Tainted Meat

And so, we round back to China.

Last week China imposed a total ban on the import of Canadian meat and meat products. Hardest hit were pork producers but also, to a lesser extent, beef producers. The ban was imposed because Chinese inspectors found residue of a substance that is banned in China, ractopamine. I don’t know anything about the science, but ractopamine is fed to swine in the later stages of their development to keep them slimmer but is banned in China as not being safe for human consumption. The European Union and several other countries also ban the use of ractopamine in products intended for human consumption. However, neither Canada nor the United States have such a ban.

Canada is not the first nation to have its pork banned in China because of the presence of ractopamine in the meat. As early as 2007, U.S. pork was banned for the same reason.

The dominant Canadian reaction to this ban is that it is part of the relentless campaign by Beijing to force Canada to release the Huawei excutive being held in Vancouver in response to a U.S. extradition warrant. There’s probably some truth to that, at least to the extent the ban reaches beyond pork to all meat products and is not focussed on a single meat producer. It would be naive to think China would not take advantage of these circumstances to further its other campaigns.

That said however, Canada is not the Boy Scout on this one. It seems there are at least 188 counterfeit veterinary certificates involved with these tainted shipments. That matter has been turned over to the RCMP but, as best as we can tell, is focussed on one or more meat packing plants in Quebec. Think about that.

In the not so distant past, Canadians have been rightly outraged when products from China were found to contain substances banned in Canada and/or deemed harmful to consumers. In fact, some of us have gone so far as to actively avoid consuming products originating in China, perhaps playing into the narrative that the Chinese are corrupt, totally focussed on profits or, at best, hopelessly primitive in their inspection and control activities.

But now the shoe is on the other foot and it’s not comfortable. Some one, or more likely, some people or corporation, has deliberately set out to circumvent the Chinese ban and, most likely, broke the law doing so. In the process, they have created enormous economic uncertainty for tens of thousands of Canadian farmers and workers in the meat producing industries. This is on them, not China, and I look forward to learning who they are.

Of course, they’ve also given China a gift in its ongoing conflict with Canada, one that will be used to undermine the “good guy” image we hold so dear. It will most likely prolong the current dispute. Well done.

While I’m on the subject of the dispute with China, I want to offer a few comments on the conduct of the Official Opposition, the Conservative Party, throughout this whole sorry mess. There was a time, not so long ago, when internal partisan politics stopped at the border or the waters edge. That belief was demonstrated by the entirely creditable efforts of people like Rhona Ambrose (former interim Conservative Leader) and Brian Mulroney (former Conservative Prime Minister) assisting with the conclusion of the re-negotiated NAFTA. But not anymore apparently. Day after day, the Conservative Foreign Affairs Critic, Erin O’toole, and the Conservative Leader, Andrew Scheer, issue blistering comments criticizing the Liberal government for somehow not solving the the crisis, as if it simply required some simple but always undefined action. Of course, they never say what they would do if they were the government, but that’s not surprising given that they would almost certainly do little, if anything, different. Their public haranguing of the government on this is music to Beijing’s ears and can only prolong the dispute and the suffering of the Canadian hostages. What this does is remind me of some of the vicious partisans that were part of the Harper government and now populate the Conservative caucus.

By the way, the same can be said for the gratuitous intervention and comments of former Prime Minister, Jean Chretien, who should know better.

In days past, this might have been said to be “giving comfort and support to the enemy”. Maybe it’s time to bring back that phrase.

just sayin

G

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