While Liberals and MSM are gleefully pointing fingers at the federal Government for the current listeria problems, Ontario NDP France Gelinas is honing in on the McGuinty Liberals.
Gelinas was on 570′s Jeff Allan show this morning and blamed the Ontario Health Minister for his slow response to the crisis, even though the story is national in scope. She is demanding a full review of the matter and says the Health Minister has been ‘missing in action’.
Strategists like Warren Kinsella should be careful about attempting to taint the current Federal Government with a Walkerton-type stigma.
There will be plenty of blame to go around for the industry and all levels of government.
In fact Gelinas also points out that the current Ontario Government has been negligent in an area directly related to the Walkerton scandal:
…New Democrats also accused Queen’s Park of ignoring recommendations made by the Walkerton inquiry to fill vacant medical officer of health positions. (That inquiry looked into tainted water.)
Questions were also raised over the dates when alerts were issued about listeria.
NDP health critic France Gelinas issued a statement saying, "over one-third of Ontario’s public health units lack permanent full-time medical officers of health.
"Especially in light of questions surrounding the public reporting of this listeriosis outbreak, the McGuinty Liberals need to properly support our public health units."
Instead of politicians desperately trying to cover their behinds here, perhaps they should be working together to try to prevent a recurrence of this tragic situation.
Let’s see less finger-pointing and more action. Gelinas has a right to critique Ontario Government response and suggest improvements. But there is a fine line between what she is doing and using the situation for political gain.
Anyone trying to score cheap political points on the backs of dead Canadians should be ashamed of himself.
* * * *
Update: This is an unrelated Ontario issue, but I didn’t want it to slip by and I don’t have time to delve into it right now – Choices for our future (Expositor).
It seems that MPP Toby Barrett has been on the receiving end of a lot of pressure – including from Julian Fantino. Democracy in Ontario is in a very fragile state.
Late afternoon update re: Listeriosis outbreak - Finally we hear from a Conservative MPP! Bill Murdoch speaks out (via a faithful reader.) Link found at CKNX news.
Oh, and it’s called ‘posturing’.
Apparently Stephane Dion is outplaying Harper (according to Steve.)
Sorry for the off topic, but this was too delicious to resist -
http://repossessinghalton.blogspot.com/2008/08/milton-john-john-garth-turner-twins-at.html
Garth busted.
Some of the posters on Kinsella’s blog tried linking Lysteria and Walkerton to Clement, Baird, etc. One particular poster named Don, even went as far as to blame Sars on Clement, saying he should wear it, and citing part of the constitution about health care being a provincial responsibility.
I provided a comment with a link to the c. difficile deaths in Ontario, asking Don if he was willing to hold McGuinty/Smitherman and the Ontario Liberals responsible as he did with the Conservatives.
It would appear Don must have gone away on holidays, nary a peep.
Anyone trying to score cheap political points on the backs of dead Canadians should be ashamed of himself.
Joanne -
Could not agree with you more.
Sorry Joanne, it’s off topis, but thought people should look at this blog. Remember me saying it’s obvious Garth is posting with different names on his blog? Looks like he has been busted.
http://repossessinghalton.blogspot.com/
Sorry Joanne, it’s off topic, but thought people should look at this blog. Remember me saying it’s obvious Garth is posting with different names on his blog? Looks like he has been busted.
http://repossessinghalton.blogspot.com/
Maple Leaf HAD TO meet stricter US standards, because it exports meat products.
They did, and it wasn’t enough.
Will that fact get lost because of this memo?:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080829.wmeatcfia29/BNStory/National/home
”The U.S. Department of Agriculture has not backed down from its requirement that all producers of ready-to-eat meat must pasteurize or boil products in the package to kill Listeria monocytogenes, add chemicals to prevent the bacteria, or allow more rigorous plant inspections.
It was unclear yesterday which option Maple Leaf took to comply with U.S. standards.
However, it does not appear those higher U.S. standards were enough to prevent the current outbreak.”
Sorry about some of these links ending up in my overly-agressive spam filter. Still trying to figure that one out. Thanks for your patience.
Where are the provincial Tory’s on this issue….on any issue?
Where are the provincial Tory’s on this issue….on any issue?
M.I.A.
At least we still have the NDP. Actually, I’m really impressed with France Gelinas. She seems very sincere and hard-working.
Politicians (egged on by the media) yapping and finger pointing are seriously annoying. But what also bugs me is the implicit assumption by politicians, the media and the vast numbers of nanny state enthusiasts that government has all the answers and that more government will fix every problem. Food companies have a lot to lose if they screw up. Maybe less government involvement would produce a safer food supply.
In the Walkerton situation the only thing that worked properly was the private test lab. All else involved breakdowns (including criminal negligence and fraud) in government at one level or another.
Good points, J.R. Thanks for that perspective.
BTW, anyone interested in the Garth Turner doppelganger story might want to check out AGWN.
Paulsstuff, I tried that “repossessinghalton” link when I saw it elsewhere this morning, and my computer immediately started whirring as though it was rewinding a damaged CD – a noise I’ve never heard before.
My computer is not an old clunker, it was bought new last August.
Any ideas/explanations from techies about the possible cause of the noise would be appreciated.
The master Ontario PC strategist, John Tory, was in my home-town last week. Or so I’m told. Shook a few hands, promised to force someone to give him a seat,and disappeared into the fog.
I guess there’s no point in hold McG’s feet to fire, since any election is years away.
Any ideas/explanations from techies about the possible cause of the noise would be appreciated.
I’m guessing this is a case of re-”possession” of a computer, due to visiting a Garth-related link. Time for an exorcism.
Gabby, my computer does that occasionally. I find if I hit the stop button at the top, and click on the link it goes away.
On the newer computers like mine the fan comes on when needed.
“Time for an exorcism.” LOL. I’ll call for the incense and holy water brigade.
“On the newer computers like mine the fan comes on when needed.” Thanks for the info, Paulsstuff, but my iMac doesn’t appear to have a fan – the gyrating heat reducing kind, that is.
It has plenty of the other kind of fans. Ask Steve Jobs.
I confess to being guilty of listeria hysteria. I ate some pre-washed sliced mushrooms (that I cooked) the night before hearing about the new recall on a particular brand of mushrooms. That was not the brand I ate but still convinced myself that what I realize now were probably fall allergies was listeria. I am feeling much better today so I am over the hysteria now.
Regardless of that, I would never think of pointing a finger at the government about something like that. I totally agree with your statement, “Let’s see less finger-pointing and more action”.
Glad you’re feeling better, Steph.
I think we all realize now that the less processed food we eat, the better. Even washing and slicing our own food is worth the effort.
Also, I am trying to stay clear of deli meats as much as possible for a number of reasons. Instead I am trying to cook boneless chicken breasts, etc. and slice them up myself for sandwiches and lunches. The results are cheaper and a lot healthier because I know how much sodium is used, etc.