A crowd gathers at a pork lunch on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday. Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz was hosting the event, intended to promote Canadian pork as a safe food to eat when properly prepared. Canada’s pork industry has been combating lower market prices and some countries concerns about the safety of the product following the discovery of the H1N1 influenza A in pigs at an Alberta hog farm. The federal government and international health organizations have stated that the flu cannot be caught by eating properly prepared pork products.
Jurgen Preugschas, president of the Canadian Pork Council (left) shakes hands with Pierre Lemieux, MP for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell at a pork lunch on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday.
Curtiss Littlejohn (left), past chair of Ontario Pork, greets a visitor to the lunch.
Jerry Gelderman, vice-chair of the British Columbia Hog Marketing Commission (left), Ted Menzies, MP for Macleod and parliamentary secretary to the minister of finance and Dave MacKenzie (right) MP for Oxford and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety, enjoy a bite to eat.
