Biologist fired for stumbling upon confidential plan
Wed, 2008-07-09 15:35
#1
Agent 204
Biologist fired for stumbling upon confidential plan
Wed, 2008-07-09 15:35
#2
Agent 204
quote:
Confidential documents insecurely posted on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's computer network laid out plans to turn over food inspections and labelling to industry and led to the firing of the scientist who stumbled upon them.Luc Pomerleau, a biologist with a 20-year "unblemished record" in government, said he was fired last week for "gross misconduct' and breaching security because he sent the documents to his union. Pomerleau, who is a union steward, also was deemed "unreliable," which means he no longer has the security clearance to do his job or to work again in the public service.
The documents appear to involve a reorganizing of food inspection that will shift more of the onus for food safety to the suppliers that manufacture and distribute food and other products. It's a direction in which the agency has been heading for years and the union has long voiced concerns about the impact of such a shift on jobs and the food safety of Canadians.
From the [url=http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/story/4196554p-4787899c.html][i]... Free Press[/i][/url]. I suppose if you're going to let the fox guard the henhouse, you don't want the chickens knowing about it...
Wed, 2008-07-09 20:18
#3
laine lowe
I applaud Luc Pomerleau and would have rather seen an advisory about plans to deregulate/privatize food inspection from the NDP rather than the text messaging alert. Ditto for plans to further privatize Canada Post services.
Once public services are released to the whims of the market, bottom line decision-making occurs as we have just seen with the telecommunications and transportation markets. It's well and fine to ask corporations to behave decently but really, it has as much impact as a dog chasing it's tail.