Kato,
Like your first three questions. FYI at our meeting with the Judge on 20 December (Madam Justice Lax is back!) Her Honour asked counsel for the Feds and I to suggest the names of some of Her Honour's colleagues that we would consider an acceptable mediator. Counsel for the Feds said she would have to seek instructions. I expect the Feds to agree to mediation right after the Leafs win the Cup.
GF,
Facts are good. Let's try some, just for a change of pace. The Salers (note the 's' on both ends) that was the first cow diagnosed with BSE in Canada in December 1993 was born in August 1986 and imported into Canada in January 1987. Given that Dr. John Wilesmith did not deliver his report on BSE to the MAFF (Ministry of Fisheries and Food) until 1988, anyone foolish enough to blame the Canadian importer for failing to consider the BSE implications has his head firmly placed a long way up his own posterior. The importation of British cattle into Canada was banned in February 1990. The 196 British cattle that had been imported into Canada between 1982 and 1989 were placed by Agriculture Canada in a monitoring program in April 1990.
In the winter of 1993/94 when the particular British (actually a Norman embryonic implant) Salers (eartag ACEB13) was diagnosed with BSE the folks at Agriculture Canada removed their own heads from similar locations previously described and realized that fully 80 of the British imports had entered the animal food chain in Canada since April 1990 (oops). 68 to routine slaughter and 12 into the rendering vats whole as deadstock.
Having done a risk assessment that identified the probability that one or more of these 80 animals had BSE at 100%, the good folks at Agriculture Canada then failed to do a few things, some of which were legal requirements of their jobs.
1. They failed to inform the Minister of Agriculture.
2. They failed to inform the inspectors at federal abattoirs, or even to educate them on signs and symptoms of BSE.
3. They failed to inform the renderers and feed manufacturers (who might have chosen to stop putting ruminant MBM into calf starter).
4. They failed to require calf starter to be labelled to indicate whether it contained ruminant MBM.
5. They did order the remaining British imports destroyed, although two of the birth cohorts of the aforementioned Salers (hand fed the same calf starter)had already been rendered. They even got Ben Thorlakson (then President of the CCA) to help them out with a couple of producers who were holding out for unreasonable compensation. They did not, however, tell Ben or any other producer about the 80 British animals already in the system.
That may work for you as bad breaks or just the way it is, but in this country we call that misfeasance in public office. It is against the law. There was none of that in Britain where the government actually did a pretty good job in the difficult circumstances they had to work with.
As for causation, the scientific evidence is overwhelming. Given that the standard of proof is 'more likely than not', we have that one covered thanks.
Now as for Minister Ritz, the judge wants a mediation and the producers want a mediation. The folks who lied to the Minister don't want a mediation. Not rocket science.
If the mediator tells us to pack our bags, we're gone. What is the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food afraid of? The truth? See John 8:32
Like your first three questions. FYI at our meeting with the Judge on 20 December (Madam Justice Lax is back!) Her Honour asked counsel for the Feds and I to suggest the names of some of Her Honour's colleagues that we would consider an acceptable mediator. Counsel for the Feds said she would have to seek instructions. I expect the Feds to agree to mediation right after the Leafs win the Cup.
GF,
Facts are good. Let's try some, just for a change of pace. The Salers (note the 's' on both ends) that was the first cow diagnosed with BSE in Canada in December 1993 was born in August 1986 and imported into Canada in January 1987. Given that Dr. John Wilesmith did not deliver his report on BSE to the MAFF (Ministry of Fisheries and Food) until 1988, anyone foolish enough to blame the Canadian importer for failing to consider the BSE implications has his head firmly placed a long way up his own posterior. The importation of British cattle into Canada was banned in February 1990. The 196 British cattle that had been imported into Canada between 1982 and 1989 were placed by Agriculture Canada in a monitoring program in April 1990.
In the winter of 1993/94 when the particular British (actually a Norman embryonic implant) Salers (eartag ACEB13) was diagnosed with BSE the folks at Agriculture Canada removed their own heads from similar locations previously described and realized that fully 80 of the British imports had entered the animal food chain in Canada since April 1990 (oops). 68 to routine slaughter and 12 into the rendering vats whole as deadstock.
Having done a risk assessment that identified the probability that one or more of these 80 animals had BSE at 100%, the good folks at Agriculture Canada then failed to do a few things, some of which were legal requirements of their jobs.
1. They failed to inform the Minister of Agriculture.
2. They failed to inform the inspectors at federal abattoirs, or even to educate them on signs and symptoms of BSE.
3. They failed to inform the renderers and feed manufacturers (who might have chosen to stop putting ruminant MBM into calf starter).
4. They failed to require calf starter to be labelled to indicate whether it contained ruminant MBM.
5. They did order the remaining British imports destroyed, although two of the birth cohorts of the aforementioned Salers (hand fed the same calf starter)had already been rendered. They even got Ben Thorlakson (then President of the CCA) to help them out with a couple of producers who were holding out for unreasonable compensation. They did not, however, tell Ben or any other producer about the 80 British animals already in the system.
That may work for you as bad breaks or just the way it is, but in this country we call that misfeasance in public office. It is against the law. There was none of that in Britain where the government actually did a pretty good job in the difficult circumstances they had to work with.
As for causation, the scientific evidence is overwhelming. Given that the standard of proof is 'more likely than not', we have that one covered thanks.
Now as for Minister Ritz, the judge wants a mediation and the producers want a mediation. The folks who lied to the Minister don't want a mediation. Not rocket science.
If the mediator tells us to pack our bags, we're gone. What is the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food afraid of? The truth? See John 8:32
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