Message of the day
“No meat will leave the plant until inspectors are satisfied it’s safe.”
Questions not answered
Tainted beef:
Power & Politics opened with Pierre Poilievre, Paul Dewar and Wayne Easter on the partial reopening of XL Foods plant. Poilievre said inspectors will talk through the process until they’re satisfied products leaving the factory are safe. Easter asked if CFIA met with union workers who wanted structural change, or to plant employees who said the lines were going too fast. Dewar suggested the real issue is a lack of confidence in the government to take care of food safety.
Espionage:
On Power Play, Don Martin spoke to intelligence expert Wesley Wark about the Delisle case and Huawei concerns. Wark said in the post-9/11 world of counter-terrorism and cyber-spying, we forgot about old-fashioned spying. He said Russia is probably the greatest threat because we’ll eventually find a way to counter cyber-spying.
Nobel Peace Price:
Don Martin spoke to former Foreign Affairs Minister (and past Nobel Peace Prize nominee) Lloyd Axworthy about the EU’s honours. Axworthy said the Oslo committee risks devaluing the prize by turning it into a “good housekeeping” award. He suggested the committee wanted to use the award to encourage the troubled economies not to give up. He suggested it might have been better to honour Arab Spring protesters.
Power & Politics spoke to former Canadian ambassador to the UN, Paul Heinbecker, who said he could hardly think of a more deserving organization.
Argo:
Don Martin spoke with former Canadian ambassador to Iran, Ken Taylor, about the film Argo. Taylor said the movie is timely because of the tragedy in Benghazi and a reminder that diplomacy can be dangerous. Taylor said the film takes poetic licence with the story — leaving Canada out of the plot. (Affleck did give Taylor the opportunity to change the film’s postscript.)
Drunken sailors:
Power & Politics had a briefing about the Key West stop of a Canadian naval supply ship in mid-September. In the aftermath, the Royal Canadian Navy is investigating 14 incidents like public drunkenness and public mischief, and the fact Key West police returned a number of sailors to the ship.
The Diefen-Baby:
George Dryden said the Diefenbaker Centre has come up with three new items – some hair, the remnants of a tooth, and a DNA tests of that tooth from years ago. He said between those three things, he should be able to confirm within weeks that his true father was indeed the thirteenth Prime Minister.