and it will boost confidence at home as a country whose product safety standards are second to none.  It's good for consumers, good for the economy; this announcement is a double win for all Canadians.  So thank you again for allowing us to use your special day today. 

And now I will turn the podium over to Minister Clement, who has some details on today's legislation.

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