The CEO of trans-national Canadian food processing firm Maple Leaf Foods is blaming “narcissist” President Donald Trump for Iran’s shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner.
Michael McCain used the company Twitter account to deliver a diatribe against Trump because the “collateral damage” of killing Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was “63 Canadians [who] lost their lives.”
Maple Leaf Foods Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Michael McCain speaks during the annual general meeting of shareholders in Toronto Apr. 28, 2011. REUTERS/Mike Cassese
McCain said he is “very angry” that a “colleague of mine lost his wife and family this week to a needless, irresponsible series of events in Iran.” (RELATED: Trudeau Responds To Plane Crash That Killed 63 Canadians, Doesn’t Seem To Angry At Iran)
I’m Michael McCain, CEO of Maple Leaf Foods, and these are personal reflections. I am very angry, and time isn’t making me less angry. A MLF colleague of mine lost his wife and family this week to a needless, irresponsible series of events in Iran…
— Maple Leaf Foods (@MapleLeafFoods) January 13, 2020
Iran admitted on Friday that it accidentally downed the aircraft, believing it was an incoming missile and has since suggested that “U.S. adventurism” and “human error” were responsible for the crash. However, McCain insisted the tragedy was a direct result of the U.S. government having “concocted an ill-conceived plan to divert focus from political woes …”
…U.S. government leaders unconstrained by checks/balances, concocted an ill-conceived plan to divert focus from political woes. The world knows Iran is a dangerous state, but the world found a path to contain it; not perfect but by most accounts it was the right direction…
— Maple Leaf Foods (@MapleLeafFoods) January 13, 2020
McCain suggested that order in the Middle East has been upended because “a narcissist in Washington tears world accomplishments apart; destabilizes region,” in a possible reference to the Iran nuclear deal. He then suggested that Soleimani was just another “despicable military leader terrorist. There are a hundred like him.” (RELATED: Mark Esper Defends Strike Against Soleimani, Says It’s Better Than Having ‘Flag-Draped Coffins Come Home’)
Rescue teams work amidst debris after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in the Iranian capital Tehran early in the morning on January 8, 2020, killing everyone on board. – (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
..A narcissist in Washington tears world accomplishments apart; destabilizes region. US now unwelcomed everywhere in the area including Iraq; tensions escalated to feverish pitch. Taking out despicable military leader terrorist? There are a hundred like him, standing next in line
— Maple Leaf Foods (@MapleLeafFoods) January 13, 2020
McCain placed the blame on the aircraft being shot down squarely on the Trump administration’s actions. “The collateral damage of this irresponsible, dangerous, ill-conceived behaviour? 63 Canadians needlessly lost their lives in the crossfire … ”
…The collateral damage of this irresponsible, dangerous, ill-conceived behavior? 63 Canadians needlessly lost their lives in the crossfire, including the family of one of my MLF colleagues (his wife + 11 year old son)! We are mourning and I am livid. Michael McCain.
— Maple Leaf Foods (@MapleLeafFoods) January 13, 2020
The Daily Caller has reached out to Maple Leaf Foods for comment on McCain’s accusations and his decision to issue them on a company Twitter account.
McCain was in the news in 2008 when he took responsibility for a lethal listeriosis outbreak caused by two Maple Leaf meat slicing machines in Toronto. The bacteria killed 22 Canadians and the company had to pay out $27 million (CDN) to settle class action suits.