Stop the Hogs!

----- Original Message -----
From: Brent Patterson
Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 2:16 PM
Subject: [coc-chaps-l] UPDATE: Foodsafetyfirst.ca

Dear chapter activists,

Please check out www.foodsafetyfirst.ca, which is sponsored by Canada’s food inspectors. As noted on their site, they are the front line witnesses to the shift from independent government supervision of the safety of Canada’s food production to industry self-policing. They have established this site to allow voters to quickly and easily contact their local candidates to demand action to improve and protect the safety of the food we eat.

They note that the federal government has been cutting food safety programs and shifting responsibility for safety to the food companies themselves. Companies might want to police themselves when it comes to safety, but the Maple Leaf tainted food tragedy is a classic example of what can happen. For safer food for you and your family, please send a message to the candidates in your riding right now. Ask them to take the Commitment for Food Safety if they want your vote.

To find out more about Food Safety First, and to see if your candidate has already made the food safety commitment, go to http://www.foodsafetyfirst.ca/.

Thanks,

Brent Patterson,
Director of Campaigns and Communications
The Council of Canadians
700-170 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5V5
1-800-387-7177 ext. 291
bpatterson@canadians.org
www.canadians.org

FOOD SAFETY FIRST

A Network of Canadians speaking up for the safety of our food.

http://www.foodsafetyfirst.ca/email/12j ... af-en.html

Together, we accomplished much to improve food safety in 2011. Thanks to you and thousands of others who have intervened, Ottawa made improvements to food safety and continued to address the chronic shortage of inspectors last year.

But much of this progress is now threatened.

As unbelievable as it may seem, Ottawa has quietly announced plans to roll back important investments to shore up the weak food safety and inspection system that led to the deaths of 23 Canadians poisoned by Maple Leaf Foods tainted cold cuts in 2008.

Ottawa’s plan declares that “resources will sunset for Listeriosis, and for increased frequency of food inspection in meat processing establishments” in 2013-14. That means funding for these critical safety and inspection programs will be cut.

The good news is that there is still time to push back this dangerous cut.

This morning, I gave a news conference in Ottawa to draw the attention of reporters and the public to these new cuts. Karen Clark whose mother died in the summer of 2008, the victim of food borne listeria poisoning, joined me at the podium. Together we released the details of Ottawa’s planned cuts to food safety and called on leaders of Canadian food processing companies to oppose them.

Ottawa’s cuts are sure to undermine consumer confidence in the safety of Canadian and imported food products. They could also cause American regulators to close the border to Canadian meat products because of sub-standard inspection.

This twin threat should send the Canadian food industry running to Ottawa to get Harper to re-consider.

I invite you to join me and send a message to urge these business leaders – starting with Michael McCain, President of Maple Leaf Foods – to ask Ottawa to back off.

http://www.foodsafetyfirst.ca/mapleleaf/

Prime Minister Harper must think our collective memories of the Maple Leaf Foods disaster have completely faded. In addition to the cuts to food safety and inspection his government has already announced, Ottawa is planning to cut a further $37 million to $74 million in food safety spending in the upcoming budget.

In my opinion as a longtime inspector, this will cripple the food safety and inspection program and undo much of the progress we have made to improve food safety and address the critical inspector shortage.

We’ve got to get Harper to roll back the cuts he’s already announced and stop him from future food safety budget slashing. That’s why we must mobilize business leaders.

Please send your message to the President of Maple Leaf Foods right now and accept my best wishes for a happy and healthy 2012.

Send Michael McCain a message now:

http://www.foodsafetyfirst.ca/mapleleaf/


Yours sincerely,

Bob Kingston
FoodSafetyFirst.ca

P.S. If Harper won’t listen to ordinary citizens, then maybe he will listen to industry leaders. Please send your message right now. In the weeks ahead we will be expanding our campaign to invite other food

ALLEN: Re: Please speak out against cuts to food safety

----- Original Message -----
From: malcolm.allen@parl.gc.ca
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 9:47 AM
Subject: Re: Please speak out against cuts to food safety

Thank you for taking the time to get in touch.

Canadians deserve to know that the food they serve their families is safe, but under Stephen Harper, the government is poised to slash funding and eliminate jobs from our food safety system.

According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s 2011-12 spending plans, “resources will sunset for listeriosis, and for increased frequency of food inspection in meat processing establishments”. Funding is set to decrease by $21.5 million, and of that, $21.1 million and 207 staff will be cut from the Food Safety Program.

These clawbacks come in addition to whatever cuts the agency will be forced to make to meet the 5-10% reductions coming in the next Conservative budget.

It’s simply unbelievable that Stephen Harper is willing to take such an irresponsible gamble with our food supply— just a few short years after the devastating listeriosis outbreak that killed 23 Canadians.

Following the 2008 crisis, special investigator Sheila Weatherill recommended increasing the number of food inspectors and enhancing Canada’s national food-borne illness surveillance system. It’s very troubling that this government is actually cutting jobs at the Food Safety Program when we still don’t have the inspectors we need.

Looking forward, you can count on our team of New Democrat MPs to fight for food safety and take on the Harper Conservatives every single day.

Again, thanks for your message. For more information, please visit: www.ndp.ca.

Sincerely,

Malcolm Allen, M.P.
Riding of Welland
NDP Critic for Agriculture and Agri-Food
___________________________________

1020 La Promenade, Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
(Tel) 613.995.0988 (Fax) 613.995.5245

www.malcolmallen.ca
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