Spurred on by a crisis in consumer confidence last year following the discovery of numerous contaminated food imports in North America, as well as hazardous consumer products, Harper's conservative government announced the proposed bill as a way as regaining consumer trust. "It will improve our safety and our health, make Canadian brands more competitive among global consumers, and boost confidence at home as a country whose product safety standards are second to none," said Prime Minister Harper. Among the bill's proposals are changes to the Food and Drugs Act - in particular the implementation of heftier fines for those found to have knowingly endangered consumers. It is unclear, however, whether these fines would be geared towards infringers from the food industry or primarily the drug industry. For instance, according to the Canadian government, the highest penalty for health products under the Food and Drugs Act is currently C$5,000. The authorities cite the same fine as reaching up to $1m in the US, while in the EU it comprises 5 percent of a company's annual revenue. The overarching motivation behind the new bill is to increase the federal government's capacity to react to such crises as soon as they hit the market. And it is fueling its proposals with a C$113m investment over the next two years. But critics say introducing new legislation is a lengthy process and, without pinpointing exactly what the problem is and how to address it, this money will not be directed to where it is most needed. "How big is the problem? We don't know," Emile Therien, a past president of the Canada Safety Council who is still active in advocating consumer safety issues, told FoodNavigator-USA. "There's no use in having laws in the books if no one's going to enforce them." In Tuesday's announcement, the prime minister did not specify by how many the current 3,000 or so Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspectors might be increased. Therien said introducing new legislation hampers effective changes for the market not only because it is time consuming, but that - if a new government comes into power before new laws are in effect - the bill could eventually be left to collect dust. "We've had legislation in place for years," he said. "All we needed were amendments to it." According to Therien, lengthy parliamentary hearings and the time for industry to provide their feedback will slow down the process. But voices from the food industry itself appear to be in favor of the measure, which is making waves in the Canadian media this week. "We like that they are proposing a risk-based approach," said Blake Johnston, vice president of government affairs with Food and Consumer Products of Canada, told FoodNavigator-USA. One of Harper's proposals is to channel resources towards higher-risk areas. For instance, many of the contamination issues that surfaced in North America in 2007 stemmed from imports from China. Under new legislation the government says it would implement systems for improving tracking of importers and imports, as well as step up surveillance of the entire food chain. "Be warned, you will soon face severe punishment if you willfully expose Canadians to danger," Prime Minister Harper told the Canadian media on Tuesday.
