ACTION ALERT: Demand reinstatement of fired food safety inspector

July 28, 2008

Earlier this month, we sent out a news story about Luc Pomerleau, a biologist "with a 20-year 'umblemished record' in government," according to a CanWest news article, who "was fired [in early July] for 'gross misconduct' and breaching security because he sent the documents to his union."

The article stated that, "Confidential documents insecurely posted on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's computer network laid out sensitive plans to turn over food inspections and labelling to industry and also led to the firing of the scientist who stumbled upon them."

The confidential papers "appear to involve a re-organizing of food inspection that will shift more of the onus for food safety to the suppliers that manufacture and distribute food and other products," says the article. "It's a direction in which the agency has been heading for years and the union has long voiced concerns about the impact of such a shift on jobs and the food safety of Canadians."

Today, in an op-ed in the Hill Times, Michèle Derners, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (Mr. Pomerleau’s union), writes: “When an honest and dedicated food safety professional is fired just for the sake of a communications plan, we must all be very wary of the direction the country is headed… By handing public services over to a non-elected, non-accountable private sector, they are risking Canadians' health and safety one decision at a time. Most disconcerting is the dismantling of the regulatory functions of the federal government. Who will bear the brunt of these decisions? We will. Even though Mr. Harper promised us accountability and transparency, he is clearly moving in secrecy.”

This confirmed what we already knew was happening to Canada’s food and drug safety legislation as the government strives to harmonize with U.S. policies under the Security and Prosperity Partnership. The Council of Canadians has been opposing Bill C-51 (amendments to the Food and Drug Act) for various reasons, namely because it, and a new "progressive licensing" system that the Harper government is planning on introducing, will not make Canadians safer so much as they will ease the regulatory burden on the food and drug industry.

The firing of a veteran CFIA scientist for simply noticing a confidential communications document outlining this shift from government- to industry-backed research and monitoring is completely unacceptable and proof that our government cares more about saving big business money and harmonizing with United States policy than it does about the safety of Canadians.

Mr. Pomerleau’s union is mounting a campaign to have him reinstated and the Council of Canadians should support them. According to a CanWest article from last Thursday: “The union plans to send 15,000 stickers bearing the message ‘Stop the intimidation Reinstate Luc’ across the country and ask members to wear them. It also plans protests, to lobby MPs, post an online petition and perhaps an advertising campaign.”

To read the CanWest article from July 8: http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=43ff202c-4be8-41d4-9fc6-839ca981f03f.

To read the op-ed by Michèle Derners of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada: http://www3.pipsc.ca/portal/page/portal/website/aboutinstitute/president/news/Op%20ed%20submission%20-%20Canada%20at%20Risk.

To read the July 24 CanWest article about the union’s actions across the country: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=c6f639eb-e620-4f1c-bad1-69626d2bdbd0.

THE DEMAND

Write a letter to Gerry Ritz (Ritz.G@parl.gc.ca), minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (the department responsible for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency), demanding that Luc Pomerleau be given his job back. Letters should be copied to the Prime Minister (pm@pm.gc.ca; Harper.S@parl.gc.ca). Please forward any responses you receive to us at webmaster@canadians.org.

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SEND YOUR LETTER NOW:

Subject
Recipient	Ritz.G@parl.gc.ca, pm@pm.gc.ca
Compose your letter in the box below.
Dear Minister Ritz, I am outraged that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) would fire a veteran scientist simply for sharing a document he found insecurely posted to the agency’s computer network. I am equally outraged by the content of that document, which appears to spell out how the government plans to weaken food and drug regulations for the sake of appeasing big business interests and harmonizing inspection practices with the United States. Luc Pomerleau, a 20-year veteran of the CFIA, was simply doing what he thought was right when he shared the document with his union. We are, after all, talking about a federal government plan to shift the onus for food safety from government regulators, of which there are far too few, to the suppliers that manufacture and distribute food and other products to Canadians. Where did this plan come from? And why was it not debated with Canadians first? According to news articles about Mr. Pomerleau’s dismissal, the document he uncovered was part of your government’s “strategic review” process, which will shift five per cent of all departmental spending to unnamed priorities of the minority Harper government. What priorities are we talking about? The lack of accountability here is disturbing enough. But the move to allow food producers to regulate themselves is ridiculous, and seems to be more about harmonizing regulatory practices with lower standards in the U.S. than anything else. We know that your government recently finalized a regulatory cooperation framework with the United States at the August 2007 Security and Prosperity Partnership summit in Montebello, Quebec. If harmonizing with the United States means letting food and drug industry giants monitor and police their own activity, then Canadians want nothing to do with it. In fact, according to a poll commissioned by the Council of Canadians this past April, 87 per cent of Canadians agree that Canada should maintain the ability to set its own independent environmental, health and safety standards, even if this might reduce cross-border trade opportunities with the United States. Mr. Pomerleau has done no wrong. In fact, he was acting solely in the public’s interest when he shared the document he found posted insecurely to his work network. I demand that he be re-hired immediately, and that your department be completely open with Canadians about its plans for restructuring food and drug safety rules. We need to openly debate this policy shift – not bury it with secrecy and fire anyone who gets in the way. Sincerely,
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