Canada’s farm minister has apologized for making tasteless jokes about a fatal listeriosis outbreak and saying he hoped it had killed off his main political rival.
The outbreak at a Maple Leaf Foods deli meat plant has been linked to at least 16 deaths and prompted one of Canada’s biggest food recalls.
The Canadian Press reported that during a conference call between officials to discuss the crisis last month, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz had quipped, “This is like a death by a thousand cuts. Or should I say cold cuts.”
On hearing about a new death in the Atlantic province of Prince Edward Island, Ritz said: “Please tell me it’s Wayne Easter.” Easter is the farm spokesman for the opposition Liberal party and comes from the island.
“I want to offer my most humble and heartfelt regrets to the families of those affected by this tragedy. I did not intend to add to their suffering and I very deeply apologize for that,” Ritz said in a statement on Wednesday night.
He also apologized to Easter, who has called for Ritz to quit over the Conservative government’s handling of the outbreak.
“This is no joking matter,” Easter told CTV television late on Wednesday, slamming what he called Ritz’s “total insensitivity.”
Ritz’s comments were the latest in a series of gaffes to hit the Conservatives, who are campaigning to retain power ahead of an Oct 14 election.
Classy.
Conservatives are non-empathetic the world over. F-U, I got mine mentality. Pull your tainted meat ass up by the bootstraps.
Sure buddy and you lumping half the world in behind this one idiots comment doesn’t make you a total tosser? No sir F-U. F-U in the A$$.
#2 NoodleFarian – You’ve made my point. I own you.
#3 – The Monster’s Lawyer
A stereotype is a label given to a group of people, a perquisite judgment. It goes hand in hand with bias, prejudice, and discrimination.
You proved nothing, accept you personally are an idiot.
This is what happens when you inject red bull in your taint. (with apologies to Stephen Colbert)
First of all, I am no conservative, so don’t mistake me for an apologist. The problem with this story is context is completely lost. If you have ever been around dark , stressful situations, one coping mechanism is black humor. The Conservative Party up here in Canada has taken a shit kicking over this and went into panic mode. Was this a tense meeting and were they trying to bring some levity to it? Like I said, I can’t stand the Conservative Party up here, but to me it falls under the same umbrella of what sometimes homicide detectives in large cities do. If the family members ever heard some of the black humor jokes cracked over a crime scene, they’re would be hell to pay. It’s just a way for humans to deal with stressful situations; he only got caught(or strung out to dry). Just because you make not like the reasoning behind this, doesn’t make it not true.
#2–pasta==you gotta go with the stereotypes. Study after study does show “basic” group differences in empathy, imagination, comfort with ambiguity and so forth between groups that self identify as Republican/Democrat or Conservative/Liberal.
Bleed Heart Liberals. Why are they called that? Because they care about people who die from contaminated cold cuts.
Cold Hearted Conservatives. Why are they called that? Because they make jokes like the above.
Does a group tendency apply to all members of the group? No. Is that the red-herring argument an idiot such as yourself will make? Yes.
#4 PastaFace – Calm down. It must hurt to be owned.
#4, noodlebrain,
A stereotype is a label given to a group of people, a perquisite judgment. It goes hand in hand with bias, prejudice, and discrimination.
Ya, so what is your point? What are the general qualifications to be a conservative?
selfish,
compassionatless for those without,
inconsiderate of others,
devious,
possessive,
greedy,
bully,
being gay, though not all gays are conservative,
bible thumping,
pretends to be patriotic,
doesn’t care who or how many are killed,
calls him/herself a Libertarian,
worships money, especially other’s money, when not thumping on the bible,
I didn’t include intelligent because obviously that is a disqualification.
I think tML adequately demonstrated his point quite well.
I guess that makes you his property.
Monster… are you, like, 12 years old?
(I await the “I know you are, what am I?” response).
It was a stupid comment by Ritz… no doubt. But I defy anyone to truthfully admit that they haven’t said something similarly stupid sometime in their life. It happens. I’m with #6 on this one.
He needed to apologize and he did. His leash should be a fair bit shorter for the next couple years… and that should suffice.
#10 RectumGone – Who the hell are you, and why should I care? Is that you pastaMan? Come on, changing your handle ain’t gonna help you.
#10–rectagon==like what are you, a republican apologist? Such comments are more likely to come from republicans. Not exclusively–just a group tendency. Like Graham saying the current economic mess is just a whiney liberal mental condition.
What have you got against the truth? Or do you think people vote differently without any other differences in personality/character than can be noticed? Get Real.
The Farm Minister? Not quite, he’s the minister for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
http://www4.agr.gc.ca/AAFC-AAC/display-afficher.do?id=1203439690684&lang=e
Can anyone find out the avg amount of PAY those people made??
Bet it was Lower and middle class that got hit.
These are the kind of idiots thst are trying to tell us how to run our lives. Yet, they can barley manage their own life.
Listeriosis has an incubation period of up to 90 days, and the infected meat recall story only 30 days old. The meat went to many elderly care facilities and schools. Expect more anguish due to large centralized food processors and minimal inspection.