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Resident Chimp
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Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: The Jungles of Borneo
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May 22nd, 2003, 06:13 PM
Chretien ain't afraid of no mad cow. Eh.
There are pictures of this, but I'll be damned if any of them actually made it onto the Internet. 
Quote:
http://www.nationalpost.ca/national/...2-7B2B029B308D
Chrétien orders a medium 8-ounce
Anne Dawson, Chief Political Correspondent
National Post
Thursday, May 22, 2003
ADVERTISEMENT
OTTAWA - For the second time in as many months the Prime Minister has attempted to quell panic over a potential public health crisis by sitting down to a good meal.
Several weeks ago, Jean Chrétien dined at a restaurant in Toronto's Chinatown to help allay fears over the SARS outbreak. Yesterday, he tucked into an Alberta steak lunch at a downtown Ottawa restaurant to prove that an isolated case of mad-cow disease did not mean there was any risk to eating beef.
"In Canada, all we have is one cow who's been destroyed and wasn't part of the food chain. And this happened Jan. 31. So we do believe that it's limited to that herd and just to that animal," Mr. Chrétien told reporters yesterday morning.
"If it is one herd, it's not the same thing that if it is spread. We hope and we pray and we have at all indication that it is one cow in one herd."
Mr. Chrétien was later joined by two of his senior aides at an outdoor restaurant in the Byward Market for an eight-ounce New York strip loin of Alberta beef as cameras recorded his every bite and boom microphones his every word.
"I'll have mine medium, like a Liberal," he said.
Both Stephen Harper, leader of the Canadian Alliance, and Joe Clark, the Conservative leader, praised Mr. Chrétien's decision to make a public show of eating beef.
"It's important for the Prime Minister and other senior officials to show confidence. The symbolic stuff is not to be ridiculed," said Mr. Harper. "My only concern is that, like SARS, that we don't drop it here."
Mr. Clark said Mr. Chrétien made the right move by demonstrating "steak is healthy."
However, he warned government programs to pay for disasters will not be enough if the beef industry is adversely affected.
"If the worst happens, those programs would not be adequate to deal with the impact," said Mr. Clark.
Mr. Chrétien, who was harshly criticized for his slow reaction to the SARS crisis, wasted no time yesterday in spelling out how effective the federal government has been this time round.
"We acted very quickly. The Minister [of Agriculture] was in Edmonton [Tuesday], and he met his counterparts and even the U.S. Agriculture Secretary. They all said that Canada has acted in a very decisive way very quickly," he said.
"We've got one of the best inspection systems in the world -- more stringent in fact than international standards. We do hope that this system will resolve the problem very quickly because this is a very important industry both in Canada and the United States."
Mr. Chrétien said the extent of the problem must be determined before he would make any decision on special financial aid for the beef industry.
"When there's disaster we have legislation for disaster in Canada to deal with those disasters. We'll see actually the nature of the problem before answering all these hypothetical issues," he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Chrétien said Allan Rock, the Industry Minister, will have to decide whether the government should contribute $10-million toward bringing the Rolling Stones to Toronto as a way of promoting the city, which has been ravished by the SARS crisis.
"I'm not deciding that. The minister responsible of promotion is the minister responsible for tourism is Mr. Rock and he's dealing with his provincial counterpart and the municipal government," he said.
Mr. Rock has said he is reviewing all proposals to revive Toronto.
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Last month, Chretien ate in a Chinese restaurant in Toronto to prove that there was nothing to be afraid of with SARS. I can't think of another world leader that's done stuff like this.
"Dat mad cow better not fuck wit me, eh."  | |
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fs 
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