recall

Wednesday August 5, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday August 5, 2020

Family Fears

January 16, 2019

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Sunday expanded its recall of onions from the United States linked to 17 salmonella hospitalizations in Canada.

The department said the recall now includes red, yellow, white and sweet yellow onions that are distributed by the company, Thomson International in California. It was initially only red onions.

Since the initial recall on July 30, there have been six additional reported illnesses of salmonella linked to the onions, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said in a statement. The cases were in Saskatchewan and Quebec.

There are a total of 120 cases of salmonella in Canada linked to the onions, the agency said. The impacted provinces are British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Prince Edward Island.

The agency warned Canadians not to eat, use, sell or serve any red, white, yellow and sweet yellow onions from Thomson International, or any products made with these onions.

There have been no reported deaths. (Global) 

April 13, 2018

Meanwhile, Tens of millions of American users will wake up today, Saturday, to the news that U.S. President Trump will ban TikTok as threatened—the details are not yet clear, but the intent could not be more so. The president told reporters on Air Force One late Friday that he intended to act as soon as Saturday (August 1), telling them, “as far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States.”

As another week of speculation around TikTok’s future came to an end, all the talk hadbeen around a rushed sale of the app by parent ByteDance, with the likely suitor being Microsoft, according to reports, instead of the platform’s U.S. investors. A trade acquirer was apparently seen as better able to absorb the platform and its management. (Forbes) 

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Saturday, November 16, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, November 16, 2013

Kathleen Wynne urges Rob Ford to heed councillors urging him to step down

Premier Kathleen Wynne is urging embattled Mayor Rob Ford to “pay very close attention” to those city councillors urging him to step down.

In her most pointed comments yet on Ford, who has admitted to using crack cocaine and is under police investigation for his connections to an alleged drug dealer, Wynne hailed city council for taken action Friday morning.

“The concern for me is that city council can function and it seems today that that’s exactly what’s happening,” she said, referring to two overwhelming council votes to politically emasculate the mayor by stripping him of some powers.

“I see that city council is making decisions and they are determined . . . to find a way to make that work,” the premier said at a Council of the Federation meeting in Toronto.

On Thursday, she had warned she was open to giving the city “new tools” to deal with the rogue mayor — provided Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath agreed.

Horwath was noncommittal while Hudak, a close political ally of Ford, has refused to comment.

But a provincial intervention may not come to pass because councillors are flexing their muscles against Ford, who has also acknowledged drinking and driving and buying illegal drugs while in office.

“The actions this morning demonstrate that city council is determined to function,” said Wynne.

“What’s happening at city hall right now is very fluid and I think that the mayor needs to pay very close attention to the messages that he’s getting from his councillors and my hope is that he would take his lead from their advice.”

When reporters noted the advice includes some councillors urging Ford to resign, Wynne was pointed.

“He needs to pay close attention to what he’s being advised by the councillors and the people around him,” the premier said. (Source: Toronto Star)

Tuesday October 9, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Tuesday October 9, 2012

Gerry Ritz, XL Foods failed consumers badly

BETWEEN a mediocre federal agriculture minister and a fumbling food giant, Canadians have been exceptionally ill-served during the current outbreak of E. coli that originated in a mega-meat-processing plant in Alberta.

So far, the consequences of government and corporate mismanagement of the situation have not been fatal. Although 11 Canadians in various provinces have taken ill, we are a far cry from the Listeria outbreak of 2008 when tainted luncheon meat from an Ontario factory killed 22 consumers and sickened 35 others.

Two things were widely remarked upon during that crisis. First were the earnest efforts by Maple Leaf Foods and its CEO, Michael McCain, to behave like responsible — and responsive — corporate citizens. Second was the disastrous leadership of Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz who got caught cracking jokes about the outbreak in a conference call with scientists.

This time around, we are still stuck with Mr. Ritz, who should have been shuffled out of cabinet years ago. Worse yet, the corporate entity involved, XL Foods, has failed to seize the bull by the horns, à la Maple Leaf. Instead of being proactive in word and deed, XL Foods has engaged in foot-dragging and wagon-circling. Its idea of crisis management is to record a platitude about taking “full responsibility” on its answering machine, instead of putting an engaged executive front and centre.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, under Mr. Ritz’s watch, allowed the mega-facility to keep churning out products for three weeks after the E. coli red flag was first raised, despite the fact the company was barely co-operative in providing information and not even following its own protocols. (Source: Halifax Chronicle-Herald)