The real article - Who lost Lakeside - XL Foods or the CFIA?

[rkaiser]

The XL thing is an opportunity and not a disaster for the producers of Canada. An opportunity to finally stand up and take the responsibility that is obviously needed from pasture to plate. The reason this BS happened is because beef, like most other foods have become commodities rather than nutritional dietary supplements for people and those people and groups who think about food in a monetary way have got to be replaced by people who care about the animals, the product, and the consumer.

If markets and supply numbers were an issue before, they are no longer. Now is the time to push the government for a loan or a loan guarantee to build a producer owned project. Beef Initiative Group Canada had the idea, we have put the plan into action.

One thing that I will agree with everyone posting on here is that blaming is only fanning the flames. Blaming the CFIA with your article has gotten to the Wild Rose facebook page Sheri and will soon be in the major media as well. Investment in new infrastructure or even the partner that NB knows they will have to have to open their doors is fading fast as the world now sees our inspection agency as bad bad bad.

I am not saying that you should have not written and exposed the CFIA; I am glad you did. Just letting you know that the little bit of bashing that you all feel GF and I have been doing will be overshadowed by the implications of blaming CFIA and scaring away future investment that is crucial for our industry long term.

[SheriMonk]

But covering up problems only make them worse
down the road.
How can we go forward on a crumbling foundation,
and what service do we do our industry or our
country by advancing our personal goals in the
short-term without fixing the issues that could
ultimately collapse them in the long-term?

Honesty is about being honest all the time, not just
when it suits us.
Industry has an opportunity here to demand a
better agency, and the timing is ripe to make that
happen. The cattle industry could be lead the way,
and earn the respect of consumers in Canada and
abroad for doing so, rather than consumer finding
out later that we KNEW the system was broken and
did nothing to help.

[ASRG]

Randy: Maybe exposing the short comings of the CFIA will actually lead to a better inspection system? Maybe it will encourage some whistle blowers in other plants to come out of the wood work?
While I like your idea of a producer plant I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for any money from Harper or Redford...they don't work for you and me....they work for the likes of Nilssons and Cargill! Their job is to make sure there is no competition!

[ASRG]

Oh and Randy? Don't look for any support from your ABP or CCA. They will be lobbying hard to never allow you to open a plant. They are corporate prostitutes......just like Redford and Harper!

[SheriMonk]

If the CFIA is as damaged as some fear it is, it makes
no sense to build a house of cards on top of it.

Maybe the agency is actually completely competent
and there is a logical explanation coming.

Either way, I think we need to know.

[rkaiser]

As I said Sheri, I am glad you wrote this and glad that this is going to be the next hot media item. Just reminding you of the implications for future investment and how NB will be all over this CFIA blame story to beg for government help --- and yes ASRG likely supported by the boys and girls at ABP/CCA.

Just a reminder that this is beyond a "personal" agenda Sheri. "Producer ownership" is "Producer ownership". If I am part of a new company that is owned by producers, the employee paycheck I get will never catch up to the ten years that I or many others have dedicated to an Interdependent cause like "Producer ownership".

Should I find an private investor for our conscious value chain project first, yes I will gain more. And don't get me wrong, I have kicked that horse into gear as well.

[rkaiser]

I like your either way statement Sheri and feel that alternatives is what we are talking about here. You have shown the incompetency of the CFIA, kudo's as Gary said. Now let's get to work on our interview for another article talking about an alternative. I even think your old buddy Cam Ostercamp might pick up the phone and help out if we promise him that he does not have to talk to another politician in his life,,LOL

[KathiL]

I am new to this site. Not in the industry - just a consumer. I have read Sheri's article, outlining CFIA's incompetencies and slow-as-molasses response to the E-coli contamination. Not surprised - can anyone show me a government agency that moves at an even somewhat fast pace? I am not however so quick to agree that what has happened is due strictly to CFIA incompetencies and slow action. In the article it points out that XL notified its retailers of possible Ecoli contamination, before CFIA did! Whoopdeedoo!! Shouldn't they have done that anyway? Isn't that just smart business practice? Somehow this is supposed to show XL/Nilsson's diligence? The whole thing started IN THEIR PLANT! They "had decent protocol but didn't always follow it?" ?? WTF!!@# This is FOOD that they are sending out their doors! Food that WE consume. Food that I feed to my family. Yes, I get that you can't inspect every single piece of meat and that its a numbers game. But shouldn't XL be doing everything within their power to ensure that the odds are in their favour? That as little contaminated meat as possible goes out their doors? Instead of relying on a third party to stop them when they've "loosened the protocol" just a little too much, and by then its too late? The issue shouldn't be about the timing of the announcement of Ecoli - How about some accountability? This isn't just a case of a few people getting sick from some contaminated beef. It is yet another example of Big Business Greed and them thumbing their nose at regulatory bodies and holding their staff, suppliers and consumers hostage in order to get their way. This is no different than the oil companies and the banks paying lip service to safe practices, then creating an environment of fear when they are held accountable. This isn't just a bungle job by the Food Inspection Agency.None of this would be happening if XL Foods was run as a clean plant.But it wasn't. And they got caught. And then they blame the CFIA for not stopping them from running a dirty plant. This has turned into a political power struggle and we, the consumers, the suppliers and even the employees are the ones feeling the consequence. And the worst part is, they'll be cleared of everything, go back to running their dirty plant with ill-trained staff and incompetent inspection agents. Go back to underpaying their suppliers, overcharging their customers and praying that they don't get caught.And apparently,sadly, there is nothing we can do about it.

[GaryE]

This is not about choosing XL or CFIA..in my books, both are wrong. This should be about going forward with a re-opened plant as soon as possible but having the confidence that standards have been raised to those of a world class slaughter facitlity and that this fiasco will not be repeated

[cpallett]

GaryE,

The biggest problem, as I understand it, is that nobody (XL or the CFIA) has been able to identify the problem with any confidence or precision.

So the CFIA is using the shotgun approach to hunt flies and the Nilsson brothers have opened themselves up to the type of capialist pig rants we see here and elsewhere.

Can anybody tell me with any sort of precision and accuracy (backed up by facts please, not assumptions) how exactly in the process the trimmings in question got contaminated with e-coli? Didn't think so.

Brian and Lee certainly screwed up big time by letting the CFIA handle the PR, although the CFIA protocol requires that CFIA handle release of information to the public.

Michael McCain was smarter than that. A lot smarter. Oh well, live and learn.

But until we know exactly what happened (and the players on the inside still don't know), then who the heck are we to point fingers? My jabs at the CFIA are at least based on information provided by the CFIA itself.

[rkaiser]

Here is another intersting twist on things from an obvious right wing activist on the Wild Rose Facebook site.

He is adressing Danielle Smith.

"What garbage, kinda disappointed that you would empathize with them too as you are supposed to be our right winger. The unions have spun this into a federal government issue and the media can't resist. Can barely stand this wrtier's drivel so did not complete. Cannot inspect every piece of meat. How about this, if people want to work with a succesful employer they do everything they can to ensure failure doesn't happen. Nobody other than the employees should have to inspect any of the equipment or product to ensure people are doing what is best for their own employment. When people work with pride and self respect in any industry failures are eliminated. Their union leadership should be protecting their people by ensuring they are washing their hands, sterilizing equipment, working safely and if they can't trust their "brothers and sisters" to do it maybe they should be inspecting equipment and product themselves to ensure the big bad investors who employ their membership (and therefore pay the union dues) will be able to continue profitting and growing job security."

[grassfarmer]

The most ignorant racist comment I've read on the
issue was some reader's opinion on Yahoo that "these
Africans have filthy habits and they must have
brought this pathogen with them as it was previously
unknown in North America"
And this is the electorate you think might overthrow
Harper on the ecoli issue if there were an election
tomorrow kato? lol

[kato]

Maybe not, but it would at least give the informed ones a chance to make their opposition official.

I don't know if it's so much a problem of CFIA being incompetent, as of it being underfunded and lacking leadership. If only a handful of inspectors have had the up to date training after all this time, then someone needs to explain why.

Once again, it should have landed on the desk of our ever absent ag minister... a long time ago. And if he couldn't have dealt with it in a timely manner, it should have landed on the desk of his boss so he could replace said ag minister with someone capable of getting the job done.

[ASRG]

The buck has to stop somewhere......and that is Gerry Ritz.....if not Ritz....Who? Stephen Harper?
I think it is a little naive to expect the worker to stand up and demand they do things right......in about two minutes he'd be kicking horse turds down the road with his pink slip in his pocket!
The CFIA has one job....to make sure the product going out the door is safe. They failed. They were being paid very well to do this job?
A corporations job is to maximize profits for the owners! The government, in their infinite wisdom, sets the standards and rules and hires the regulator to enforce the rules?
Was the regulator doing their job?
Somewhere, something went off the rails. If Nilssons were ignoring the rules and regulations......and the regulator was looking the other way...then maybe we need to find out what happened?....Gee...maybe we could a real inquiry?
We see this all the time in the oil and gas sector where the big oil corporations have bought the regulator and all kinds of rules and regulations are thrown out the door!....and then we see pipeline spills, and contaminated aquifers, and kids getting killed on the rigs!
Why would we expect anything differnt in the beef industry?
Same useless governments making the rules for their cronies.

[grassfarmer]

Sorry Cameron you are not in your courtroom here.
This is a public forum where people share their
OPINIONS - neither you nor anyone else gets to
decide what is admisable evidence. Our opinions are
shared freely and equally on here and I resent you
trying to stifle debate by trying to set guidelines for
what is acceptable evidence.