Ontario Premier Ernie Eves faced accusations that his government knew there were dangerous problems with the province's meat inspection system as he hit the campaign trail Thursday.

The Toronto Star says it has a document that was prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture more than a year ago. The report called the meat inspection system a risk to public health and the Ontario economy.

During a campaign stop in the Niagara Fall area, Eves refuted the newspaper's version of the story. He said the document mentioned by The Star was a draft that was never seen by cabinet.

Eves downplayed the significance of the report, entitled Updating Ontario's Meat Inspection Program, during a press scrum. The document was completed in April 2002 -- the same month he was sworn in as premier.

He said there were no measures in the report that would have prevented the recent situation with Aylmer Meat Packers. Federal officials issued a provincewide recall of beef and beef products from the plant last month.

Aylmer Meat Packers is the focus of police and government investigations. It's alleged the plant illegally processed meat, but the company issued a statement saying it did nothing wrong and expects to be vindicated.

Eves called reports claiming Ontario's meat inspection put the public at risk "inaccurate and inflammatory." He also reminded reporters that no one has found any tainted meat in the province.

"First of all, there is no quote 'tainted meat scandal' because there hasn't been any tainted meat," Eves said.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton, meanwhile, is calling for an inquiry into the province's meat inspection system. He said the Conservative government was taking huge risks with people's health by slashing the number of inspectors.

"Hire back the full-time, trained, dedicated meat inspectors and move away from privatized meat inspections," Hampton said.

Hampton referred to the newspaper report and said Eves failed to act.

"By doing nothing, he put lives at risk. He rolled the dice and, again, gambled with people's lives. That's not leadership," Hampton said.

His comments were echoed by Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty who was campaigning in the Toronto area. He said Eves can't shrug off a warning that thousands of people could get sick without making improvements to the meat inspection system.

"We've seen this movie before. They continue to put other priorities, but particularly tax cuts for large corporations and private schools, ahead of public safety," McGuinty said.

With a report from The Canadian Press