Deconstructing Dinner

Margaret Atwood Joins Prison Farms Campaign As part of our ongoing coverage on the future of Canada's prison farms, we check in on the campaign where well-known Canadian author Margaret Atwood has now joined the fight. We'll listen in on the June 6 rally in Kingston, Ontario and the subsequent rally in Ottawa one week later. Updates on the campaign include the recently put in place 24-hour citizen watch - set up across the street from Kingston, Ontario's Frontenac Institution, where residents there are keeping a close eye on the prison farm, ensuring that the 300 animal dairy herd does not get trucked off the property to auction.

Vancouver's Backyard Chickens I (Backyard Chickens XII) The first of a two-part feature on the City of Vancouver's multi-year process to approve backyard chickens. On June 8, it became official... Vancouver residents are now permitted to raise 4 chickens per household. Because of the many similar debates underway within city councils across the country, we'll launch this first of a two-part feature on Vancouver's efforts by looking back over the past few years to track just how this process first began. Perhaps other hopeful or illegal backyard chickeners can glean some pointers from Vancouver's efforts.

Voices

The Future of Prison Farms

Andrew McCann Urban Agriculture Kingston (Kingston, ON)

Margaret Atwood author Margaret Atwood (Toronto, ON)

Jeff Peters farmer / director National Farmers Union Local 316 (Inverary, ON)

William Commanda spiritual & hereditary chief Algonquin Nation

Sister Pauline Lally Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul (Kingston, ON)

Aric McBay farmer Root Radical Community Shared Agriculture (Howe Island, ON)

Wayne Easter member of parliament, Malpeque, Liberal Party of Canada

Mark Holland, member of parliament, Ajax-Pickering, Liberal Party of Canada

Alex Atamanenko member of parliament, BC Southern Interior NDP

Maria Mourani member of parliament, Ahuntsic Bloc Quebeçois

Vancouver's Backyard Chickens I

Barbara Joughin, past member, Vancouver Food Policy Council (Vancouver, BC)

Carol Christopher, member Vancouver Food Policy Council (Vancouver, BC)

Andrea Reimer, councillor City of Vancouver (Vancouver, BC)

David Cadman, councillor City of Vancouver (Vancouver, BC)

and others...

Over the past year, Deconstructing Dinner has spent an increasing amount of time focusing on the discussions that take place on food and farming within Canada's parliamentary committees. Today, we visit with a previously unexplored committee on the show - the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, where, in the past few months, the subject of salmon farming has been a focus of attention.

Among the many issues addressed within the Committee, host Jon Steinman deconstructs dialogue that took place on resistance among sea lice to the anti-parasitic drug - SLICE. The drug is an open-net cage salmon farmer's primary and most effective control to keep lice levels down and reduce their threat to juvenile wild salmon. Sea lice experts around the world believe it's only a matter of time when sea lice in British Columbia will develop resistance to the drug. Despite a graph released by the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and Lands that is suggestive to some biologists of possible drug resistance, government officials have exhibited their own resistance to these said warning signs.

On another front, Steinman also deconstructs the federal Department of Fisheries & Oceans (DFO) - a government body who receives a lot of criticism among marine conservation groups for what they and the Attorney General of Canada believe of the Department's dual mandate is a conflict of interest - a mandate to protect wild salmon and promote salmon aquaculture. Deconstructing Dinner uncovers some glaring mis and disinformation on a DFO web page that lends a more tangible example of these seemingly confusing and conflicting roles of the DFO.

Voices

Craig Orr - executive director, Watershed Watch Salmon Society (Coquitlam, BC) - Craig Orr has been a professional ecologist for more than 30 years and helps Watershed Watch in its efforts to conserve water and salmon habitat, and to minimize impacts to wild salmon from mixed-stock interception fisheries, aquaculture practices, and climate change. Craig also currently serves as Chair of the Pacific Marine Conservation Caucus, Science Coordinator of the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform, and as an environmental advisor to Kwikwetlem First Nation. He recently served as Associate Director of Simon Fraser University's Centre for Coastal Studies, Chair of BC Hydro's Bridge Coastal Restoration Program, Vice-Chair of the Habitat Conservation Trust Fund, a member of the Vancouver Foundation's environment committee, and as a director of the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society.

Mark Sheppard - senior aquatic animal health veterinarian, British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture & Lands (Courtenay, BC) - The B.C. government supports the development of the aquaculture industry. While the B.C. government has overseen the industry since the federal government allocated responsibility in 1988, that regulatory regime is now in a transition to federal authority following the B.C. Supreme Court case Alexandra Morton et al vs the A.G. of British Columbia and Marine Harvest Canada.

Alexandra Morton - biologist, Raincoast Research Society (Echo Bay, BC) - While studying orca whales up until the 1990s, Alexandra watched as the salmon farming industry appeared in the Broughton Archipelago where she calls home. As she observed the arrival of industrial salmon farms, the whales she studied disappeared. She believed the cause was salmon farms, and when 10,000 pages of letters to all levels of government failed to elicit meaningful response, Alexandra realized that she would have to scientifically prove that salmon farming had driven out the whales and caused epidemic outbreaks of bacteria, viral and parasitic infections in wild salmon. By partnering with international scientists and in some cases commercial fishermen, Alexandra has documented the loss of the whales, thousands of escaped farm salmon, lethal outbreaks of sea lice, and antibiotic resistance near salmon farms.

Lawrence Dill - professor emeritus, department of biological sciences, Simon Fraser University (Burnaby, BC) - Dill's major research interests are in the development and testing of cost-benefit models of behaviour, and experimental studies of the decision rules used by animals to ensure adaptive behaviour in various contexts. The emphasis is on understanding how behaviours maximize individual fitness; this is achieved by experimental analyses of the benefits and costs of the various behavioural alternatives available to the animal. Dill studies marine invertebrates, fishes (marine and freshwater) and cetaceans (whales and dolphins).

Fin Donnelly - member of parliament, new westminster - coquitlam, port moody, New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) (Coquitlam, BC)

Gerry Byrne - member of parliament, humber - st. barbe - baie-verte, Liberal Party of Canada (Corner Brook, NL)

Scott Andrews - member of parliament, avalon, Liberal Party of Canada (Conception Bay South, NL)

As people throughout the Western world are increasingly seeking to reconnect with their food, there's a lot to be learned from the many peoples who have long maintained these dynamic relationships between their sustenance and the earth. Ethnobiologists research these very relationships through a scientific lens and it's a field of study bringing together many disciplines like anthropology, ecology and conservation to name just a few.

Deconstructing Dinner believes ethnobiology is a subject deserving close attention for anyone interested in food security, food sovereignty and local food system conservation and development.

In May 2010, Jon Steinman travelled to Vancouver Island to attend two gatherings on the subject in Victoria and Tofino. In this multi-part series, we'll explore what the Society of Ethnobiology describes is the "search for valid, reliable answers to two 'defining' questions: "How and in what ways do human societies use nature, and how and in what ways do human societies view nature?"

Part I As is now commonly found among many indigenous communities worldwide, many youth have become significantly if not entirely disconnected from the traditional ways of their ancestors. One of the responses to this threat that some of those youth have employed is found among the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples whose territory stretches 300km along the Pacific coast of Vancouver Island. Nuu-chah-nulth (which translates to "all along the mountains and sea") are a family of 15 First Nations. Connecting some of their youth has been the Nashuk Youth Council - a project of Uu-a-thluk - the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council's Aquatic Management Board. The Youth Council has been seeking out stories and knowledge from their elders about their people's traditional foodways. Those stories and knowledge are in turn being shared digitally through short videos.

The Nashuk Youth Council took to the podium at the 12th International Congress of Ethnobiology hosted in Tofino, B.C.

Voices

Nickie Watts, Keenan Jules, Waylon Andrews, John Rampanen, Belinda Lucas, Damon Vann-Tarrant Rampanen, Letitia Rampanen, James Dakota Smith, Tseeqwatin Rampanen, Leonita Jimmy, Maui Solomon

Whole Foods Market Targeted by Organic Advocates The U.S.-based Organic Consumers Association is the largest of its kind in the United States – representing thousands of supporters of organic food. Over the past year, the organization has taken a strong stance against grocery giant Whole Foods Market, calling upon them to "walk their talk" and increase their support for organic products, which, as Executive Director Ronnie Cummins describes, exists in the shadows of the majority of the company's products, which are conventionally produced and disguised as "natural" foods. This segment courtesy of Vancouver Co-op Radio's (CFRO) Redeye.

Local Food System Development Spotlight The National Farmers Union Local 316 alongside like-minded organizations and residents of the region in and around Kingston, Ontario have been successfully building a strong local food movement. In November 2008, farmer, entrepreneur and member of the NFU Kim Perry shared the successes to date and the actions taken within the region to generate support for a resilient local food system.

Carnivore Chic (encore) A revisiting of our July 2008 interview with Toronto author Susan Bourette of "Carnivore Chic – From Pasture to Plate, The Search for the Perfect Meat". While working for The Globe and Mail's Report on Business magazine, Susan went undercover at the largest slaughterhouse for hogs in Canada located in Brandon, Manitoba and owned by Maple Leaf Foods. Susan's subsequent article for the magazine, her eventual book Carnivore Chic and this interview, all aired before the nation-wide listeria contamination of Maple Leaf food products occurred and which led to the death of 22 people and left many more ill. While working inside the plant, Susan became disturbed at the state in which animals and workers are treated within the industry, leading her to wonder if meat had completely lost its cultural significance.

Voices/Guests

Ronnie Cummins – executive director, Organic Consumers Association (Finland, ME) – The Organic Consumers Association (OCA), formed in 1998, is an online and grassroots non-profit public interest organization campaigning for "health, justice, and sustainability". The OCA deals with crucial issues of food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, children's health, corporate accountability, Fair Trade, environmental sustainability and other key topics. They are the only organization in the US focused exclusively on promoting the views and interests of the nation's estimated 50 million organic and socially responsible consumers. The OCA represents over 850,000 members, subscribers and volunteers, including several thousand businesses in the natural foods and organic marketplace.

Kim Perry, director, National Farmers Union Local 316 (Harrowsmith, ON) – Kim was born and raised in New Brunswick and in 2001 became a member of the National Farmers Union and their Local 316. Her and her husband Dave operate Perry Maine-Anjou Farms in the community of Harrowsmith, Ontario, and they own a small local food store called Local Family Farms in the community of Verona. Kim is actively involved in encouraging local food system development in the area in and around Kingston, Ontario.

Susan Bourette, author, Carnivore Chic (Toronto, ON) – Susan is an award-winning writer with a reputation for investigative journalism. Formerly a reporter for The Globe and Mail, she is now a freelance writer.

On May 8, 2010, Deconstructing Dinner descended upon the grounds of the Legislature of British Columbia in Victoria where one of the largest rallies of its kind was taking place. The rally was organized as part of the 2.5 week long "Get Out Migration" calling for the removal of open-net salmon farms along the B.C. coast. Between April 21 and May 8, biologist Alexandra Morton travelled from the community of Echo Bay in the Broughton Archipelago and proceeded on foot down Vancouver Island where hundreds of supporters joined her as they approached the BC Legislature. An estimated 4,000 people attended the rally.

Voices

Alexandra Morton - biologist, Raincoast Research Society (Echo Bay, BC) - While studying orca whales up until the 1990s, Alexandra watched as the salmon farming industry appeared in the Broughton Archipelago where she calls home. As she observed the arrival of industrial salmon farms, the whales she studied disappeared. She believed the cause was salmon farms, and when 10,000 pages of letters to all levels of government failed to elicit meaningful response, Alexandra realized that she would have to scientifically prove that salmon farming had driven out the whales and caused epidemic outbreaks of bacteria, viral and parasitic infections in wild salmon. By partnering with international scientists and in some cases commercial fishermen, Alexandra has documented the loss of the whales, thousands of escaped farm salmon, lethal outbreaks of sea lice, and antibiotic resistance near salmon farms.

Bob Chamberlin, chairman, Musgamagw Tsawataineuk (Gilford Island, BC) - Chief Bob Chamberlin is from the the Kwicksutaineuk-Ah-Kwaw-Ah-Mish First Nation on Gilford Island, BC. He is the chairman of the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Tribal Council and has been actively involved in efforts that oppose open-net salmon farms.

Stewart Phillip, president, BC Union of Indian Chiefs (Penticton, BC) - Grand Chief Stewart Phillip is from the Penticton Indian Band and is the Chair of the Okanagan Nation Alliance. Stewart is serving is fourth three-year term as the president of the BC Union of Indian Chiefs.

Darren Blaney, former chief, Homalco First Nation (near Campbell River, BC) - The Homalco First Nation is a member of the Naut'sa mawt Tribal Council.

Rafe Mair, commentator, Rafe Mair (Lions Bay, BC) - Between 1975 and 1981, Rafe served as an MLA for the riding of Kamloops and later became a popular radio talk-show host until 2005. Since then, Rafe has been a vocal opponent of the privatation of BC's rivers and creeks and of open-net salmon farms.

Vicky Husband, environmentalist (Victoria, BC) - Vicky is one of British Columbia's best known environmentalists. Past Conservation Chair for the Sierra Club of B.C., she is tireless in her drive to protect her province's natural heritage, especially the coastal rainforest and marine ecosystems and their inhabitants. She has been a leader in numerous conservation debates, including working for the protection of the ancient rainforests of Clayoquot Sound, and establishing Canada's first grizzly bear sanctuary, on B.C.'s north coast. For the past five years, Vicky has also focused on salmon and other fisheries- management. She is a member in the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada.

Billy Proctor, fisherman (Echo Bay, BC) - Billy Proctor was a commerical fisherman for 60 years and has been a resident of the Broughton Archipelago for 74 years.

Fin Donnelly, member of parliament New Westminster-Coquitlam, Port Moody, NDP (Coquitlam, BC) - Fin is the NDP Critic on Fisheries and Oceans. He has introduced legislation to ban tanker traffic along BC�s sensitive northern coast and transition all fish farms to closed containment. Prior to being elected, Fin played a key role in calling for and securing the Cohen Inquiry into the collapse of the Fraser Sockeye Salmon. He served on Coquitlam City Council for 7 years and was the Executive Director of Rivershed Society of B.C. for 13 years. Fin twice swam the Fraser River (1400km) to promote sustainable living.

Over the past month, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (the CFIA) has embarked on a concentrated effort in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, threatening area businesses with fines unless they remove their ungraded farm-fresh eggs from store shelves. Close to a dozen businesses that Deconstructing Dinner is aware of have received such a visit This episode hears from a number of those businesses including comments on the issue from the BC Egg Marketing Board, the CFIA and the regional health authority Interior Health.

While the availability of eggs from local farms in the region has been significantly curtailed following this "crack" down on local eggs, the increasingly popular alternative to store-bought eggs (backyard eggs) is too being met with a crack down of its own. In December 2009, Nelson B.C. resident Monica Nissen was paid a visit by a local bylaw enforcement officer who demanded that Nissen remove her chickens from her backyard, or too face a fine and the possible confiscation of her birds. The City's bylaw enforcement officer was acting on two supposed complaints... and we say "supposed" because according to all of Nissen's immediate neighbours, none of them took issue with the chickens... leaving Nissen and Deconstructing Dinner wondering just what constitutes a valid complaint if it clearly didn't come from an immediate neighbour? We'll also be joined by Nelson city councillor Kim Charlesworth, who recounts the past year's efforts to revise the local bylaw that prohibits backyard chickens within city limits and we'll hear from Ian Fraser - a senior animal control officer for Victoria Animal Control Services - a city that does permit backyard chickens and hence, backyard eggs.

Join us for this important broadcast as we explore what Kootenay businesses and residents are calling an afront to food sovereignty following these latest efforts by local and federal authorities who appear determined to ensure that the only eggs easily accessible to Canadians are the factory-farmed options.

Guests/Voices

Kevin Smith, farmer/baker, Old World Bakery (Balfour, BC) - The Old World Bakery produces a line of baked goods for their own retail customers and many local businesses. Kevin Smith and his wife Darla also farm in the community of Ainsworth.

Bonny Kavalov, co-owner, Nature's Den (Rossland, BC) - Bonny and her husband Sid operate this small health store in Rossland, BC.

Wayne Popoff, owner, Kootenay Liquidators (Castlegar, BC) - Wayne is a hobby farmer just outside of Castlegar and operates a store that sells feed products and farm-fresh eggs among other things.

Amyn Alibhai, board member, BC Egg Marketing Board (Kamloops, BC) - Since its inception in 1967 as the first egg marketing board in Canada with quota, the British Columbia Egg Marketing Board (BCEMB) serves as a non-profit, producer organization financed solely by its Registered Producers through a levy system. The BCEMB is one of eleven provincial and territorial egg marketing boards that meet under the umbrella of the Egg Farmers of Canada (EFC) to address industry issues of regional, national and international importance. Amyn owns Sunshine Eggs - a large producer of graded eggs.

Deanna Zgrablic, food processing specialist inspector , Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) (Abbotsford, BC) - The CFIA is Canada's government agency which seeks to "safeguard food, animals and plants, which enhance the health and well-being of Canada's people, environment and economy".

Ron Popoff, environmental health team leader, Interior Health (Cranbrook, BC) - IH is one of five geographically-based health authorities created in 2001 by the Government of British Columbia. It is responsible for ensuring publicly funded health services are provided to the people of the Southern Interior.

Monica Nissen, former backyard chickener (Nelson, BC)

Kim Charlesworth, city councillor, City of Nelson (Nelson, BC)

Ian Fraser, senior animal control officer, Victoria Animal Control Services (Victoria, BC)

Virginia farmer Joel Salatin has become one of the most well known names in the world of alternative farming after his notable presence in Michael Pollan's best-selling book The Omnivore's Dilemma and an important role as part of the popular documentary Food Inc.

In February 2010, Joel was interviewed by Lauren Berlekamp of the Erie Wire. Joel spoke to Lauren about his unique and seemingly common-sense approach to farming, but more specifically, they spoke of the nutritional comparisons of his grass-finished beef vs. the more common grain-finished beef; they spoke of the politics and regulations surrounding the livestock sector in the United States and their impacts on smaller-scale producers; and they spoke of how Salatin's model of success, including his new relationship with a large American fast-food chain, is a replicable and financially rewarding model for farmers who seek to produce more responsible food.

Also featured on the episode, a great talk delivered by Toronto's Judy Rebick. Rebick is the Canadian Auto Workers-Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy at Ryerson University and helped launch rabble.ca - an independent multi-media portal for Canadian and global perspectives. In November 2008, Rebick spoke at the annual convention of Canada's National Farmers Union and encouraged farmers there to take advantage of what she referred to as the 'perfect storm', whereby the dominant top-down social and economic models are collapsing - clearing the way, as she believes, for a bottom-up and community-centered approach to begin better serving our needs.

Guests/Voices

Joel Salatin, farmer/author, Polyface Farm (Swoope, Virginia) - Joel is an American farmer, lecturer, and author whose books include You Can Farm and Salad Bar Beef. Joel raises livestock using holistic methods of animal husbandry, free of potentially harmful chemicals. He believes that Polyface Farm arguably represents America�s premier non-industrial food production oasis. The Salatins strive to develop emotionally, economically, environmentally enhancing agricultural enterprises and facilitate their duplication throughout the world.

Judy Rebick, canadian auto workers - sam gindin chair in social justice & democracy, Ryerson University (Toronto, ON) - Between 1990 and 1993 Judy Rebick was the president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women. She later became the co-host of CBC Newsworld's prime time show Face Off and then worked on the show Straight from the Hip. She became a regular contributor to CBC TV's Sunday Report and CBC Radio and in 2001 helped launch rabble.ca - an independent multi-media news and discussion web site.

This episode follows up on our March 25th broadcast on Bill C-474 - a bill that is calling for changes to the process through which genetically engineered seeds are approved in Canada. The bill was supported by many groups such as the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, the National Farmers Union and the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, and was strongly opposed by groups like the Canadian Canola Growers Association and CropLife Canada - the biotechnology and pesticide industry's trade association.

The bill was introduced by NDP Member of Parliament Alex Atamanenko and is encouraging any new approvals of GE seeds to undergo an analysis of potential harm to export markets prior to their approval. With many markets around the world restricting their importation, the bill seeks to ensure global markets will remain open to Canadian farmers.

On April 14 in Canada's House of Commons, the bill received enough support for it to be sent to committee by a vote of 153-134.

This broadcast examines the next steps that this bill must now go through, and as usual, we deconstruct some more questionable remarks made by Conservative members in the House of Commons during the bill's second hour of debate on April 1. Adding to this deconstructing, we also look closer at just where this perpetual misinformation among Members of Parliament might be coming from.

Guests/Voices

Terry Boehm, president, National Farmers Union (NFU) (Allan, SK) - The National Farmers Union is the only voluntary, direct-membership national farm organization in Canada. It is also the only farm organization incorporated through an Act of Parliament (June 11, 1970). Terry farms in Allan, SK.

Wayne Easter member of parliament, Malpeque, Liberal Party of Canada (North Wiltshire, PEI) - Wayne was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and was raised on the family farm in North Wiltshire. Wayne entered politics in 1993 when he was officially elected as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Malpeque, P.E.I. He was re-elected in 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2008. In Parliament, Wayne has served as Solicitor General of Canada, Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Oceans, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture and Agri-Food with special responsibilities for the Rural Secretariat, and is currently the Liberal Party's Opposition Critic on Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Brian Storseth, member of parliament, Westlock-St. Paul, Conservative Party of Canada (St. Paul, AB) - Storseth sits on the Standing Committee of Agriculture & Agri-Food.

Don Davies, member of parliament, Vancouver-Kingsway, New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) - Davies is the NDP's critic on Public Safety.

Alex Atamanenko, member of parliament, BC Southern Interior, New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) (Castlegar, BC) - Atamanenko is the NDP's Critic on Agriculture & Agri-Food and Food Security. He sits on the Standing Committee on Agriculture & Agri-Food.

This episode marks part III of our ongoing coverage on the future of Canada's rehabilitative prison farm program. Since July 2009, Deconstructing Dinner has been paying close attention to the 6 prison farms that have been operating across Canada. In February 2009 it was discovered that the farm program was scheduled to be phased out, however, the farm program is not going down without a fight as farmers, prison workers, inmates, academics, and advocates of local food systems have all been rallying to save them.

On this part III, we travel to Ottawa where on March 25 and 30, this issue was brought to Parliament and more specifically, Canada's Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. Members of Parliament challenged the government's decision and heard testimony from both supporters and opponents of the closures.

Guests/Voices

Ross Toller regional deputy commissioner of ontario, Correctional Service of Canada (Kingston, ON) - Ross Toller was appointed Regional Deputy Commissioner (Ontario) in August 2008. Ross's career began in 1978 when he joined the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) as a Correctional Officer. He has held a number of positions in the Service since then.

John Sargent chief executive officer, CORCAN (Ottawa, ON) - CORCAN is a rehabilitation program of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). It is mandated to provide employment training and employability skills to offenders in federal correctional institutions in support of the social policy of the Government of Canada.

John Leeman ex-convict, inreach worker LifeLine (Kingston, ON) - As part of his 19-years in prison, Leeman spent his later years working on prison farms. He believes the program was invaluable and opposes the decision to close the program.

Bill Flanagan professor and dean of law, Queen's University (Kingston, ON) - Flanagan was appointed Dean of Law in 2005. He opposes the closure of the prison farms.

Dave Perry agribusiness instructor for the abattoir, corcan agribusiness, Pittsburgh Institution (Joyceville, ON) - Perry is a sixth-generation farmer. He is the President of the Frontenac Cattleman's Association and is a director of the National Farmers Union's Local 316. Perry has worked on both of the two prison farm sites in the Kingston area.

Ron Amey acting production supervisor, corcan agribusiness, Frontenac Institution (Kingston, ON) - Amey is responsible for the day-to-day operations at Frontenac Institution's agricultural production and food processing operations.

Larry McDermott councillor, Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation (north of Kingston, ON) - McDermott is the former rural chair of the Canadian Federation of Municipalities.

Mark Holland member of parliament, Ajax-Pickering, Liberal Party of Canada (Pickering, ON) - As one of the youngest members of the Liberal Caucas, Mark Holland was first elected in 2004 and has represented the riding of Ajax-Pickering ever since. As a Member of Parliament, Holland serves as the Liberal party's critic for Public Safety and National Security and is Vice Chair of the Public Safety and National Security Committee.

Wayne Easter member of parliament, Malpeque, Liberal Party of Canada (North Wiltshire, PEI) - Wayne was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and was raised on the family farm in North Wiltshire. Wayne entered politics in 1993 when he was officially elected as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Malpeque, P.E.I. He was re-elected in 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2008. In Parliament, Wayne has served as Solicitor General of Canada, Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Oceans, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture and Agri-Food with special responsibilities for the Rural Secretariat, and is currently the Liberal Party's Opposition Critic on Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Andrew Kania member of parliament, Brampton West, Liberal Party of Canada (Brampton, ON) - Elected in 2008, Kania is currently a member of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. He is a senior partner at the family law firm Kania Lawyers and as an active member of the Ontario Bar Association.

Shelly Glover member of parliament, Saint Boniface, Conservative Party of Canada (Winnipeg, MB) - Elected in 2008, Glover is currently a member of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. Until her election, Glover served as a member of the Winnipeg Police Service for almost 19 years.

Deconstructing Dinner has long been at the forefront of covering anything and everything to do with the presence of genetically engineered (GE) foods.

The latest on the issue from Canada's capital is Bill C-474 - a bill introduced by Member of Paliament Alex Atamanenko. The bill was debated in the House of Commons for one-hour on March 17 and is calling for a change in the way GE seeds are approved in Canada. Back in 2009, Canada's primary market for flax - the European Union, blocked all shipments of Canadian flax after tests there discovered the presence of a GE flax that was once cultivated in Canada but de-registered in 2001. The proposed Bill C-474 was developed with the hope of preventing any future scenario like this unfolding again by requiring that all approvals of GE seeds go through an economic impact assessment in addition to the already-in-place health and environmental assessments. In other words, had such an assessment been in place in 1996 when the flax was first permitted, an economic impact assessment might have prevented the 2009 setback to Canada's flax industry from ever happening. Proponents of the bill hope it will prevent the future release of GE alfalfa and wheat into Canadian soil.

On today's episode we'll listen to Members of Parliament debate the issue in the House of Commons. Deconstructing Dinner also followed up with Liberal MP Francis Valeriote who supports the bill being sent to committee, but nevertheless shared many critical remarks in the House that are requiring some... deconstructing.

Guests/Voices

Alex Atamanenko, member of parliament, BC Southern Interior, New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) (Castlegar, BC) - Atamanenko is the NDP's critic on Agriculture & Agri-Food and Food Security. He sits on the Standing Committee on Agriculture & Agri-Food.

Francis Valeriote, member of parliament, Guelph, Liberal Party of Canada (Guelph, ON) - Valeriote sits on the Standing Committee on Agriculture & Agri-Food.

David Anderson, member of parliament, Cypress-Hills Grassland, Conservative Party of Canada (Frontier, SK) - Anderson is the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and to the Minister of Agriculture & Agri-Food for the Canadian Wheat Board.

Pierre Lemieux, member of parliament, Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, Conservative Party of Canada (Casselman, ON) - Lemieux is Canada's Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. He sits on the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Larry Miller, member of parliament, Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, Conservative Party of Canada (Wiarton, ON) - Miller is the Chair of the Standing Committee on Agriculture & Agri-Food.

Jim Maloway, member of parliament, Elmwood Transcona, New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) (Winnipeg, MB)