XL Foods – Poster Child For ALL That Is Wrong With the Corporate Agenda!

Well, it is easy to attack a corporate giant like XL Foods when it is obviously down and almost out. And in general, I do not engage in doing that sort of thing with anybody or anything, no matter how much I disagree with them. But given the seriousness of the food safety issue, coupled with this uncertain stage of corporate capitalism that we happen to be living in, I think a discussion about this company’s policies is in order.

Let’s face it, ever since the first signs of trouble at their massive meat packing plant in southeastern Alberta appeared on September 4^th of this year, the owners of XL Foods have engaged in some mighty strange behaviour. Let’s recap.

Once the source of the recent E. coli breakout was determined to be the XL Foods plant in Brooks, the owners of the plant, Brian and Lee Nilsson, were deafeningly absent. When they did start to make some public statements about the biggest meat product recall in the history of Canada, the ambiguity of their words seemed to suggest that the problem lay with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Their statements implied that XL Foods was completely blameless in the fiasco.

According to Lee Nilsson, “I know it’s caused a great amount of turmoil in the beef community. I’d just like to say hang on because all things will pass, but at this point there seems to be an uncertainty as to which direction CFIA is going with regard to E. coli at my plant, or any other plant in the country.”

Nice try, Lee. Attempting to obfuscate the issue by invoking the acronym CFIA really is not going to cut it. The facts give a much clearer picture. In fact, they suggest that XL Foods may have been complicit in their own downfall, however unwittingly.

For one thing the CFIA food inspectors were unable to complete the plant inspections because XL Foods decided to lay off 2,000 workers. Amid the public outcry over this blatant attack on its workers, the company did in fact bring back 40% or 800 of the laid off employees apparently so the inspections could continue. What about the other 1200 workers? The first thing that occurred to me is that the Nilsson brothers were convinced that the plant will not be allowed to re-open. I have to wonder why.

XL Foods bought the beef-processing plant in Brooks only three years ago. The original owners, the U.S.-based Tyson Foods, sold it to the Nilssons after their workers unionized following a bitter strike. Since then, XL Foods has hired an increasing number of temporary foreign workers from countries in Africa and the Middle East. Obviously, foreign workers on temporary work permits do not have any job security. Yet, front line workers are in the best position to tell us when standards are deteriorating.

Even more pathetic, this very company took a position against whistle blower protection. I think that the public should think a little bit more about companies that work behind the scenes to block whistle-blower legislation. I think this is especially so when the company provides about a third of the beef produced in Canada! Food safety is an important concern for all Canadians – after all, even pro-corporate conservatives want to eat clean and healthy food!

Another issue at the plant that we have learned about in recent days is that prior to the E. coli break out the company had demanded that the speed of processing carcasses be increased. This left even less time to ensure that the meat and the equipment were clean. It was a case of increasing beef quantity at the cost of decreasing beef quality, and by corollary, the safety of everyone who ate their meat.

I for one do not believe for an instant that the owners of XL Foods are completely innocent in this massive beef recall fiasco.

This is not to completely let Conservative Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz totally off the hook. I mean the guy does not inspire any confidence in his knowledge or lack thereof on the file of food safety. That said, it will be up to the citizens of his Saskatchewan riding (Battlefords-Lloydminster) to either choose another candidate to run for the Conservatives, or for them to vote for a party other than Harper’s team. I would not hold my breath for either of these options – after all, they voted Ritz back in after his embarrassing performance over the 20 deaths from listeriosis in 2008. But perhaps this is a moot point. Perhaps the problem is not a political one per se, but rather a structural one.

We live in an era dominated by what some academics refer to as neoliberalism. In layperson’s terms, it is called the corporate agenda. Historians may see the similarities between neoliberalism and the laissez faire economics of the Industrial Revolution. It is pertinent to this discussion that pretty well anyone who finished high school understands that laissez faire economics is antithetical to civil society.

Ever since the 1980s, Americans and Canadians have been inundated with hegemonic discourses trumpeting the merits of this economic doctrine.  Here are its main tenets:

-       tax cuts, especially for large corporations and mega-wealthy

-       deregulating industry (or allowing self-regulation)

-       attacking the collective bargaining rights of workers

-       privatizing the commons (such as public healthcare)

From the discussion above, it is clear that XL Foods was the direct benefit of at least the first three of these four tenets of neoliberalism. In this respect, an argument can be made that XL Foods is the poster child for all that is wrong with the current stage of capitalism we find ourselves experiencing.

It may take a while before Canadians wake up to the damages wrought by the corporate agenda to civil society in our country. It is clear to anyone living on the prairies that the neoliberal ideologues in the Harper Conservatives still have a lot of support out this way. Thankfully, their support appears to be dropping in most other parts of Canada.

In the meantime, I would like to say one more thing about XL Foods and food safety: as long as this Ritz guy is our Agriculture Minister, I for one do not want to see the CFIA food inspectors be under his purview. Is it a question of his honesty or of his competence? I am unsure, but food safety is too important an issue to be left to this guy.

Note #1: Three days ago, it was announced that the Nilsson brothers sold XL Foods to a company called JBS USA, a subsidiary of a Brazilian Company. Apparently, this foreign company has immediately taken over managing the plant at Brooks, Alberta. I have no idea what this means for the quality of the beef produced there. But while we have a federal government ideologically bent toward allowing industry to regulate itself, I'll wager that things are not going to get much better.

Note #2: On Sunday October 21st, Alberta Opposition Leader Danielle Smith, of the far right wing Wildrose Party, suggested via twitter that the tainted beef from the XL Foods plant should be cooked sufficiently enough and then fed to Alberta's homeless. I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Alberta voters for not voting in this person as premier. This is the kind of conservatism that no society needs.