WordsAndActionsMatter
Now.
Here’s the thing, when it comes to listeria outbreaks, because that is what the CMAJ is focussing on here.
They are most definitely not caused by by anything as exotic as a superbug-like
Andromeda Strain that requires people to run around in hermetically-sealed hazmat suits.Instead, they are caused by a run-of-the-mill gram-positive bacillus (bacteria) that, in the case of the recent outbreak, apparently bloomed within filthy meat cutting machines that were not being cleaned properly by a company that was “self-regulating” sans government inspectors.
“We are aware of deficiencies, and that’s why we’re acting and investing, both putting money [into the system] and looking very carefully at our processes as we go forward,” he said.
“The previous (Liberal) government was aware of some of these deficiencies, [but] they didn’t act. We have been acting.”
This is unadulterated codswallop.
And it should be Mr. Harper’s
‘Brownie, you’re doin’ a heckuva job’ moment.In other words, he should wear this for now and forever after, because this so-called ‘frenzy of inspector-hiring’ came after…..
After people started getting sick…..
And after people started dieing……
And before all that, the common and easy to disinfect listeria bacilli began blooming deep within the bowels of those meatcutters in that processing plant which no longer received visits from CFIA inspectors because of an overt, and demonstrable, policy change instituted by the government of Mr. Stephen Harper.
No ifs.
No ands.
And no buts.
No matter how much he obfuscates.
…”The federal government plans to cut the additional inspectors who were stationed at meat plants across the country after the Maple Leaf listeriosis outbreak killed 23 Canadians in 2008.
A recent report by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says “resources will sunset for listeriosis and for increased frequency of food inspection in meat processing establishments” at the end of the current fiscal year…”