The News Rundown

Ranchers' group opposes Health Canada's 'vilification' of ground beef

A Health Canada plan to introduce mandatory front-of-package nutrition labelling for pre-packaged foods high in sodium, sugar and saturated fat has ground beef fans up in arms.
The goal, according to the Health Canada website, is to provide consumers with quick and easy nutrition information and encourage them to make healthier choices, and also to encourage food manufacturers to make healthier products.
The package labels would be applied to most foods that exceed 15% of an adult’s recommended daily intake of sodium, sugar or saturated fat. But some foods that are naturally high in sugar, such as unsweetened fruit, will be exempt from the labelling requirement, while dairy and eggs — though high in saturated fat — will also be exempt.
However, ground beef, one of Alberta's staple industries, would not be exempt, and that has the Canadian Cattlemen's Association scratching their heads. Dennis Laycraft, executive vice-president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, said his industry can’t understand why its product is being “vilified.” He said Canadians consume approximately half of their calories from nutrient-poor ultra-processed foods, but by contrast, ground beef — while undeniably a source of saturated fat — is also a nutrient-dense protein that contains iron, zinc, and vitamin B12. He believes there is “a very, very compelling case to support an exemption.”
Laycraft said: “The whole purpose of this (Health Canada proposal) largely came from a concern about highly processed foods, and foods with a lot of ingredients. The idea of taking a single-ingredient food product and imposing these types of labels is not being done anywhere else in the world, and it is going to unfairly affect Canada’s farmers and ranchers.”
Front-of-package nutrition labels exist in many countries around the globe. For example, Chile recently introduced a mandatory warning label on foods high in calories, sugars, sodium or saturated fat. The U.K. has a voluntary “traffic light” system that uses colours (red, amber, green) to convey a ranking for total fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt in a food.
But Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, said Health Canada’s approach to the issue is incoherent. Not only does dairy get a pass while ground beef and pork do not, the proposed Health Canada regulations also exempt foods that typically come in small serving sizes such as condiments, some cookies and breakfast cereals, and bite-sized chocolate bars — even though these foods are far more nutritionally suspect than ground beef. He also believes that ground meat is being "discriminated against, generally", and that “[t]his policy appears to be driven by some bureaucratic ideology.”
Charlebois said he’s particularly concerned that the Health Canada push is coming at a time when consumers are facing rampant inflation and record-high prices at grocery stores. He said: “50% of beef in Canada is sold as ground beef, and ground beef in particular has remained relatively affordable compared to other cuts at the grocery store. 91% of Canadians actually eat meat on a regular basis. That’s the vast majority of Canadians, so to basically label these products as unhealthy? I don’t think that sends the right signal.”
According to CCA figures, 50% of beef produced in Canada is exported. In 2021, Canada exported more than 500,000 tonnes of beef valued at $4.47 billion. Laycraft said he worries that if Canada is alone in placing a health warning label on its beef, Canadian ranchers and beef processors will be at a competitive disadvantage.
The Alberta UCP government and livestock industry leaders have decried the plan, and they say it’s another federal impediment to businesses in Western Canada. The province has implored Health Canada to reverse its plan to mark front packaging with warnings of saturated fat content, but has so far received little feedback, according to Alberta Agriculture Minister Nate Horner, who has been in contact with Saskatchewan government officials over the policy. Horner said: “So far, the correspondence with my office is that they acknowledge my concern and that’s where it’s been left.”
At a time when inflation is running rampant, and Canadian businesses are trying to get back on the saddle after the dark times, this policy is entering at a bad time, and with little consideration of the consequences. It's understandable that people might have beef with the policy, considering the world we live in right now. And for media outlets that have barely covered this issue, like the CBC who only wrote a few short sentences about the story, it's worth noting that this issue will affect ordinary people far more than most of the news out there these days, which is why we are covering it this week on the show.
Supplementals:

This week we have our first update on the Alberta UCP leadership race. Members will vote on October 6th using a ranked ballot system.
Prospective members have until August 12th to sign up.
Voters will be able to vote at 5 polling stations through the province or by mail-in ballot.
The process for someone to get on the ballot is expensive: a candidate must have paid $100,000 plus a $25,000 “good conduct” deposit to prevent candidates from disparaging other candidates or the party, and another $50,000 is due after that.
The person also needs to have a petition signed by at least 1,000 party members equally distributed through the province.
For comparison sake, the federal Conservatives asked for $300,000 from the entire country. The BC Liberals asked for $66,000 in their last leadership race.
The party says that the difference is because this time the leader will immediately become Premier and run a general election next spring.
The campaign has candidates including cabinet ministers Travis Toews, Rebecca Schulz, and Rajan Sawhney.
Toews has the endorsement of a good chunk of MLAs while Schulz has the endorsement of former Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall.
Other candidates include former Wildrose leaders Danielle Smith and Brian Jean.
As well as other candidates including Todd Loewen, Leela Aheer - former Cabinet Minister and current MLA, and Bill Rock - Mayor of Amisk.
There’s also Calgary Nose Hill MP Michelle Rempel Garner who has taken a step back from the federal leadership campaign and is considering a run here in Alberta.
The field is becoming crowded and only time will tell if all declared candidates so far will meet the requirements set out by the party.
Brian Jean launched his campaign this week and is running on a platform of autonomy for Albertans.
In particular, he wants to engage in constitutional negotiations to act on the mandate from last year’s equalization referendum.
To make any substantive changes to the Constitution, the House of Commons, Senate, and two thirds of provincial legislatures representing at least 50% of the population would need to sign off on changes.
He also said previous leadership of the party looked “entitled and arrogant” - a case of saying to do one thing while they did another.
Travis Toews has been light on policy but in his campaign launch video pledged to focus on the principles that unite Albertans and to heal the division of the last couple years.
Danielle Smith opened her campaign with an Alberta Sovereignty Act that she says would allow the “provincial government to refuse to enforce any federal law or policy that attacks Alberta’s interest or our provincial rights.”
This will likely raise some eyebrows and the question comes up about whether or not something like this is constitutional within our system of government in Canada.
Danielle Smith will also face questions about her judgement of the past with regard to the Wildrose-PC floor crossing and allowing candidates to speak out.
If any of these candidates are interesting to you or you simply have an interest in choosing the next Premier now rather than next spring, become a UCP member by August 12th for $10.
As this race progresses we’ll update you with any policies that are substantially groundbreaking or any major problems that occur media-wise in this race.
Supplementals:

Money laundering public inquiry finds ‘no evidence’ of political corruption in B.C.

The three-year investigation into money laundering in B.C. casinos and the housing market is finally over, and we now have the results: the money laundering problem has no links to political corruption, apparently.
The BC NDP allowed an independent, public inquiry into the matter, due to growing calls for public accountability linked to money laundering. After all this time, in a more than 1,800-page report, the Cullen Commission team outlines that elected officials in the province were aware of suspicious funds entering the provincial revenue stream through the gaming industry, but there is no evidence of corruption.
Former B.C. Supreme Court Justice Austin Cullen concluded money laundering in the province’s casinos persisted over the tenures of multiple ministers responsible for gaming including former BC Liberal MLA Rich Coleman and current BC Liberal MLAs Shirley Bond and Mike de Jong.
Cullen writes: “Despite the failure of these elected officials to take steps sufficient to resolve the extensive money laundering occurring in the industry for which they were responsible, there is no basis to conclude that any engaged in any form of corruption related to the gaming industry or to the Commissioner’s mandate generally. While some could have done more, there is no evidence that any of the failures was motivated by corruption.”
In the final report, Cullen concludes none of the BC Liberal politicians “knowingly encouraged, facilitated, or permitted money laundering” to occur in order to obtain personal benefit or advantage, be it financial, political, or otherwise.
“To the extent that some have hypothesized that money laundering in casinos was facilitated by corrupt politicians or officials, they are engaging in conjecture that is not rooted in evidence,” Cullen concluded.
Cullen did conclude each of the ministers was privy, on some level, to information showing the gaming industry was at an elevated risk of money laundering. Cullen also notes Coleman, Bond and de Jong did take some action to address laundering in the gaming industry. This includes Coleman initiating an independent review, Bond directing the implementation of nine of the 10 recommendations and de Jong spearheading the creation of a new, gaming-focused law enforcement unit.
Cullen concluded former premier Christy Clark appropriately delegated oversight of the gaming industry to a succession of experienced ministers. But the commissioner also found that in 2015, Clark learned that casinos conducted and managed by a Crown corporation and regulated by the government were reporting transactions involving enormous quantities of cash as suspicious.
Cullen said: “Despite receiving this information, Ms. Clark failed to determine whether these funds were being accepted by the casino and failed to ensure such funds were not accepted,” Cullen concluded. He also found that the BC Lottery Corporation and law enforcement were aware of the money laundering crisis but failed to intervene effectively.
One of the final recommendations from Cullen is for the government to focus on cryptocurrency as an emerging money laundering vulnerability and should be addressed through provincial regulation. He said: “The province will need to determine who is best suited to do this. It is crucial for government, regulators, and law enforcement to develop in-house expertise on cryptocurrency,”
Two whistleblowers on money laundering say they’re disappointed with the findings of the inquiry into the crime’s pervasiveness and possible ties to corruption in British Columbia. Fred Pinnock, former commander of the RCMP’s illegal gaming taskforce was very blunt in his reaction to the report. He said: “People need to go to jail for this. It’s been my hope that there would have been support for criminal investigations to result from this exercise. I don’t see that happening and I don’t see the bad actors that gave rise to this nightmare of money laundering being held accountable to the extent they should be.”
Pinnock ran B.C.’s Integrated Illegal Gambling Enforcement Team, tasked with policing illegal casinos, from 2005 until 2008. He testified at the commission hearings that he repeatedly expressed the need to extend the unit’s mandate into B.C. Lottery Corporation casinos, and made a business case for the unit to target organized crime in government casinos. There was little interest in his idea, he said in a previous interview, and he was effectively sidelined by RCMP leaders and retired. His unit was disbanded by the BC Liberals in 2009.
Another whistleblower, Muriel LaBine, said she supports the commission’s 101 recommendations, but thought some might be difficult to implement. The inquiry called on the province to establish an independent commissioner to focus on anti-money laundering, amend the Mortgage Brokers Act and Real Estate Services Regulation, and force casinos to lower the threshold to $3,000 for requiring proof of a gambler’s source of funds.
LaBine, who worked as a dealer supervisor in the 1990s for the Great Canadian Gaming casino in Richmond, said: “It fell short the most when it did not talk more about the revenue that the casinos made and how the people that are in charge of the casinos, how that affected their income. The executives of the casino have stock options, and when the revenue goes up, the stock goes up [and] they’re able to expand more.”
The finding of no evidence of corruption was a “shock,” Labine said, given how long money laundering has been a problem, and how little successive B.C. governments and police agencies have been able to crack down on it. She called the “lack of will” described by Cullen “nonsense” and a “ridiculous statement.”
Labine said: “I felt betrayed. For it to go on for 20 years and they just turned a blind eye to it? It’s very, very hard to reconcile with that — there being no payoff somewhere along the line.”
LaBine also said a closer look should have been taken at political donations to government parties from casino owners, service providers and staff: “We can’t allow this to happen again. We’ll put safeguards in, we’ll put roadblocks in — that doesn’t mean the bad guys aren’t going to find a way around the roadblocks, so we have to be vigilant and pay attention.”
Much has been reported on the effect of money laundering on the housing crisis, but according to the report, the money laundering problem did not cause the out of control housing prices. In the last two decades, the price of a benchmark Vancouver home has roughly tripled, coinciding with a surge in millionaire migrants from Asia drawn by Canadian immigration policies designed to attract the rich. The region was riveted by stories of Chinese high rollers showing up at casinos with bags full of cash and Asian students declaring no income but owning multi-million-dollar homes.
In the meantime, there are no consequences for those who let the problem go on for decades, and the BC NDP have now been in power for 5 years and have overseen a huge increase in housing prices. At the same time, it's taken this long for the report to finish, and will take more time for its recommendations to get implemented, and the problems affecting ordinary Canadians still have not been addressed. The entire province has been let down.
Supplementals:

Firing Line

Police did not ask for Emergencies Act: Emergency Preparedness Minister

The questions about who asked for the Emergencies Act in early February is finally being discussed in the parliamentary inquiry on the matter.
What’s also being asked: could the blockades have been cleared without the use of the Emergencies Act?
The government is currently resorting to its usual tactics of denying, and now shifting blame just like they have countless times before when forced to admit guilt.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has repeatedly said that civilian law enforcement agencies asked for the invocation.
But Ottawa’s former chief of police, current interim chief, and the commissioner of the RCMP have all denied asking for the Emergencies Act.
What’s more striking is that Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said they didn’t hear from the police requesting an invocation.
Now of course what that means is that either the civilian law enforcement is lying or Marco Mendicino is lying.
Repeatedly in Parliament, Mendicino said, “the advice we received [from law enforcement] was to invoke the Emergencies Act,” and “at the recommendation of police, we invoked the Emergencies Act,” and “it was on the advice of law enforcement that we invoked the Emergencies Act”.
He later clarified that law enforcement was after the “tools” contained within the Act.
Interim Ottawa chief Steve Bell said, "We were involved in conversations with our partners and with the political ministries… We didn't make a direct request for the Emergencies Act.”
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki said that she was involved in conversations about triggering the act a week before it happened but she never explicitly asked for it.
With this there are two paths that are reasonable.
The first is that civilian police could have been unaware of where the powers they were requesting would come from, i.e. the Emergencies Act.
This would require the appropriate Ministers to go along with and not inform those leaders that an invocation of the Emergencies Act would be necessary.
The other option is that Marco Mendicino is lying and the police never asked for the Act or the powers contained within it.
Both these paths are laid out in a Globe and Mail piece by Andrew Coyne.
What this second option effectively amounts to is a Minister lying to Parliament. If it could be found that the direction came from higher up, we would have a case of the government lying to Parliament.
From here it would be a trivial matter to hold the government in contempt of Parliament which has happened before.
In fact it was a contempt of Parliament charge that led to the subsequent confidence vote and 2011 election.
This same tactic of not answering questions and deflecting was used by Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland was asked if the US offered to help tow trucks and she was also asked if she took notes in her conversations with bank executives about freezing accounts.
These questions came from Senator Claude Carignan and NDP MP Matthew Green respectively.
This raises a very important question, who in the government is going to take responsibility and be honest? Or will the answers have to be drilled out over lengthy committee proceedings as we saw in the past with SNC-Lavalin, the WE charity, and so many others.
The NDP are questioning the government on these matters at committee which is good since there was some question if they’d operate hand in hand with the Liberals due to their confidence and supply agreement.
If this seems like a tangled web of finger pointing and unanswered questions, then you’re 100% right in thinking that.
The only way we’re going to know for sure what has happened is if some minister comes out and says something clearly or after more testimony, the media and us connect the dots.
At this point in time it looks like no law enforcement agency directly asked for the emergencies act, they may have asked for more powers, but as to what briefings were held with law enforcement on what that would mean or when the actual decision was made and by who, we don’t know - yet.
It’s entirely possible at this point that one Minister, Marco Mendicino, lied to Parliament and maybe the government did too, but we won’t be able to say for certain until we get more information.
Supplementals:

Quote of the Week

“The whole purpose of this (Health Canada proposal) largely came from a concern about highly processed foods, and foods with a lot of ingredients. The idea of taking a single-ingredient food product and imposing these types of labels is not being done anywhere else in the world, and it is going to unfairly affect Canada’s farmers and ranchers.” - Dennis Laycraft, executive vice-president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association or Health Canada’s proposal to label ground beef as being high in saturated fat.

Word of the Week

Saturated - fats containing a high proportion of fatty acid molecules without double bonds, considered to be less healthy in the diet than unsaturated fats.

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Show Data

Episode Title: Saturated with Corruption

Teaser: Health Canada plans to label ground beef, the Alberta UCP leadership race begins, and no link is found between BC money laundering and political corruption. Also, we determine whether or not the Trudeau government lied about the Emergencies Act.

Recorded Date: June 18, 2022

Release Date: June 19, 2022

Duration: 53:38

Edit Notes: None

Podcast Summary Notes

Duration: XX:XX