Minister
Aglukkaq Highlights Need for Tougher Product Safety Law.
OTTAWA
– The Government of Canada reinforced
its commitment to deliver tougher legislation to protect Canadian families
from unsafe products as Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq toured the
Health Canada Product Safety Laboratory in Ottawa. During her visit, the
Minister was shown product safety testing methods used by Health Canada
scientists and engineers, and also viewed banned products such as baby
walkers and other recalled products such as toys, cribs and children’s
jewellery.
“The safety and well-being of Canadian
families and children remain a top priority for our government,” said
Minister Aglukkaq. “Canada’s current product safety law is now over 40
years old and we need to do more to update and improve this law to help
protect our families from harmful products. We can do better and our
government is taking action to ensure that happens.”
The Minister highlighted that millions of
Canadian consumers are affected by recalls every year. In 2009 alone,
Health Canada posted over 300 voluntary recall notices, approximately
one-third of which were for children’s products.
“For these reasons, our Government is committed to reintroducing
the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act,” continued Minister Aglukkaq.
“This updated law means Canadians
would be better protected from dangerous products that have no business in
our homes or near our children. I look forward to
speaking with you about the Act in greater detail in the coming days.”
The Canada Consumer Product Safety Act would give the Government the
authority to issue mandatory recalls for dangerous consumer products, and
provide new tools to quickly and effectively protect the health and safety
of Canadians.
