Send Quality Meat Packers Packing

So, this week’s rant has been brewing for a couple of weeks (probably a lot longer actually) but only really came to a head when I was driving into work and saw a couple of protestors from Toronto Pig Save on the corner of Lakeshore and Strachan. They were holding placards decrying the slaughter of pigs.

I don’t eat pork or red meat. But for me, the morality of the issue is a moot point. If you want to eat pork, knock yourself out. Stuff your face with a dozen of those bacon-covered doughnuts for all I care. I’m abstaining to eat healthier – simple as that. And to Toronto Pig Save: good for you. As citizens of a free country, you have every right to make your views known and condemn swine slaughter if you so choose.

My bigger beef (pardon the almost meat-correct pun) is where the processing takes place. In downtown Toronto at 2 Tecumseh, basically a stone’s throw from the heart of the city. A city that is trying to establish more urban retreats and communities like Liberty Village. A city that is trying its best to accommodate the influx of people who want to live downtown instead of the burbs.

First, there’s the simple aspect of transportation. The pigs sure as hell aren’t raised in the city. They come from all kinds of places like Burgessville and Milldale. Think about it, huge rigs filled with pigs, dozens of them every day clogging up our main thoroughfares into the city. And god forbid if you get stuck behind or even half a kilometer away from one of those transport trailers – they smell like shit and death. Besides, there have been numerous cases where these trucks have been involved in major accidents – pigs were either killed during the collision or had to be put down at the side of the road which I find detestable. Check out this picture from the National Post, almost a year ago.

The second big problem is the fucking smell. The odour that is emitted by Quality Meat Packers is sickly, putrid, disgusting and as many other like-minded adjectives you could come up with. You simply cannot go down to King Street West and sit on a patio if the wind is blowing from the southeast. You’d lose your lunch. I really feel bad for the people that buy townhomes or condos in Liberty Village. How the fuck do you live there? And it’s not just Liberty Village. It’s pretty much all of Parkdale and on the flipside as well towards Portland. If you’ve never personally experienced it, consider yourself lucky. It’s truly horrible!

Finally, you can’t tell me that there isn’t some kind of ecological impact of having a meat processing plant in the downtown corridor. I’m convinced that soil samples taken from around the plant would reveal some pretty interesting biohazards leaking from the abbatoir. Or the air quality from incinerating the pigs’ remains. There’s gotta be some funky shit coming out of that place.

I could give a flying fuck if Quality Meat Packers has been located in Toronto for 125 years. The city looked one helluvalot different and far less populated back then too. So, that argument to me doesn’t hold water. It’s time that Toronto City Council either bought or expropriated the land and told Quality Meat Packers to pack their bags and get the fuck outta town.

But that’s just my opinion. I only work in Toronto. I don’t live there.

So, here’s an article from the local community newspaper that looks at both sides of the debate. Decide for yourself:

http://tinyurl.com/6zbfh6b

And that’s my brain fart for Friday, September 23, 2011.