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Unit 16: The Consumer Protection Act

Notes
international trade. This could drag down Canadian food standards to the lowest
common denominator.

(a) Canadian exporters were concerned about being denied access to external
markets on the grounds that Canadian food safety standards and inspection
systems were not equivalent to those of the markets into which they were
shipping.
(b) The 1994 SPS Agreement required that countries use their food safety and
animal, plant and health regulations only to the extent necessary to protect
human, animal life or health, not for trade protection purposes.
6. Emergence of alternatives to high-cost prescriptive regulation: New scientifi c and
technological tools furnished the Government with opportunities to shift additional

costs and a significant degree of responsibility for food safety to the food industry
itself. Risk assessment methods allowed the allocation of food inspection resources
on a risk basis. One such risk-based tool, the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point
(HACCP) system, developed for the US space program, was deemed more effective
than existing systems in ensuring food safety. Canada was the fi rst government

to adopt this system, for its fish inspection program. It was so well accepted
internationally that Canadian meat packing plants were subsequently required
to conform to US regulations requiring large American meat packing plants to
implement a HACCP plan by January 1998.
7. National unity was threatened, and solutions suggested in the winning Liberal
platforms in the 1993 and 1997 elections were renewal of the federation, including
better coordination of services and reduction in overlap and duplication among
governments.

The Government of Canada consolidated all of its food inspection and quarantine
services from Health Canada, Fisheries and Oceans, and Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada into one self-standing Agency effective April 1, 1997. The Agency reports not
to a deputy minister but directly to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. The

Agency has separate employer status, and so can hire and fire its own employees,
rather than working through the Public Service Commission. It also has a number

of fi nancial flexibilities not available to government departments, most notably the
capacity to retain revenues.
Protecting the public interest is a major concern in creating alternate Service Delivery
Agencies (ASDs) in Canada. Employing the Auditor General of Canada’s defi nition
of the public interest when assessing ASDs, the CFIA addressed whether there was
an appropriate focus on public objectives, maintenance of public service values
and adequate control over public funds and assets. On all counts the CFIA’s self-
assessment concluded it was serving the public interest.

The Auditor General of Canada was appointed as an external auditor under the CFIA

Act, with duties to audit the CFIA’s financial statements and assess the fairness and
reliability of the performance information provided in the Agency’s Annual Report
to Parliament. The Auditor General also has authority to conduct periodic value-for-
money audits of the Agency.

Clarification of food-related roles and responsibilities of federal government

departments has led to:
(a) A more integrated and comprehensive approach (gate-to-plate) to trichinosis
in swine, tuberculosis in cattle and zoonotic diseases such as salmonella
enteritidis in poultry.
Contd...

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