Beyond the Border Meat Pre-clearance Prong Hits a Snag

By Keith Edmund White, Editor-in-Chief

The after-effects of XL Foods E. coli-related beef recall are still being felt, with the Beyond the Border (BTB) pilot pre-clearance for meat shipments between Canada and the United States on ice while the U.S. reviews it's food-safety measures.

And the XL Foods beef recall, which lead to four Canadians getting sick, has given the advocacy group Food & Water Watch powerful ammunition in lobbying against the pilot program.  

The tension is clear:  while easing restrictions at the border saves $100 an hour per driver for Canadian meat shippers, concerns over eliminating U.S. safety inspections for Canadian meat post-XL Foods has frozen this aspect of BTB for the time being.

The XL Foods E. coli outbreak highlighted some very troubling aspects of the Canadian and American meat 'safety net', in both the meat-processing and contamination response consumer protection safeguard systems.  

Perhaps the pause in the pre-clearance program will allow business groups and advocacy groups--like the Food & Water Watch organization--can work together to ensure meat screening systems in both countries are equally robust, ensuring a safe and efficient flow of products throughout Canada and the United States. 

CBC reported yesterday on Food & Water Watch's recent lobbying effort, and resulting Canadian concern over deteriorating U.S. confidence in the Canadian food safety system:

An internal Foreign Affairs memo expressed concern that U.S. "confidence in the Canadian food safety system" could be undermined in the wake of last fall's XL Foods beef recall. 

... 

Josée De Menezes, the department's acting director of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Division, expressed that concern on Sept. 27 in a widely distributed departmental briefing note obtained under the Access to Information Act by CBC News Network's Power & Politics. 

Specifically, the note refers to a U.S. campaign to halt a meat pre-clearance pilot project that is part of the Canada-U.S. Beyond the Border initiative announced last year by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama. 

... 

Tony Corbo, a senior lobbyist for Food & Water Watch's food campaign, said the Sept. 18 letter to the U.S. agriculture secretary, which his group helped write, speaks for itself. 

"I'm not trying to indict Canadian meat as being less safe than U.S. meat," Corbo told CBC News. "But the fact of the matter is we have photographs indicating there was visible fecal contamination on meat products coming into the United States that were inspected at these border inspection stations. And we don't understand why there is an attempt to de-regulate a system that is actually working." 

... 

The Canadian Meat Council is one of several groups that have been pushing for the pilot project to cut delays at the border. 

"The pilot project itself only talks about getting the re-sampling, testing or inspections, getting it away from the border," said James Laws, the council's executive director. 

He said the rest of the shipments not slated for testing will be "pre-cleared" before reaching the border, allowing them get to market sooner. 

A council presentation on the project argues that "redirecting Canadian meat trucks to U.S. inspection centres also wastes time and fuel" and delays drivers from getting back on the road, at a cost of "roughly $100" per hour.

CUSLI's Big Week & Monday Morning News Round-Up

Happy Monday, readers!  We've got an action-packed week ahead for you:  Arctic races, student loans, the PQ's environmental and energy strategy in Quebec, bad meat, Laurentian consensus (say what?), a CUSLI-Nexus first, and more...

First, an Amazing Week of Original CUSLI-Nexus content:

• The Arctic Race.  A new staff writer will make his premiere by discussing the race for Arctic resources: who's up, who's down, and can there even be a winner?
• Student Loan Discharge, the Canada-U.S. Divide.  Senior Editor Justin McNeil will be looking at the discharge of student loan debt, and why America should probably look at Canada's approach.
• Conversations with CUSLI-Nexus.  A CUSLI-Nexus first!  We'll be launching our first installment of 'Conversations with CUSLI-Nexus' (yes, we're happy to take suggestions on a better title).  What's that mean?  We'll be posting a fantastic interview with a leading voice in the Canada-U.S. bilateral relationship.  Want to know more?  Tune in later this week!
• News-tracker.  And, as always, CUSLI-Nexus will be tracking the best in news and commentary at our Facebook Page and Twitter feed, both of which you should follow--or check out through the blog by looking to your right.   

Added Bonus:  A Monday Morning News Round-Up:

• Our friends at Beyond the Border Observer, as usual, have some great stuff you should check out.
• Conservatives had a tough week with the XL Meat Crisis in Alberta.  From MedicineHatNews.Com:

"When a senior civil servant speaking on the biggest food recall in the country's history is gagged — in a way that was likely humiliating to himself — it should be noted."

• Today's Canadian Thanksgiving!  To our Canadian readers, welcome back to the work-week!  For our American readers, learn more courtesy of Detroit Free Press.
• Oh, wait:  Let's not forget Columbus Day:  the day Columbus proved the world was round by discovering America...or...the day Columbus landed in Venezuela; thought it an island; and proved affirmed educated European's belief in a round planet! 
• Hello Post-Laurentian Conservative Consensus!  No idea what that means?  Check out this iPolitics article by Zach Paikin.  What?  Too busy sipping the morning java or tea?  OK, OK, we'll give you a crib sheet:

• Laurentian Consensus:  "From the time of Confederation until quite recently, the direction of this country was determined by the political, academic, cultural, media and business elites in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and other cities along the St. Lawrence River or its watershed."  (Source:  Globe and Mail's John Ibbitson, Literary Review of Canada, Dec. 2011.)   
• Two nerdy side-notes:  (1) John Ibbitson and U of T political scientist David Cameron take "joint ownership" of the term--such a Canadian solution!; (2) Laurentian refers to the Great Lakes region, you can learn the geological aspect of the term here--and even learn about its linguistic nuance here!

• Post-Laurentian Consensus:  The Grits, smelling the westward shift, (i.e. the Liberal Party) are now moving right and westward themselves, according to Zach Paikin.  "Slow growth projected for years to come only makes it more likely that a future Liberal leader will look right and not left — as Michael Ignatieff did — for votes."

• Is Zach right?  Well, maybe, unless--of course--the NDP wins the next federal election.  Also, Canada's three consecutive Conservative Harper governments are the result of two opposition parties whose supporters aren't against them running as a coalition.   (Though, it seems no such deal, for now, is in the cards.) But, hey, now you can throw around 'Laurentian Consensus' when having high tea.

• Anne-Catherine Boucher and Charles Kazaz map out the energy and environment platform of the new PQ government in Quebec.  The PQ has new ideas on land rehabilitation, GHG, and mining royalties; wants to shut down shale gas development; and we're still waiting for "the PQ's vision for Plan Nord...."  Overall, industry is not thrilled; but, the PQ's minority status makes compromise the name of the game.
• And, finally, whether you love or hate his political leanings, Gerry Nicholls's humor is anything but dry.  His victim last week?  Justin Trudeau:

Justin Trudeau campaign itinerary:

Oct. 8 – Thanksgiving Day – Visit farm near Montreal -- raise turkey from the dead.