Clearly, not all Conservatives are right. Some are wrong. Health Critic and rookie Conservative Steven Fletcher is dead wrong.
Fletcher is gleeful at the prospect of Canada banning “trans fats”, which could result in many food products being banned from the U.S. and other places to abide by the ban, and many made-in-Canada food products being radically changed or dropped altogether.
It seems he has joined with a socialist from the NDP and Liberals and inked an all-party agreement to vote in favor of this idiotic nanny-state intrusion in our lives. Because, ladies and gentlemen, once again, say it together now, “Canadians are too stupid to look after themselves without the benevolent aid of our big, beautiful government”.
Write an email to Fletcher and tell him he’s wrong. This is not Conservative party policy. It is entirely contrary to conservative political philosophy in every sense. I don’t believe Canadians voted for this kind of absurd statist intrusion into our lives. Write to your own MP and Stpehen Harper as well. (Stephen Harper, Leader of the Opposition: [email protected])
We avoid trans-fats all on our own in our house, and all parents can raise their kids to avoid them too. And government have all manner of ways in which they can convince food processors to reduce and elliminate their use, as many companies are already starting to do on their own as a result of free market forces.
As I said in my email, “This nanny-state role of government is what me, my family, my neighbours, and all of our friends fought so hard to unwind when we worked extremely hard to get Conservative Party members such as yourself elected in the last election. ”
This kind of paternalistic government nonsense annoys me no end.
Steven Fletcher
Health Critic
Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia (Manitoba)
Ottawa Office:
Phone: 613-995-5609
Constituency Office:
Phone: 204-984-6432
Fax: 204-984-6451
Email Address: [email protected]
Web Site: www.stevenfletcher.com
Stephen Harper, Leader of the Opposition: [email protected]
Vancouver Sun Story on this idiotic issue:
Ban may force U.S. snacks off store shelves
Bill Curry
CanWest News ServiceFriday, November 19, 2004
OTTAWA—Canadians may be forced to do without American cookies, cereal, chips and many other tasty treats as MPs from all parties expressed support Thursday for an NDP motion that would make Canada the second country in the world to ban trans fats.Conservative health critic Stephen Fletcher thanked NDP MP Pat Martin Thursday for being open to changes to the party’s opposition day motion, saying the two MPs from opposite sides of the political spectrum were able to hammer out common ground.
“If we need to make a choice between the shelf life of people versus the shelf life of doughnuts, the Conservative Party of Canada will always support the shelf life of people,” said Fletcher.
Fletcher told CanWest News Service he and Martin, both Winnipeg MPs, started negotiating on the flight to Ottawa Sunday night and held another late-night bargaining session Tuesday in his office with Martin and NDP MP Libby Davies before he had secured changes that he could propose to his skeptical Tory caucus.
“I had trouble sleeping that night I was so excited,” said Fletcher of his success in finding agreement with an unusual partner. “I think that Pat Martin and I working together essentially squeezed the Liberals into agreeing with us.”
The motion, which will come to a vote Tuesday, calls for regulation or legislation to ban trans fats following the advice of a task force involving the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. Such a ban would force all processed food manufacturers, including foreign importers, to eliminate the substance or remove their product from Canadian shelves.
Public Health Minister Carolyn Bennett and other Liberals pledged their support for the motion, indicating a change in policy for the government. Health Canada’s current position is to impose mandatory labelling of trans fats beginning in 2005 as a way to address the harmful substance found in processed foods such as crackers, cereal, cookies and French fries.
Bennett said the only reason Health Canada hasn’t banned trans fat already is because there is no clear replacement that would be healthier.
“We must deal with the trans fat issue in a complex and thoughtful way so that we do not end up actually worsening the health of Canadians through our decisions and that is a real possibility if we rush headlong into a ban,” she said.
Bennett said she would like the task force to report to the Commons health committee on ways to safely reduce trans fats as low as possible.
“To me, the strategy we want is as little trans fat in people’s diets as we can possibly have,” she said. “If the advice of the task force [is] for a ban . . . we then need in place the strategy to have industry and whatever on side, such that it would be timed in a way that would be practical, doable and ultimately in the best interest of Canadians.”
Bennett pointed out that Denmark, the only other country to reduce trans fats to virtually non-existent levels, is much smaller and doesn’t have Canada’s requirement for longer shelf lives to do longer transportation times for food.
Earlier this year, Health Canada’s assistant deputy minister Karen Dodds warned MPs that a total ban could create complications. “I don’t know if it’s achievable. It would not be achievable without major disruptions,” she told the Commons health committee. Because trans fats increase shelf life, Dodds said companies would have to redesign their entire supply chain so that food gets to the consumer much faster.
TRANS FATTY ACIDS:
What they do
Lower level of “good” cholesterol, which increases heart disease risk.
Where they’re found
In many processed and fried foods such as potato chips, cookies and french-fries.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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