News. XL Foods meat recall CFIA trying to cope with E. coli risk By Eric Wilkins, Staff Writer hat started as a volun- tary meat recall from XL Foods last month has turned into a nation-wide recall of over 1,800 products and the indefinite closure of the Brooks, Alberta plant due to concerns about an E. coli outbreak. The company has assumed responsibility for the situation, saying ina statement, “We believed XL Foods was a leader in the beef processing industry with our food safety protocols, but we have now learned it was not enough. We take full responsibility for our plant operations and the food it produces ... we are doing everything we can to take the lead in an enhanced, comprehensive food safety program for our plant.” Agricultural Minister Gerry Ritz said that the company had failed to follow an important safety procedure called “bracketing”, whereby they, “take out the shipment ahead of it and the shipment behind it and search those out, and everything is brought back.” George Da Pont, head of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency noted that, “What we found is that the plant was not doing appropriate trend analysis when they had spikes [in E. coli] the previous week. We found that there were, when we did the further investigations, a few instances where the bracketing process that the minister described was not properly followed.” However, Interim Liberal Leader, Bob Rae, was unsatisfied with the actions of the CFIA and Agricultural Minister Gerry Ritz, saying, “I have a problem with how long that took. I think if someone else had been minister, they might have said, “Well, if we're protecting Americans, why aren’t we protecting Canadians at the same time?” Rae’s statement was directed towards the fact that while the CFIA put a ban on XL Foods shipping to the United States (after being prompted by the USDA) on September 13, Canadians weren't notified of the first recalled products until September 16. The plant itself wasn’t shut down until September 27. NDP Leader Tom Mulcair echoed Rae’s comments on Ritz, “He’s the one who put this self- regulating system in place. He is responsible. Why is this minister of agriculture still in his position? He must resign.” Ritz responded by saying that they’re taking the outbreak “very seriously” and “We're working to ensure the CFIA has the regulations that they require and the monetary capacity to get the job done.” E. coli has the potential to be fatal and the symptoms typically include stomach cramps, Fresh ground beefis packed at a local butcher shop Monday, October 1, 2012 in Levis Que. Photo courtesy of Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press vomiting, bloody diarrhea, and a slight fever. The CFIA is warning the public not to consume, sell, or serve any of the beef products on the list because they may be contaminated with E. coli. For a complete list of the recalled products, visit www.inspection.gc.ca. Coquitlam-Burke Mountain NDP candidate list grows By Dylan Hackett, News Editor he list of candidates vying to run against the BC Liberals this spring in the Coquitlam- Burke Mountain electoral district has increased with a slew of new candidates announced. Former Coquitlam city councillor Barrie Lynch joins the list of civic politicians established as NDP members after four-term Port Moody mayor Joe Trasolini took the neighbouring Port Moody-Coquitlam riding in the spring by-election. 4 “T think most people will respect the fact if you’ve got some experience at the civic level, it can be transferred over to the provincial level,” said Lynch. Former world champion wrestler and current executive director for KidSport Tri-Cities, Chris Wilson, has also filed his nomination papers to run in the riding, saying “I think for me I have the most to offer on a provincial level rather than on a community level.” At the end of the summer, Joe Keithley, frontman of punk legends DOA, who spoke with The Other Press earlier last month, made headlines with his announcement to run in the riding as well. “T’ve always thought change doesn’t come from politicians or business leaders or the media. Politicians are kind of like poll readers in a way. They read what people want and but it’s the people that run things. A lot of the time, unfortunately, people don’t realize that they can have a great influence on society. I think really big change starts right within your own community. If you have a good idea it goes out from your community, across the province, across the country, and maybe even across the world if the idea is good enough,” said Keithley. The BCNDP is still recruiting members of the riding to sign up as party members in order to have a vote in the party’s yet to be determined constituency meeting. The selected candidate will be running against BC Liberal backbench MLA Douglas Horne, who has held the seat since 2009. The neighbouring riding, Coquitlam- Maillardville, was only short an NDP candidate for springtime election for a week, after current MLA Diane Thorne announced that she does not plan to run for the seat again. In an unheated contest, Coquitlam city councillor Selina Robinson has been announced as the new runner in a seat held by the BCNDP since 2005. “After four years on council, [you recognize] there’s only so much you can do at municipal level,” Robinson said.