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Posted by Scott Tribe on October 6, 2008, at 12:55 pm |
Disgraceful and shocking:
Four months before the Maple Leaf outbreak started claiming lives, Canada’s food safety agency quietly dropped its rule requiring meat-processing companies to alert the agency about listeria-tainted meat, a Toronto Star/CBC investigation has found…Before April 1, if a company preparing meat for sale to the public had a positive test showing listeria it “would have had to have been, not only brought to the (federal) inspector’s attention, but the inspector would have been involved in overseeing the cleanup,” says Bob Kingston, head of the union that represents Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) inspectors…The inspection agency confirmed to the Star/CBC that there is currently no onus on [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on September 19, 2008, at 8:51 pm |
I sure don’t:
Myself, I would have preferred if the Liberals would have been more specific in referencing the Canadian Medical Association Journal Article which blamed the Conservatives in part for this tragedy instead of just talking vaguely about failed measures, and I would have preferred talking about all the ex-Harris cabinet ministers that were in Mike Harris’s government whose similar measures led to Walkerton. It’s a good ad, but it could have been a much better ad.
Ultimately, as I and other progressive bloggers keep repeating, this shouldn’t be targeted solely on Ritz; this should be focused on the Conservatives policy in general of cutting funding for [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on September 18, 2008, at 8:58 pm |
Blast Furnace Canada is right – The Listeriosis outbreak is getting ugly:
An infant in Manitoba has died from listeriosis. It’s too early to say whether the death is linked to the problems at Maple Leaf, but it does make you wonder how much worse it is going to get before it gets better…Almost amazingly, Harper continues to stand by his man Gerry Ritz, saying that while the remarks were “completely inappropriate” the apology was enough.17 people dying is enough? Hundreds getting sick is enough?
I agree about Gerry Ritz, but let’s remember the bigger picture here, as Steve put into focus earlier at his blog. The main focus [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on September 18, 2008, at 2:15 pm |
Well, this listeriosis/meat inspection story seems to be taking on a life of its own. First the Minister Ritz controversy from last evening, and now we get this press release discussing the elimination of meat inspection programs in Manitoba:
If elected, a federal Conservative government plans to stop delivering provincial meat inspection programs in Manitoba leaving local consumers exposed to the risk of unsafe meat. The plan is revealed in a secret Treasury Board of Canada decision record, dated May 6, 2008, documenting the acceptance of a proposal concerning “Provincial Meat Slaughter Establishments (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia)” which calls for the “elimination of federal delivery of provincial meat inspection [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on September 17, 2008, at 8:01 pm |
Apparently, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz thought that the Listeriosis outbreak and subsequent deaths due to it was absolutely hysterical:
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz unnerved some public servants at the height of the listeriosis crisis by resorting to gallows humour during a conference call about a public health scare that has now killed 17 people…Sources who took notes during the call said Ritz fretted about the political dangers of the crisis, before quipping: “This is like a death by a thousand cuts. Or should I say cold cuts.” . The disease was linked to cold cuts from Maple Leaf Meats. …when told about a new death in Prince Edward Island, [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on September 17, 2008, at 10:38 am |
I’m surprised that the Listeriosis tragedy hasn’t been mentioned a lot more in this campaign, but with a Canadian Medical Association Journal editorial pinning at least some of the blame on the Conservatives for this tragedy, it may get a higher profile now.
The CMAJ notes that the Cabinet changed procedures in November 2007 so that inspection of ready-to-eat meats went from government inspectors to the meat industry. The result of that change was this:
In practice, the new policy meant that CFIA inspectors would rarely enter meat plants to test for bacteria and testing was left mostly to companies. Self-inspection came largely to substitute for, and not just [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on September 5, 2008, at 11:03 am |
I know there’s been some debate going on as to whether the Liberals should be going negative and if so, what type of “negative” we should be doing. I for one, think that the Liberals are doing the right campaign tactics when they are very tough on the Conservatives on such issues as the listeriosis outbreak:
The Liberals launched their first attack of the onrushing election campaign by accusing the Harper government of undermining food safety in the same way the Mike Harris Tories weakened water safety in Walkerton, Ont., a decade ago…Those of us from Ontario – and those across the country – remember Walkerton,” said Toronto MP [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on August 28, 2008, at 11:50 am |
- Tom Flanagan came out yesterday and claimed that Harper really isn’t aiming for a majority, but a result that would weaken the Liberals further; part of what Flanagan called a war of attrition aimed at eventually destroying the Liberal Party of Canada and removing it from the political scene. Nice reason to spend 400 million $ for an election, eh? I’m not particularly surprised if that’s what he’s aiming to do. Quite honestly, the feeling is mutual; I’d love for this election to destroy Stephen Harper’s political career if he loses and send him scurrying back to the University of Calgary, where he and Flanagan and the rest [...]
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