The union representing front-line inspectors for the
Canadian Food Inspection Agency held a news conference in Ottawa to say it
believes the government will claw back staff increases that were implemented in
response to the Listeria monocytogenes food poisonings from meats processed by Maple Leaf Foods Inc. in Toronto in 2008.
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| Gerry Ritz |
Twenty-three people died in what Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz called "death by 1,000 cold cuts".
Temporary funding for 170 extra inspectors for processed
meat plants ends March 31 and union president Bob Kingston said budget
documents indicate there are no provisions to restore that funding or keep
those inspectors.
Ritz said the cuts will not affect food safety, but has not
explained why not. I think Ritz is more likely to bow to pressure to cut the guts out of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency than to resign as a matter of principle.
And the principles here go far beyond meat inspection. Does he care about court documents indicating that five per cent of Ontario's eggs fail to meet Grade A standards, and that cracked eggs that could be contaminated with manure that gets inside are on supermarket shelves? Does he care that the reputation for Canadian Holstein genetics was tarnished because the CFIA totally failed to notice frauds related to thousands of embryos that were exported around the world? Does he care that fertilizers sold to farmers every spring fail to meet standards of value for money? The CFIA list of failures goes on and on while Ritz continues to cut budgets and staff.
The union found when it examined budget documents that the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency will have to make do with about $20 million less in the upcoming fiscal
year, or with about $332 million, and that there will be a further slight cut
to $330 million the following year.
About half of the CFIA staff deals with food safety.
Now, if Ritz could assure us that the businesses under regulation are going to suddenly step up to the plate and stop cutting corners, cheating and gouging, maybe we could accept the CFIA budget and staff cuts. But where's the evidence?
