Jeebus

You know you have a political problem when the Bush Administration has a stronger position on poisoning its own people than you do and you are caught trying to persuade them to your point of view. Can you see the print ads now? A dual picture of George Bush and Stephen Harper, with the caption "Guess which leader has a stronger position on food safety? Hint: He doesn't own a ranch in Texas."

Update: For those of you who have doubts, it looks like many people in Ontario are able to make the connection between poisoned meat and poisoned water.

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Ballot Question

Are we, as a people, ready to reward a party that let's 89 year old women die of food poisoning, in order to satisfy its own ideological hatred of government?

Update: For my anonymous commenter. Nik Nanos weighs in on what "reasonable" people in Ontario may conclude from this incident. H/t to Impolitical.

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Dun, Dun, Dun

Last Thursday I wrote:

If there are any MSM types out there, perhaps you can ask some food inspectors if they were told to back off and give industry the benefit of the doubt, and if so, when?

Well the good people at the Globe and Mail must have been on the same wavelength because they answered my question today:

And the federal agency responsible for food safety this year began to let the industry conduct its own food testing, The Globe and Mail has learned.

A leaked cabinet document that outlined plans for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to give the food industry a greater role in the inspection process raised the ire of opposition politicians last week.

However, some of the plans have been in place since March 31, according to a CFIA manager and an official from the union that represents the federal inspectors.

At the Maple Leaf plant behind the listeria outbreak, a single federal inspector was relegated to auditing company paperwork and had to deal with several other plants, the manager and the union official said, contradicting the impression that officials had left last week that full-time watchdogs were on-site.

So, the government had already shifted to the Walkerton Model before this outbreak at the Maple Leaf plant. How suddenly very interesting. I wonder if this incident rather than any other, is driving the election timing? I also wonder if the Tories left it a day too late?

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The Case Of The Missing Inspectors

The other day, I speculated whether the current proposals to hand over food inspection to industry (hereafter known as the "Fox Chicken Inspection Agency")was the end result of earlier moves to change the food inspection system. The union representing food inspectors hints I may be right. From today's Globe and Mail:

Many people working in food inspection have said they are not surprised by the outbreak.

The president of the union representing CFIA inspectors says the agency is so short-staffed that food inspections and follow-up audits simply aren't taking place.

"What is really needed, in my perspective, is a full-blown inquiry on what is happening to the food inspection business in this country," said Michèle Demers, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada.

Ms. Demers said inspectors are warning her that shortcuts cuts are taking place on food safety, but they fear speaking out.

"Inspecting the products before they make it to the stores, before people can actually purchase them, those are the audits that aren't being made, those are the audits that aren't being made because they're too short-staffed," she said.

The next logical questions are, how long has this been going on and who ordered the earlier staffing cutbacks to the agency in the first place?

Update: Kady O'Malley suggests an alternative scenario. She hints that the "proposed" changes (read cuts) have already happened during the course of this year.

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Stephen Harper's Very Own Walkerton

With one person already dead and many more expected to get sick from tainted meat, it sure would be a foolish time to suggest that we should cut money from the food inspection system. Psycho Steve had better hope the the official opposition does its usual crappy job, dealing with this issue, or he is in big, big trouble.

Update: The Globe and Mail has a copy of the report that the government will not give to the opposition, so stonewalling no longer seems like a viable option guys.

Update: If there are any MSM types out there, perhaps you can ask some food inspectors if they were told to back off and give industry the benefit of the doubt, and if so, when? In other words the proposed cuts may have been an acknowledgment of an already established change in procedure (why fund an inspection system if we have told the inspectors to back off?) than a precursor to a change.

Update 3: As for the Tory reaction? It seems it is none of our business, but if we are good boys and girls and elect a Tory majority, we will find out. Please Big Daddy, please give me food poisoning!

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Before It Is Flushed Down The Memory Hole

Stephen Harper isn't the only one screwing around with food safety in the country. Dalton "I feel your pain, but what can you do?" McGuinty must have his own food stash hidden somewhere. Also, what is he thinking cutting environmental enforcement. Can you say WALKERTON?

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