Oct 13/12 – Well it is a gorgeous day in Calgary, sunny and warm, no wind. Plus it is only 2:30 Saturday afternoon and I have run out of things to do. There are a lot of other things I could be doing but when you have a wheelchair that creaks’ as much as mine you find your trust in its dependability waning. So with limited trust in its ability I find myself sticking closer to home. It’s a good thing I don’t review my body by these standards. With all of that said I did get out for a good thirty minute wheel earlier with a short sleeve shirt no less. However I cannot sit here melting my brain this early in the day with television so with some tunes on in the background I am sure I can formulate an opinion on something.
I could probably get a few more miles out the XL Meat’s thing but that is becoming redundant. I could probably create some links to the whole group think management process in this country. And the backbone of that group think has really become “let’s use denial”. We see Minister Ritz standing there scratching his head wondering what his Ministry even does. We have a federal Agricultural Ministry hidden behind a stack of lay-off notices not really caring what the CFIA is doing. We have CFIA touting these new “auditors” (keep in mind that these are auditors whose job it is to substantiate the processing of paperwork demanded of employers and NOT to inspect meat or plants) to better enhance the regulatory process. We have the union pointing fingers at management and the list goes on.
Meanwhile the Canadian government has slowly been removing any inspection or oversight vehicles for at least the last twenty years. However this whole process of industry driven regulatory compliance has really taken off in the past six years. Then we kid ourselves into believing that business will operate with the best interest of the public in mind. I believe that generally that philosophy works as long as you are close to the public, like in the community, but when you are sitting in a board room in Toronto or New York the only public interest you have in mind is that of your shareholders. And when you have a 40% market share of the meat industry public interest can be very fluid.
However the XL meat thing isn’t the only example of this type of lead by denial process. We have an RCMP organization that has got its head buried under so many years of Musical Ride horse shit that they will waste huge amounts of money in legal costs just to avoid changing their culture. Keep up with the times folks, this isn’t the 60’s anymore and just because you are the RCMP don’t think for a moment that you are immune to abusive behaviour within your own ranks. For everybody’s sake deal with it. It shows more principle when you can recognize and learn from your mistake than it does to deflect and deny. And for the sake of those more remote RCMP you could use some public credibility these days which I am sure some indication of principle may actually gain you.
We can also take it to the very top. I watch too much Power & Politics on CBC and I have yet to see anyone from this federal government actually admit a mistake. From Tony’s million dollar gazeboes, the $16 Oda orange juice, MacKay’s use of the helicopter, the $10 billion discrepancy with the F-35’s, it is always someone else’s fault. It’s either Kevin Page and his differing auditing process, or some miscommunication between Defence and Public Works, or it’s the Liberals fault. Take your pick or find your own examples (and there are lots of them).
So the reality of trickledown economics in my uneducated mind is that ethics be damn as long as the public doesn’t care. And when the public does care enough for it to become an issue deny and deflect. If you deflect long enough something will rise to the surface that it can be blamed on without any Canadian politician having to accept responsibility. After all isn’t that what denial is for!
A Poster Child's Perspective 