OP/ED: Government money paying back for misdirected regulations
By Contributor
First you shut down an industry then you build it back up with subsidies. Sound like Pierre Trudeau? Think again. This is Conservative MP Dan Albas we’re talking about.
Albas is taking the credit for a whopping $240,000 handout from the federal government to a community group who’re setting up a mobile abattoir in the Grand Forks area.
What’s a “mobile abattoir” you ask? It does the same thing as the stationary abattoir the B.C. Liberals shut down in that area: slaughter, cutting and packing.
Important stuff, unless of course you’re a vegetarian.
Now hold onto your hat. Albas was an active member of the B.C. Liberals back when they shut down abattoirs across the province by forcing them to rebuild from the ground up and accede to onerous, bureaucratic auditing procedures.
Gordon Campbell’s Liberals claimed they had to act because of health concerns.
But there was no evidence that any family-operated facility had ever posed any risk to anyone. None!
Meanwhile, large, corporate slaughter and packing facilities across Canada do pose a threat to public health, as witnessed by the 2008 listeriosis outbreak at Maple Leaf which resulted in 22 deaths.
But never mind the facts, silly voter. And never mind that family-owned, local meat processors in B.C. had all managed to stay in business over the decades without any subsidies. The Liberals decided it best to saddle ma-and-pa operators with the same top-heavy, bureaucratic “inspection” regime as the one that failed to prevent the Maple Leaf listeriosis tragedy. And Albas was there, membership card in hand, all throughout.
His only possible defence is that he didn’t know what his party was doing while he was an active member. But then just what the heck was he doing while waiting in the wings to replace B.C. Liberal Bill Barisoff? Could Albas, a city councillor at the time, really have been so out of touch with his own provincial party?
And if he’s really just ignorant about The B.C. Meat Industry “Enhancement” Strategy that so severely impacted local food production, wouldn’t you expect a Member of Parliament to at least familiarize himself with what just happened in an area before dropping in to take credit for a huge handout? It’s like showing up for your ex-wife’s funeral with your new girlfriend in tow; either brazen or just plain stupid.
Speaking of which, the B.C. Liberals have already handed out millions in provincial subsidies to those they like who’re starting up new meat-processing facilities. It’s the only way abattoir operators can comply with this province’s new, beguiling licensing system.
But, in an ironic twist of bureaucratic fate, the Liberals left enforcement to the federal government, which explains why the Grand Forks and Boundary Regional Agricultural Society (GFBRAS) needs Albas’s $240,000 gift. They’re going to blow most of that princely sum just complying with regulations.
Confused? Hold on… while this is playing out, Albas still pushes his private-member’s bill for cross-Canada free trade in wine. But you can forget about free trade in meat products.
Processors like GFBRAS will not be allowed to export their product out of province even though they’re subject to the exact same expensive standards as processors like Maple Leaf which most certainly do trade inter-provincially.
To sum up all the political maneuvering, Albas sees no contradiction, much less any hypocrisy, in his former provincial party shutting down an industry at the same time as his new federal party subsidizes a new one to replace it. GFBRAS’ handout from Albas won’t do a thing for this province’s balance of trade.
Feeling any safer yet? $240,000 seems a bit steep, don’t you think?
With “Conservatives” like this, who needs liberals?
Mischa Popoff is a freelance political writer with a degree in history.
