Canada said on June 26 that it is investigating the origin of a tainted pork shipment and bogus documents that prompted China to ban Canadian meat and further strained tense relations.SEBASTIEN ST-JEAN/AFP/Getty Images
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China’s no, Canada’s meat
Re China Halts Meat Exports From Canada (June 26): Chinese customs inspectors detected ractopamine, a feed additive, in a batch of Canadian pork products. Ractopamine is banned in most countries, not just Europe, Russia and China. It is a beta-stimulating agent with widespread effects on the sympathetic nervous system.
Following this discovery, Chinese investigators found that the health certificates pertaining to the same batch of pork products were counterfeit. Problems with export certificates were also identified by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Would our Agriculture Minister kindly explain how this is a “technical issue?”And how we can find fault with China for a reasonable and measured response?
Seems to me we ended up with egg foo yung on our faces.
Ashok Sajnani, MD, Toronto
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Coming from France, where ractopamine is banned – as it is in 160 countries – it never occurred to me it was permitted here. I was shocked to learn it is.
Very little research has been done on the drug’s impact on humans, but we do know it has adverse effects on the animals it is given to bulk them up in the weeks approaching slaughter. The FDA in the United States reports ractopamine’s effects on swine can include trembling, hyperactivity, inability to walk, and in some cases, death.
China did us a favour if it woke us up to what our government allows in our meat – not that doing us any favours was ever on China’s agenda.
Giselle Marie Pelletier, Montreal
Wronged in wartime
Re Canadians Of Italian Descent Don’t Need Justin Trudeau’s Apology (June 26): I enjoyed Patrick Luciani’s contrarian view on the subject of interning Italians during the Second World War. I also agree with him that apologies 75 years later are not very productive.
But he goes too far, I think, in condoning injustice committed for “good” reasons. My grandfather was interned for two years while three of his sons were serving in the Canadian armed forces. There is no justifying that – even retrospectively.
Robert Calderisi, New York
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I have always been a critic of governments that use omnibus bills. But I’d support one that collated the entire range of apologies.
Ab Dukacz, Mississauga
Trump and Iran
Re Trump Trades Barbs With Iran As Tensions Escalate (June 26): When I first read, as a child, the tale about the emperor who has no clothes, I could not fully understand the plot line. How could people not see reality?
For the past few years, this story has been replaying with a would-be emperor in Washington and world leaders not willing to call out the truth. Perhaps a few raised eyebrows, but largely silent. Step up to the plate President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, declaring that Washington’s policy is “outrageous and idiotic” and declaring that the Trump White House is “afflicted by mental retardation.”
You may or may not agree with the Iranian regime but it has clearly recognized the nakedness of the emperor.
Robert V. Harrison, Burlington, Ont.
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It is interesting that U.S. President Donald Trump was reported earlier this week as saying he cancelled armed action against Iran after learning that an estimated 150 people would probably die.
Does he not know that deep and lengthy sanctions have a significant effect on a population’s health and mortality, with infants and the elderly the most likely to die?
Someone on his staff should show him the cold, hard numbers.
Mike Firrh, Toronto
Holy Grail territory
Re Will Share Buybacks Improve Portfolio Returns? (June 26): As with all Robert Tattersall’s commentaries, I found his insights on buybacks thoughtful and informative. Some added observations on the topic:
1) It is a company’s primary mandate to enhance shareholder value by investing in areas with superior potential returns;
2) Capital is always scarce, so returning it to the owners, rather than identifying opportunities for investment, is likely counterproductive, particularly as there is no guarantee that it will be available at some future date – and at the right cost, and under new circumstances;
3) The choice of criteria used in buybacks is indeed, at best, challenging.
Offering to do buybacks basically assumes that management can identify when a stock is undervalued, which is surely a concept as elusive as the Holy Grail. If success is achieved, the money management business will either disappear – or at least be revolutionized.
Peter de Auer, former director, Ontario Hydro Pension Fund; Port Hope, Ont.
Appointed in Ontario
Re Ford To Review Government Appointments After New Dean French Ties Revealed (June 26): When attempting to press the reset button for his government last week via his cabinet shuffle, Doug Ford hit autodestruct by mistake.
The subsequent revelations regarding the bullying style of his recently “resigned” chief of staff, coupled with numerous examples of insider patronage appointments, has shown Mr. Ford to be a bumbling leader, apparently willfully ignorant of the goings-on in his own house.
Jeff Goldman, Toronto
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What kind of example did the Ron Taverner OPP debacle set for the Premier’s staff? And while the niece of the Premier’s former chief of staff just “resigned” from the Public Accountants Council, we now learn that the council is chaired by Gavin Tighe, a lawyer who has represented both Doug and Rob Ford in the past.
The phrase “monkey see, monkey do” comes to mind.
David Stones, Toronto
Soccer’s hurting heart
Re Blame Bungled Tactics And Cautious Coaching For Canada’s Exit From The World Cup (June 25): FIFA’s new rules about the use of VAR (videoassistant-referee) calls are slowing the game, reducing the initiative of the players – and my initiative to watch. The win by the U.S. over Spain was so disappointing: The U.S. didn’t have a superior team, it won by default. Similarly, the Japanese team was so much better than the Dutch, yet the latter won on a soft penalty. There have been 27 penalties in this series, and most were influenced by VAR calls.
While the referee has the final say, there is no incentive to disagree with VAR findings. VAR is taking the heart out of the game and reducing the decisions of the referee to being conditional on the findings of the video.
Sure, there were mistakes made by referees in the past. And I see that VAR offers a benefit in deciding whether the ball passed over the goal line, or slid inside sufficiently to score a goal. But beyond that, its use risks turning soccer into a technical game without heart.
Douglas Johnson, Fenwick, Ont.
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