Inquiries are explicitly forbidden from laying blame, criminal or civil. They invariably make wonderful recommendations – most of them glaringly obvious – and many of which will never be implemented.

“What ever happened to people actually doing their jobs? What happened to taking responsibility? And what about the quaint notion that governments should govern?

Before we spend $10-million or $20-million or $50-million on an inquiry into luncheon meats, let’s step back for a minute and examine what we know about what happened, what went wrong and how we can do better. …

Nor do you need an esteemed judge and hours of cross-examination by top-notch legal counsel to know that the response to suspected contamination of mass-produced meat products was far too slow and secretive.

People started dying in June, and it took until mid-August to trace the problem to the plant. On Aug. 13, when the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was in the plant looking for the source of listeria monocytogenes, Maple Leaf started warning distributors to stop shipping some meats. But nobody told the public to stop eating them.

By Aug. 17, there were positive lab tests and it was abundantly clear a number of deaths were due to the contamination. Yet it wasn’t until Aug. 20 that the public was really warned of the extent of the problem. And products were still being recalled, in piecemeal fashion, into September. …

The way the CFIA warns the public of food-borne threats and manages recalls is a disgrace. Transparency and good communication are essential in responding to any public health threat but, at the CFIA, information is released in dribs and drabs, without coherence or context, and almost always on a voluntary basis by manufacturers.

In this case, thankfully, Maple Leaf was, after some initial foot-dragging, quite open. CEO Michael McCain gave the public more information and explanation than all government agencies combined. He also had the backbone and decency to apologize.

Federal cabinet ministers contented themselves with uttering a few platitudes.
Gerry Ritz, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Foods, had this to say more than three weeks after the outbreak was discovered: "Our professionals are working to resolve this situation as quickly as possible." Instead of an apologia for second-rate work, he should have been kicking CFIA butts around the block.

Health Minister Tony Clement, for his part, was gushing with pride about the actions of the Public Health Agency of Canada even before the final body count was in.

We don’t need more reports to gather dust on shelves. … And above all, you need to take responsibility for your actions (and inaction).

That is something government agencies like CFIA and PHAC, and in particular their political masters, seem unable to grasp.