BTC: It is now almost everyone's fault

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, October 8, 2008 at 9:42 PM - 3 Comments

Another listeria-related recall.

Meanwhile… the CFIA is now requiring daily checks.  CFIA inspectors blame a policy change. The CFIA blames the Liberals. The Liberals want a public inquiry. An expert cites a lack of education. And microwaves aren’t helping matters.

BTC: In case you missed it

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, October 2, 2008 at 1:00 PM - 22 Comments

When the listeriosis outbreak was raised during last night’s debate, the NDP war room sent out a press release that claimed the CFIA’s budget for “food safety and public health” is presently budgeted to decline every year from 2006 through 2010.

The Conservative response? That one of the authors of a CMAJ editorial that blasted Conservative government policies in this regard has donated money to both the NDP and Liberal parties.

Oh, and that he’s a friend of Michael Ignatieff. (Just like that dead soldier’s father!)

Here, again, is that editorial, signed by a half dozen authors. And here, again, is a separate commentary published by the CMAJ, signed by two other authors.

No doubt they’re all a bunch of Liberal hacks. But, all the same, I do look forward to the Conservative war room’s point-by-point rebuttal to the points raised.

BTC: Will we hear anything about food safety tonight?

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at 7:35 PM - 1 Comment

Because the death toll is up to 20.

Stay tuned.

Megapundit: Stanfield, Mondale, Stevenson… Dion?

By selley - Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 2:22 PM - 12 Comments

Must-reads: Don Martin on Gerry Ritz; Christie Blatchford on a drug dealer who murdered another drug dealer; Andrew Cohen on Stéphane Dion.

Counting on a miracle
Who will save the Liberals? Michael Ignatieff? Elizabeth May? Um… Gerry Ritz?

Let’s say the Liberals really are road kill on toast, Andrew Cohen proposes in the Ottawa Citizen—that, after the Oct. 14 debacle, they won’t be a legitimate electoral threat for eight more years, give or take. Not a happy prospect for Stéphane Dion, who has every right just now to feel a bit sorry for himself. But how, Cohen wonders, will history judge him? Well, he had the “guts” to fight for Canada in 1995 “when few others of his ilk did,” the guile to spearhead the Clarity Act, the tenacity to stand up to Paul Martin and the “reformer” instincts to advocate real solutions for global warming. Thus, while politically he will be included among the “failures,” he should rightly be positioned at the vanguard of those failures: Robert Stanfield, Joe Clark, Walter Mondale, Adlai Stevenson… Stéphane Dion.

Dion’s decision not to field a candidate in Central Nova also “begs for a chapter in the book on his leadership,” James Travers argues in the Toronto Star. It “infuriated Liberal loyalists,” cast doubt on his “political instincts” and gave an “upstart party” a somewhat undeserved boost in the national consciousness. But it could still “pay Dion a qualified dividend,” Travers argues, by allowing Elizabeth May to drag “the debates away from the tightly scripted Conservative message”—i.e., Dion will destroy us all! Run!—”and back to the policy choices that drew her into politics.” She could hammer away at just how conservative, and thus terrifying, the Tories are. And, in a best-case scenario, she might provoke the new, cuddlier, cashmere-clad Harper into a purple-faced rage in which, we imagine, he’d declare his abiding hatred for the environment and reveal the entirety of his monstrous hidden agenda.

Continue…

With all due respect, it might be best not to warm up the crowd with a joke, Minister: Liveblogging Gerry Ritz at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture debate

By kadyomalley - Monday, September 29, 2008 at 10:00 AM - 19 Comments

That is, if he shows up — although recent revelations that Gerry Ritz was bullied into running herd on the listeria outbreak by PMO apparatchiks would suggest that the minister will have very little choice in the matter. Hopefully this time, someone will have scrounged up some “information and lines”, however, so that Ritz isn’t forced to break out his improv comedy routine.  Full details on today’s debate available here, courtesy of the CFA, which is hosting today’s showdown.

10:41:11 AM
Well, so far, this is about as far as you can imagine from yesterday’s standing-room-only-and-barely-that all-candidates’ forum in Ottawa Centre — I’m at the Chateau Laurier, feeling distinctly underdressed in the tony confines of the Drawing Room.
At the front of the room, five lecterns in matching matte silver stand awaiting the stars of today’s show, but outside the front doors, a throng of cameras awaits only one: Gerry Ritz, Agriculture Minister and amateur comedian, who hasn’t been spotted in public since that awkward moment outside Confederation Building, where he read out a pre-written apology for his foray into gallows humour without betraying a glimmer of emotion. After delivering his muted mea culpa, Ritz promptly vanished into the cornfield where PMO banishes potentially troublesome minister — only to reappear yesterday evening as the likely unwilling star of a second Canadian Press exclusive.

Given what we now know of the power of PMO to compel even the most reluctant ministers to drag themselves before the media, the only question leading up to this debate – which promises to cover a wide range of issues related to agriculture, from farm aid to food safety – was whether the War Room would decide to send him to face his political rivals: Liberal Wayne Easter and the NDP’s Tony Martin. From what we understand, they did. We’ll see if that turns out to have been the right call in — oh, five minutes or so.

Continue…

BTC: 'Political or economic goals'

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, September 27, 2008 at 11:49 AM - 2 Comments

Questions raised about when the public was alerted of listeria fears. And the death toll reaches 19.

Dan Gardner offers the dissenting opinion.

BTC: 'That's just absurd'

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, September 26, 2008 at 2:23 PM - 17 Comments

Those 200 new inspectors the Prime Minister hired? The food inspectors union has no idea what he’s talking about.

BTC: Another day

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 12:10 PM - 0 Comments

Another recall.

Julian West's recurring nightmare

By selley - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 5:34 PM - 9 Comments

Gerald Caplan clearly hasn’t been keeping up with his naked news, as Colby Cosh notes over at the National Post. “Somehow or other, some women in BC recalled [ousted NDP candidate] Julian West’s cavorting nude—12 years ago,” Caplan wrote on The Globe and Mail‘s website. (Those women were teenagers, incidentally.) “I guess it made a lasting impression on them, and obviously it was an amazingly stupid stunt for Mr. West to have pulled. But 12 years ago? And was this worse than Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz’s verbal idiocies, not to mention his failure to properly regulate meat products? … The world’s not a fair place.”

Leah Jones, one of the women in question, explained the true gravity of the situation to CTV News yesterday: “We were doing face-painting and he decided he wanted to get his legs painted, and some of the girls were painting his legs, and he took off his underwear and he had a partial erection and said why stop there girls.”

Icky, most certainly, though not enough for police to have filed charges. So I don’t think it’s enough to empirically deem him unfit to run for office—but Gulf Islands–Saanich is hardly a throwaway riding, so I’d understand if the NDP had pushed him had he declined to jump. But worse than Ritz’s bons-mots? Quite obviously yes, as Cosh says. If Ritz played some part in causing the listeriosis scandal, then obviously we’re in a whole different league. But until we know, I think it’s abundantly clear which of the two is less able to regulate meat.

Continue…

BTC: Still nothing to see here

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 10:42 AM - 7 Comments

The Toronto Star and CBC roll out a joint investigation on food safety, linking the present situation to a 2005 report that highlighted various shortcomings in the system.

And the critics continue to rave. Continue…

Megapundit: Tell another one, Uncle Gerry!

By selley - Monday, September 22, 2008 at 3:20 PM - 14 Comments

WEEKEND ROUNDUP

Must-reads: Christie Blatchford on Gerry Ritz; Doug Saunders on the Eurabia hypothesis; David Olive on uniting the left; John Ivison in northern Ontario; Rosie DiManno and Peter Worthington on Afghanistan; Scott Taylor on Canada and the Caucasus; Konrad Yakabuski on Justin Trudeau; L. Ian MacDonald on what Jean Charest’s up to.

On the issues
Behold: all the things we’re not talking about!

The Toronto Sun‘s Peter Worthington is not impressed by the “tomb of silence” in which the Harperites have sealed all matters military: notably, committing to withdraw from Afghanistan in July 2011 and replacing the outspoken Rick Hillier with Walter Natynczyk, who seems more shy about vocally “standing up for soldiers and reviving our combat character”—both of which, in Worthington’s view, seem to make the Prime Minister “nervous.” The army needs at least “an additional brigade,” he argues, and ideally to double in size, but recent events lead him to fear that “lethargy is again taking over before the military rebuilding job is done.”

“The yearning for peace in Afghanistan hasn’t dwindled,” the Toronto Star‘s Rosie DiManno assures us, but “there is growing disenchantment with NATO, which clearly can’t contend with a resurgent Taliban.” American troops redeployed from Iraq might be able to do the job, she argues, but “the whole point of NATO taking over responsibility of Afghanistan—besides justifying its existence post Cold War—was to put a multinational face, earnest and humanitarian, on the mission.” Due to many factors including the component nations’ inability or unwillingness to commit enough troops to combat duty, DiManno seems more or less ready to call that mission a failure.

Continue…

BTC: Listeria, by the numbers

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, September 22, 2008 at 1:41 PM - 13 Comments

From the Globe.

“More than 440 food products have been recalled so far this year because of exposure to Listeria monocytogenes, including 323 related to a single production line at a Toronto meat processing plant. During the five years between 2003 and 2007, by comparison, the food-borne pathogen was mentioned in only 19 product recalls.”

The story gets a bit confusing from there. But the key point appears to be this:

“… figures compiled by The Globe and Mail on the number of food recalls reveal that some of the testing did not appear to happen until the product was on retail shelves or had already been consumed.”

BTC: And how was your afternoon?

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, September 19, 2008 at 4:42 PM - 8 Comments

A confirmed death in British Columbia. The Ontario Ministry of Health is looking at the possibility of 19 deaths. Former Reform MP Val Meredith is calling for Gerry Ritz to resign. Jack Layton says Stephen Harper has failed Canadian families. The Liberals want to know what Harper meant by “political concerns.” Dennis Schroh remains displeased (video here). David Akin tries to explain why reporters can’t question the Prime Minister as much as they’d like. And the New York Times is now covering the story.

Megapundit: Gerard Kennedy ruins it for everyone

By selley - Friday, September 19, 2008 at 2:19 PM - 13 Comments

Must-reads: Colby Cosh on the economic meltdown; Chantal Hébert on Gerard Kennedy’s big mistake; John Robson on Elections Canada’s censors; Rosie DiManno on Jeremy Hinzman.

Wayne Easter’s revenge
Why can’t the Harperites shut up and play nice?

The Calgary Herald‘s Don Martin believes the Liberals got off lucky yesterday with Gerry Ritz’s gallows humour dominating the news instead of whatever Stephen Harper, who recently described a $9-billion promise as “mind-boggling,” might have said about Stéphane Dion’s $70-billion infrastructure plan. In these trying financial times, Martin suggests we’re less in the mood for twelve-figure “vote-buying tactics” than we are for modest measures like, er, cracking down on banana-flavoured cigarillos. Lehman Brothers and AIG be damned, we’d respond—we want good roads and kids not to smoke, and we won’t be convinced it’s not possible!

Sun Media’s Greg Weston summarizes Harper’s response to the Ritz crackup as follows: “While [he] may have insulted and otherwise upset the families of 17 Canadians killed by tainted meat under his watch, that ‘should not detract from the good work that he has done,’”. (We’re not sure you can really “insult” someone in a private conversation to which he or she isn’t party, and suspect whichever bureaucrat leaked the conversation probably took far longer away from his or her job to do so than Ritz did to make his off-colour jokes. But never mind.) In any case, says Weston, each of these ongoing Tory gaffes and the ensuing apologies “likely negates a dozen of Harper’s homey sweater ads,” and not only do they throw the campaign off-message, they force Harper to actually “praise the public service” in hopes of plugging any future leaks. Gross! Like kissing your sister!

Continue…

BTC: Nothing to see here

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, September 19, 2008 at 12:15 PM - 6 Comments

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announces that a Newfoundland manufacturer has voluntarily recalled 31 products for fear of listeria contamination. The government’s own scientists want Gerry Ritz fired. And authorities are investigating the death of an infant in northern Manitoba.

The Toronto Star comments: “Ritz’s gallows humour was objectionable, but tangential. Whether he resigns or not, it’s the government’s ideologically driven policy that needs to be replaced.”

BTC: But not before some more innuendo

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 11:38 PM - 6 Comments

From Canwest’s David Akin tonight. Turns out the CP story, like Jim Davis, was a Liberal set-up.

The Harper campaign is convinced that the leak that exposed Ritz made it into a reporter’s hands from the Liberal war room.

An adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that, had the race been closer, the Ritz leak likely would have prompted a Conservative counter-attack on the Liberals. “And then we’d be into it, just throwing mud back and forth at each other,” the adviser said.

BTC: And back round to the central question

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 11:31 PM - 6 Comments

CBC talks to more of the families (video here). And a grieving mother helpfully brings us back to the more substantive matter of public policy.

In Ontario, the mother of 36-year-old Kristen Hicks, who died in an Alberta hospital of listeriosis on Aug. 14, said she’s upset by Ritz’s comments … Hicks took issue with Ritz’s scripted apology and his refusal to take questions from the media, saying it made her feel that “public safety was secondary to his wish to remain in office.”

Hicks told CBC News she thought that both the agriculture and the health minister had done a poor job handling the outbreak. ”And now, in light of a very, very serious and heartbreaking situation, they seem to be taking it no more seriously,” she said.

That CMAJ editorial, again, is here. The accompanying commentary is here. And here is a separate piece on how best to monitor the food industry.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada is raising similar concerns. And, from Canwest, news that some imported foods are subject to different standards.

BTC: Harper's response

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 6:06 PM - 19 Comments

David Akin has the full transcript. Including this bit. “The real question during that whole period of time was making sure everybody was doing their job. Not just the company that took full responsibility for the listeriosis crisis but all government officials in all departments were working round the clock to make sure they were fixing the problem. Certainly, I would like to know that that, and that alone, was the priority of officials and I think it was the priority of the vast number of government officials. I’m obviously disappointed that some have some other priorities.”

BTC: 'As far as I'm concerned, he should get fired'

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 5:03 PM - 5 Comments

From the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. “Just six days before Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz joked about the listeriosis crisis, a woman in his own riding died after contracting the bacteria. Elizabeth (Betty) Schroh, died Aug. 24… Schroh’s son, Dennis Schroh, said he’s normally a Conservative supporter but is ‘appalled’ by Ritz’s remarks.”

More from Canadian Press. “Elizabeth Schroh’s daughter, Joanne Doetzel, was not as angry as her brother. She said she thought Ritz’s apology was sincere and that he simply made a mistake. ‘He made a flippant remark. I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt and, up until now, he’s been doing a good job, so why should I say resign?’ Doetzel said. ‘People are allowed to make mistakes and hopefully he learns from this one.’ Doetzel noted that her mother voted for Ritz and that after she died Ritz called Doetzel to offer his condolences.”

Update. Missed this sentence from the CP dispatch the first time through. “But Alicia Bigland, another of Elizabeth Schroh’s daughters, pointed out that the condolences were only offered after the family first called Ritz to inform him of her mother’s death.”

BTC: 'More than a joke'

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 3:56 PM - 8 Comments

The Globe editorial board on Gerry Ritz.

“…there are only so many times Prime Minister Stephen Harper can signal his disappointment with his party’s ministers and staff before questions must be raised about just what sort of environment they are working in. Mr. Ritz should have been fired or resigned as soon as his comments came to light, if only to send a message that such conduct will no longer be tolerated. But it is fair to question whether it has been tolerated for too long behind closed doors already.”

For whatever it’s worth, any given day watching Question Period from the gallery might tell you that little has been contained behind closed doors. Indeed, if the condemnation here is a lack of seriousness in governance, the circumstantial evidence has hardly been hidden.

BTC: Hypothetically speaking

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 11:00 AM - 35 Comments

Would Gerry Ritz still be the Agriculture Minister if he’d been caught joking about 17 Canadians dying in a bus crash? What about if it was the deaths of 17 Canadian soldiers? Or if the deaths had simply been more centralized around a single place (a la Walkerton)? If the answer is no to any of those scenarios, what makes this situation different?

Later… What’s remarkable about this is not that it’s a controversy, but that it’s so minor, or misdirected, a controversy. And how difficult that is to reconcile with the facts. Continue…

Yes, too soon: Liveblogging Ag Min Gerry Ritz's statement on those unfortunate listeria jokes

By kadyomalley - Wednesday, September 17, 2008 at 10:19 PM - 59 Comments

10:11:54 PM
Well, this is unexpected. (I really ought to make that a macro.) I’m currently hurtling down Wellington Street, berry in hand, enroute to Confederation Building, where, we’re told by the Conservative Party, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz may have something to say about his ill-advised foray into gallows humour at the height of last month’s listeria crisis. Oh, who among us hasn’t made the occasional morbid crack about the death of an opposition MP, you might ask.

Well, what did Ritz in, from what ITQ can see, is that he had the lack of presence of mind to do it on a conference call which included bureaucrats are on the line – that just gave me a Princess Bride flashback, y’all – which is a particularly unwise decision when your government has prided itself on its combative relationship with the civil service.

So here we are, outside Confed enjoying in the crisp autumn air, awaiting what is billed only as a “statement” — not, I should note, that this will stop the questions from being asked, but I, for one, will be shocked if there are actual answers.

He’s due to arrive at 10:30. I’ll be back then.

10:20:55 PM
We’re taking bets as to whether he’s going to apologize, or resign, or both — the fact that it was the party that announced his appearance and not the government suggests to me that this may be the final crumble of the cracker.

This is the oddest locale for a presser, by the way — it’s not just on a set of stairs outside the main entrance, but there’s ongoing construction, so we’re wedged somewhat awkwardly around a wooden — pagoda-y thing. Sorry, my grasp of architectural jargon is sorely lacking.

10:24:46 PM
“Was that movement?” Okay, so he’s holed up inside, I guess. (And no, it wasn’t, although since we’re just off the main stretch of parliamentland, we’re starting to attract curious tourists.)

10:26:34 PM
Scaffolding! That’s what it’s called.

Okay, according to what appears to be his aide, the minister will be out momentarily, but will not be taking questions. “He’s making a statement, and that’s it — okay, guys?”

NOTE: It actually wasn’t his aide – it was Mike Storeshaw, who, in peacetime, is director of communications for Jim Flaherty, but is currently serving the party as a soldier in the War Room. 

10:27:47 PM
And here he is — the man of the hour himself, ignoring the entreaties of the camera crew to move out from the depths of the scaffolding and giving his speech about as close to the exit as he possibly can. It sounds like he’s memorized his script — he’s delivering it at a breakneck, almost jaunty pace. No, he’s not saying anything new – comments were inappropriate, he regrets unreservedly, and — wow, that’s it. He just scuttled back inside, ignoring the barrage of questions (including one from Colleague Wells).

UPDATE: Wells’ question, for the record: “What does taking responsibility entail?” was no less piercing for the fact that it was aimed in the direction of the minister’s rapidly retreating back, or what of it could be seen dimly through the gently swinging door.

10:30:08 PM
Really, that was it? That was a minute long. Wells is buttonholing the luckless aide, but it’s all off the record, so I’m not going to share a word.

Well, at least I didn’t miss a resignation, right?

10:32:27 PM
You know, I think the whole purpose of this newser was to give the networks footage other than that airport clip, where he refuses to answer, and eventually someone – possibly Ritz – tells the reporter to “Get out of my face.” This twenty seconds of public penance was awkward, short and pointless – but still slightly better than that, as far as the optics.

BTC: 'This is like a death by a thousand cuts. Or should I say cold cuts.'

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, September 17, 2008 at 8:14 PM - 22 Comments

(Updated through 11:11pm.)

You stay classy, Gerry Ritz.

Update. From Canwest. “Prime Minister Stephen Harper said jokes Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz made in the midst of the listeriosis crisis were ‘inappropriate,’ according to his spokesman, who added there has no been discussions about asking Ritz to resign.”

Update II. Ritz’s apology. “It was a highly stressful time. Many people were working countless hours and attending countless meetings to keep on top of the situation. In that context, I made a couple of spur of moment, offhand comments. In particular, one about my official opposition critic, whom I have already called to apologize. My comments were tasteless and completely inappropriate. I apologize unreservedly.”

Update III. And let’s not forget Tony Clement in Denver. “I’m Health Minister Tony Clement, and I have to say I approved this food.”

Update IV. Liberals are calling for Ritz to resign immediately. Wayne Easter comments. “I’ve already called for Mr. Ritz’s resignation over his handling of the listeriosis outbreak and his failure to tell the truth to Canadians about the government’s role in it. I could never imagine he would show this kind of insensitivity. This is just one more reason he needs to be dismissed … I don’t care what he said about me, but 17 people have died. That is no joking matter.”

Update V. Jack Layton, scrumming with reporters in Toronto, has called for the minister to be fired and removed as a Conservative candidate. Continue…

BTC: Silly questions (II)

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, September 17, 2008 at 12:37 PM - 12 Comments

Granted, this business of the Liberal plane is terribly fascinating, the stock market is a mess and it’s important we know how much the mission in Afghanistan is costing us… but shouldn’t this bit about the Canadian Medical Association Journal’s accusing the government of endangering the lives of average, unsuspecting citizens be near the top of the day’s news?

Highlights from the relevant editorial. Continue…