Canada's Listeriosis Probe Delayed

OTTAWA — Several people approached to lead a promised probe into the deadly listeriosis outbreak were unavailable or unwilling to take on the grim task, says a senior government source.

The Harper government now says it hopes to name in the next few weeks a head investigator — likely a health-care expert — to assess the deaths of 20 people.

That timeline would leave less than two months to deliver a food-safety report and recommendations originally due March 15.

“It is a topic that is of public concern,” said the government source who spoke on condition of anonymity. “People died, so it’s something that we have to take seriously.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the “arm’s-length” investigation last September, four days before forcing an early federal election. But he stopped short of calling for a full judicial inquiry as the death toll climbed from the listeriosis outbreak linked to luncheon meats sold by Maple Leaf Foods.

The outbreak came as the government was getting set to hand the industry more responsibility for meat inspection.

Harper promised “an arm’s-length investigation to make sure we get to the bottom, on the government side, on the bureaucratic side, of exactly what transpired and to make sure as we go forward and we make changes to our system that this kind of thing can’t happen again.”

With less than three months to go before the government is to receive its report, critics are lambasting Harper’s approach.

“It’s a joke,” said Rick Holley, a professor of food safety and food microbiology at the University of Manitoba.

Source: Portage Daily Graphic