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OTTAWA, WINNIPEG AND QUEBEC CITY — Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion is placing the deadly listeria outbreak front and centre in the imminent federal election, accusing Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz of misleading Canadians about food safety and calling for his resignation.
The attacks on Mr. Ritz come a day after Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised an independent investigation into the outbreak that has left 13 dead.
Mr. Ritz, who has been the federal government's point man throughout the outbreak, was accused by Mr. Dion and other Liberals of misleading Canadians about the government's changes to food-safety programs.
“Whether he misled Canadians, whether he is incompetent, we don't know,” Mr. Dion said during a news conference wrapping up his three-day summer caucus retreat in Winnipeg. “But clearly he contradicted himself.”
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion speaks to the Liberal Party Caucus in Winnipeg on Sept. 3, 2008. (Fred Greenslade/REUTERS)
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The Liberal Leader said Mr. Ritz should resign because he has not been clear about changes the government quietly introduced on March 31 to the way food-safety inspectors do their jobs.
While Mr. Ritz has insisted there were no cuts, the union representing food inspectors has vehemently opposed the March 31 changes on the grounds that they compromise food safety. The Compliance Verification System requires inspectors to spend more time going over records of tests and tasks performed by industry at processing plants. The union claims inspectors now spend too little time doing physical inspections.
Meanwhile, federal Health Minister Tony Clement, who has also come under fire from the opposition for attending the Democratic Convention in Denver at the height of the outbreak, will discuss the issue Friday in Quebec City with provincial and territorial health ministers.
On Thursday, those health ministers said they will co-operate with the federal government's investigation into the outbreak.
The chairman of the meeting, Prince Edward Island Health Minister Doug Currie, said the ministers want an “open dialogue” on the issue. “As provinces we need to work together to address this,” Mr. Currie said.
Mr. Ritz ridiculed the Liberals' attacks on Thursday and warned them not to play politics with food safety. The minister also told reporters he would welcome debating the issue during an election.
“Certainly the whole concept of food safety and how we look after consumers in this country, by all means,” he said when asked whether food safety should be a key topic in the campaign. “If the opposition wants to politicize this particular section of it, they'll do it at their peril.”
While the minister repeated his assertion that “there were no cuts whatsoever” at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for which he is responsible, Mr. Ritz provided a more detailed answer on what happened as a result of the Conservative decision to subject the agency to a “strategic review” of the agency's spending.
“In order to identify strategically where your strengths and weaknesses are, you lay the whole road map out and you look through it and you say, ‘We need to expand on this, we need to cut that because it's not hitting the target. We need to reallocate that.' That's what we did,” said Mr. Ritz, who did not spell out what has been cut to fund new CFIA spending.
The nationwide outbreak has led to 38 confirmed cases in five provinces and claimed 13 lives. Another six deaths are under investigation. Ontario has been hardest hit, with 29 confirmed cases and 1l deaths. The average age of the victims in the province is 77, and almost all of them lived in nursing homes or were in hospital when they became ill.
Linda Smith, a spokesperson for Maple Leaf, said the company welcomes the Prime Minister's call for an independent investigation of the outbreak, especially if it identifies ways to improve food safety.
Brian Evans, the CFIA's chief veterinary officer, said his agency is also supportive.
With a report from Karen Howlett in Toronto
