Initiatives of Necessity

Amidst all the sad news and bad news, public-interest stories and reports from abroad, a hint that our government is moving toward domestic legislation long overdue in the protection of consumers' health and welfare. The notification that Canada plans to get tough on unscrupulous or just downright uncaring marketers of goods containing elements that may threaten our well being.

At a news conference held at - in all places, talk about ironies and metaphors - the Salvation Army toy depot, the prime minister - admitting that Canada lags lamentably behind some of its trading partners in ensuring product safety - stated that this situation is about to change. We've seen far too many product recalls in the past year alone, making us realize how vulnerable we are in so many ways to coming in contact with contaminated goods.

Everything from toothpaste, dog food, children's toys, foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals have been implicated as having been contaminated by harmful elements in their production. "The truth is, the product safety regulation in this country is not as rigorous as it should be", said our prime minister. Haven't we been telling him that for ages? Haven't we been agitating for better accountability, more stringent regulations imposed by government for product safety?

"As more and more products from all over the world find their way onto Canadian store shelves, we need to set and enforce state-of-the-art safety standards for domestic and imported goods." Right you are, Mr. Harper. And, under the legislation it would appear that importers must take responsibility for the safety of goods they import to Canada or risk hefty fines. There will, moreover, be more inspections of imported goods.

Good for us. But not particularly good on us. Not as long as this government remains complicit with a small but determined industry in Quebec that keeps insisting its particular type of asbestos is safe for use, and for export abroad. Government, heal thyself.