As a result of the listeriosis outbreak that took the lives of at least 22 Canadians in 2008, the government appointed Sheila Weatherill to lead an independent investigation and report back to us. And despite criticism of the inquiry, including the lack of subpoena power and the fact that most of it took place behind closed doors, the Conservatives on the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food insisted that Weatherill's work was "complete and comprehensive" and that no further public inquiry was required. Case closed.
Except, of course, for the small matter of Weatherill's recommendations.
...in her final report presented to Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz in July, Weatherill called on the clerk of the privy council, the bureaucratic wing of the Prime Minister's Office, to appoint an "independent expert" to lead a review involving top bureaucrats at Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to sort out the roles of federal departments and agencies in food safety.
We are pleased to announce that after searching high and low, the clerk of the privy council has found just such an "independent expert", someone who no doubt can bring a fresh and objective eye to bear on the issue: current Deputy Minister of Agriculture John Knubley. Prior to his position in Agriculture, Knubley was Deputy Minister for Intergovernmental Affairs at the PCO (imagine that) and before that he was Associate Deputy Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. Quite the food safety background.
They're not even pretending to do more than go through the motions.
Comes with baggage indeed.
But pogge, he's an expert because he's "an expert on the file." I mean, you have to admit that he must be that at least. And probably at most, too.
With 161 already dead in Canada,
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/alert-alerte/h1n1/surveillance-eng.php
and more to come.
With Ottawa out of the vaccine until next week even if: "No vaccine shortage, Aglukkaq says" (CBC) - somehow faith in the findings of that inquirery are hard to generate.