Stephen Harper Has Failed us Again. We are no Longer a Nation That Dreams.

The girl in this video is another reminder of how much we've changed as a nation. She says; "I always see Canada as a peaceful country, where people have a strong sense of fairness, and take care of each other, respect minorities, and have common sense... "

That's just not who we are now, but it's who we will never be again if we don't come out of our stupor and start believing in 'us' again. We are no longer a nation of promise. I can't even think of a name to define Canada at all now. Harperville? Harperland? Neo-con Junction? Who the hell knows? We sure aren't Canadians anymore.

I just know that Stephen Harper is failing us, the media is failing us, and neo-Conservatism is failing us. But more importantly, we are failing ourselves.

U.S. isotope industry will be Canada's loss
Congress approves $163M subsidy to build new reactor, begin domestic production
The Toronto Star
November 9, 2009

OTTAWA–The United States is one step closer to getting back into the business of medical isotopes.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 400-17 on a bill that would grant $163 million (U.S.) over five years to subsidize the domestic production of medical isotopes. This could include building a reactor to produce the molybdenum-99 isotope, which has been in short supply since the aging nuclear reactor at Chalk River, Ont., shut down this year.

"This is not coming as a great surprise, especially given the pattern of disruption to medical isotopes supplies that has occurred since 2007," Dr. Christopher O'Brien, head of the Ontario Association of Nuclear Medicine, said of the American Medical Isotopes Production Act clearing the legislative hurdle.

The bill, which would also phase out exports of highly enriched uranium for medical isotope production within seven years, still needs to clear the U.S. Senate.

But the nuclear medicine and anti-proliferation community sees the wide margin of the vote as a sign the bill is not controversial in Washington, D.C.

The U.S. has long considered returning to domestic production of medical isotopes using low-enriched uranium, instead of the bomb-grade material used at Chalk River and four other major reactors in Europe and South Africa.

The ongoing shutdown at the 52-year-old National Research Universal reactor in Chalk River, which previously produced about half the North American supply of molybdenum-99 and is not expected to return to service until early next year, has accelerated the U.S. debate in recent months.

President Barack Obama approved $20 million (U.S.) last week to jump-start production and is expected to make an announcement on the issue by the end of the year.

There are several proposals on the table, ranging from refurbishing an existing reactor at the University of Missouri, to newer technologies using cyclotrons, that some observers say with the new subsidies could establish a domestic industry by 2014.

O'Brien sees it as a loss for Canada.

"We were in a leadership role in the world, in the sense of supplying medical isotopes, and with that went a lot of jobs in Canada and also ensured a safe supply of medical isotopes for our patients in Canada," O'Brien said.

"It also developed a lot of research potential in Canada and so what happens now with Canada dropping the ball, if you will, on this issue, the United States has been forced, and rightly so, to try and look after its own population because Canada has not really done a good job for the last few years."

Lisa Raitt Says "Not Now Dear, I've Got a Headache"

So have you been wondering what the Conservatives' own ditsy blonde has been up to these days, in light of the fact that the Chalk River Nuclear reactor will be down longer than expected? No doubt, she's been announcing and re-announcing stimulus spending, hoping no one remembers that she found the isotope shortage a career boosting opportunity.

Well sweetheart, it's only career making if you actually do something about it, other than finding it a turn on.

Liberal MP Omar Alghabra asks a very important question. Where is their sense of urgency? Gary Lunn was the Natural Resources minister in 2007 and he was in such a twist about isotopes, I think I saw a couple of his hairs move. But now .... ah ... no biggie.

August 20, 2009

About 20 months ago, as the Liberal Critic for Natural Resources, I was heavily involved in the continuing saga of isotope shortage. In November of 2007, the Nuclear Safety Commission refused to renew the license for the nuclear reactor that produced medical isotope citing safety concerns. The unplanned shutdown led to severe shortage of isotope supplies and caused grave concerns among doctors and Canadians. Those nuclear isotopes are used for medical diagnostic procedures on a daily basis and their shortage led to the cancellation of many serious procedures.

The House of Commons immediately intervened. Debates about what happened, how we got there and what the government role needs to be ensued. An emergency debate on the floor of the House of Commons lasted till midnight on Tuesday December 11, 2007 included many expert witnesses. There were many questions that were posed to the Conservative government.

The Conservatives decided to blame the Nuclear Safety Commission President Linda Keen and fired her in the meantime ignoring all outstanding concerns. I thought it was an unjustified firing and it was a public relation exercise of redirecting blame. The Commissioner may have been too rigid but that didn’t justify her firing nor did it lead to resolve the outstanding problems facing the isotope supply issue.

Today, it has become clear that had the Conservatives taken those questions seriously the isotope shortage crisis we are facing could have been averted.

Throughout 2007 and 2008 when Mr. Harper was asked to prepare a contingency plan for potential future problems and his only response was to blame Linda Keen for putting Canadian lives at risk and that it was a life and death situation.

I regret to say that the fear we expressed 20 months ago came true. Linda Keen is not around but the crisis persists and it’s still a life and death situation.

The Conservatives have done nothing so far. Where is their sense of urgency? Is it fair to say that Stephen Harper’s inaction is putting Canadian lives at risk?

The Canadian Medical Association is blaming the Conservative government for their mishandling of the isotope crisis.

The Conservatives must be held accountable for their incompetence. They can’t get away with their claim that they can’t do anything about the situation when the last time they rushed to fire a public servant for doing her job.

Much could have been done 2 years ago. Ideas that were proposed included pooling international supply capacity, planning for a new supply reactor, and inviting private sector investors to enter the business of supply isotopes.

What is even more tragic is that to this day, the Conservatives still don’t appear to be doing anything.

Harper's Misuse of Tapes is Coming Back to Bite Him

I had my rant last night over the 'heartfelt' apology of Lisa Raitt, where I wondered what exactly she was apologizing for?

Her incompetence? Her lack of integrity? Her insensitivity?

In the light of day, I kind of feel sorry for her. I mean many of us have said things that could prove to be embarrassing if taped.

But she is an elected official and cabinet minister of an important portfolio during a national crisis. We need to know if she's up for the job, and it's pretty clear that she's not.

I suspect that over the next week or so we'll learn a lot more of how she privately feels about her colleagues and the Party. Apparently there is even a criticism of Stephen Harper. Yikes!

Sadly though I think the sensationalism of this five hour tape is clouding the real issue.

The isotope shortage. While Raitt says she looks forward to getting credit for fixing the crisis, it's pretty clear that she has no idea how to do that.

Yesterday, Ms. Raitt "told the House of Commons that international producers of medical isotopes in the Netherlands, Australia and South Africa will be able to increase their supply to compensate for the amount no longer coming out of Chalk River.

However, this is not true:

"... the Liberals have pointed out that extended shutdowns are planned for the Dutch reactor, the Australian reactor is not yet in operation and was not built to supply the international market, and the South African reactor is not large enough to make up the shortfall."

That's what we need to focus on here. She clearly does not have a handle on the situation or she would know that. Also she has announced that we will be selling Chalk River and that the buyer will not have to commit to producing isotopes.

Now I know all opposition parties are capitalizing on the scandal, but let's not forget the recent Ruby Dhallah affair, which had nothing at all to do with how she did her job. However, she resigned for the good of her Party until it got sorted out.

I really liked Michael Ignatieff's response to Harper's accusation that he was using this as political opportunism. "The cheapest politics there is, is to call a crisis a career opportunity". Zing.

But this does raise another question. Harper's mining of old tapes of Michael Ignatieff to use in attack ads. Not long ago he rose in the House of Commons, responding to calls for Flaherty's resignation, saying "I'd love to fire the leader of the opposition but with the tapes I've got on him..."

If I was a religious person, I'd say that God was punishing him for un-Christian behaviour .... I'm just saying.

However, it should make him realize that exploiting tapes, or writings, is bad politics. When his own 1997 speech to an American neo-conservative think-tank surfaced, he defended his words by saying that they were given when he was a private citizen. Yet the tape he is currently using of Mr. Ignatieff is from 1994 when he was a journalist, and a PRIVATE CITIZEN!

Two sets of rules obviously.

For Lisa Raitt, she has to remember that perception is everything. Many of us hate the whole 'tape' thing, but she's become Canada's Paris Hilton, and I doubt that the National Enquirer style delving into her private conversation will end anytime soon.

Harper has kept his caucus muzzled for so long, that it's news when we hear one of them say something that wasn't written and edited in advance.

Hopefully, it will die down soon so we can get back to the things that really matter. Like how much hair gel does Gary Lunn really use and where did Rhona Ambrose get those shoes ....

Lisa Raitt's Apology is as Empty as Her Head. WARNING: RANT IN PROGRESS!

I listened to a few seconds of Lisa Raitt's apology and

it didn't take long to realize that she really was sorry.... SORRY SHE GOT CAUGHT!!!

Her defense is that it was a 'private' conversation that was 'inadvertently' taped, but there is no defense.

Canadians have a right to know the 'private' thoughts of a politician who sees the isotope shortage as a boost to her career and the fact that it involves radioactive waste and cancer, as sexy.

In her position, responsible for that radioactive waste and cancer (tests), this is simply not good enough. In fact, it's abysmal.

Just yesterday she refused to say she was sorry, so I suspect the tears are a result of a chewing out by her boss, that really hurt her feelings, assuming she has any.

The fact that Harper is keeping her in her job, is further proof that he has no clue. Or maybe it's simply that he has no one else willing or able to step up. Either way, she's got to go.

YESTERDAY:

Lisa Raitt offers no apology for gaffe

Michael Ignatieff says isotope comments show insensitivity; Harper accuses Liberals of 'playing cheap politics'
Jun 10, 2009

Tonda MacCharles

OTTAWA BUREAU

OTTAWA – Lisa Raitt has lost a grandmother, grandfather, father and brother to cancer.

But, under fire for privately calling the medical isotope shortage a "sexy" story and a chance to shine in the political limelight, the federal minister at the centre of a cancer treatment storm offered no apology to the Commons. (What a little twit. Everyone has lost someone to cancer, and yet our first thought was not that it was sexy or would advance our career) And Prime Minister Stephen Harper made clear he doesn't expect her to.

Instead, Harper defended his natural resources minister against criticism from Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff.

Harper said Raitt, the minister in charge of the reactor shutdown that has triggered a looming shortage of isotopes critical to heart and cancer tests, has been "working around the clock" to manage the crisis. (ha, ha, ha)

He accused the Liberals of "playing cheap politics" with the issue. (Not just the Liberals moron. All opposition parties and the majority of Canadians. Remember those Canadians that you hated in 1997 but claim to love now? The ones who pay your salary and expect that you do you damn job!)

In a conversation inadvertently recorded in January by a then-aide and made public yesterday by a Halifax newspaper, Raitt also says she looks forward to getting credit for fixing the isotope crisis and expresses doubts about the skill of Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.

Yesterday, many cancer patients and their families said Raitt should apologize for her remarks.

"I find it offensive that she would play with people's lives in such an offhanded manner," said an Ottawa mother who didn't want to be named, but whose daughter survived Hodgkin's lymphoma. "I absolutely think she should apologize."

Meredith Marks, an Ottawa physician in the midst of her own cancer battle, said Raitt showed "selfishness" in some of her comments.

"What she should be doing is trying to solve an issue to help the public, not to pad her resumé and take credit for something ... and downplaying a colleague."

Ignatieff said Raitt's comments are evidence of an insensitive minister and the government's "deep cynicism about the issues facing our country."

When Harper accused him of political opportunism, Ignatieff said: "The cheapest politics there is, is to call a crisis a career opportunity."

Raitt's office said the minister apologized by phone to Aglukkaq.

But in the Commons, Raitt resisted calls to apologize to cancer victims.

"There is nothing sexy about thousands of suffering Canadians on waiting lists for cancer treatment," said NDP Leader Jack Layton. (In case Harper is even thicker than I thought, Jack Layton is not a Liberal. This is not a partisan issue. This is an incompetent minister issue) "There is nothing sexy about radiation. There is nothing sexy about losing a family member to cancer. Why will the minister not resign and the Prime Minister accept it?"

Raitt said it was "ludicrous" to question the Tories' compassion. "Every member on this side of the House has unfortunately been touched by illness, sickness and, indeed, by cancer. That is what motivates us here in doing and caring for the health and safety of Canadians."

She went on to slam Layton for peddling "rhetoric, conspiracy theories and personal smears."

Harper's communications director, Kory Teneycke, said later that Raitt lost her father to colon cancer when she was 11 and her 36-year-old brother to lung cancer. (And yet in her twisted mind she thinks cancer is sexy?)

Meanwhile, The Canadian Press reports that sources familiar with the five hours of audiotape obtained by the Halifax Chronicle Herald say Raitt suggests Environment Minister Jim Prentice is pandering to Alberta's oil sands.

Two sources say Raitt is heard speaking dismissively about Prentice and one says she refers specifically to policy that favours oil companies.

TODAY:

Raitt apologizes for cancer remarks

A day after steadfastly refusing to say she was sorry, tearful Natural Resources Minister expresses ‘deep regret' for describing issue as ‘sexy'

Gloria Galloway
Ottawa — The Globe and Mail,

June 10, 2009

Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt choked back tears Wednesday as she apologized for remarks she made that suggest she thinks cancer is sexy.

“Today I personally want to communicate my deep regret for wording I used in a private discussion earlier this year, which was inadvertently recorded,” Ms. Raitt told a hastily arranged news conference on Parliament Hill.

“As somebody who has been in their personal life deeply affected by cancer, the intent was certainly not to show and disrespect for cancer victims, survivors, or their families.”

Ms. Raitt was recorded in January during a conversation with her aide, Jasmine MacDonnell, in which she said the medical isotope issue is “sexy” because it involves cancer and radioactivity.

Ms. MacDonnell subsequently lost the tape recorder containing that discussion and it ended up in the hands of a reporter.

Taking deep breaths, Ms. Raitt said it is clear her remarks have been interpreted as callous. Cancer patients have widely been quoted in the news media as denouncing her words.

“I want to offer a clear apology to anyone who has been affected by what I have said,” she told reporters.

Ms. Raitt said that, when she was 11 years old, she watched her father die from colon cancer over a period of 18 months.

“And 20 years later, I was in the room with my brother when he died of lung cancer,” she said, adding that it's a personal issue and one she does not take lightly.

Opposition members have been calling for her resignation since it was reported last week that a binder of documents was left at a CTV studio after she was interviewed about the current shortage of medical isotopes.

Liberal Health critic Carolyn Bennett said Wednesday she appreciated the minister's apology.

“I think it's very important that this apology has been made to the people in Canada who are facing cancer or who have ever faced cancer,” Ms. Bennett told reporters after Ms. Raitt had left the room.

“It obviously is a personal issue that the minister feels profoundly and personally as so many of us [do].”

Ms. Bennett said she hope the apology means that the minister will be able to assure the people of Canada that there will be a plan for securing a supply of medical isotopes.

Ms. Raitt has told the House of Commons that international producers of medical isotopes in the Netherlands, Australia and South Africa will be able to increase their supply to compensate for the amount no longer coming out of Chalk River.

But the Liberals have pointed out that extended shutdowns are planned for the Dutch reactor, the Australian reactor is not yet in operation and was not built to supply the international market, and the South African reactor is not large enough to make up the shortfall.

Ms. Bennett said her party wants the government to appoint a medical director who can deal with the isotope shortage in Canada and map the situation across the country. “This is a crisis, it should be treated as a crisis,” he said.

The amount of available isotopes has dwindled to critical levels following the shutdown of an aging nuclear reactor at Chalk River, Ont. that produces a third of the world's supply.

Addressing another facet of her recorded remarks – her criticism of Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq – Ms. Raitt concluded Wednesday's news conference: “With respect to the medical isotopes issue, however, I will continue to work with Minister Aglukkaq and the international community to address the isotope shortage in Canada and around the world. Thank you.”

A day earlier, Prime Minister Stephen Harper stood by her, saying “has confidence” in Ms. Raitt and dismissing the furor surrounding the Natural Resources Minister as political opportunism.

In Question Period, he dismissed opposition attacks, saying Ms. Raitt “has been working around the clock to make sure that we get a greater supply of isotopes and to make sure we have alternative options for our health care patients in this country. That is what the minister is doing, and that is what this government is doing, not playing cheap politics.”

The recording was made public Monday night, adding new difficulties for a minister who is also accused of racking up big expense bills in a former job and who lost a staff member over the mishandling of secret documents.

Lawyers for the 26-year-old former staffer argued Monday to keep the material secret, but Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Gerald Moir refused to extend an injunction which prevented the Halifax Chronicle Herald from revealing the recording on the weekend.

On the tape, the Minister called into question the competence Ms. Aglukkaq, who was also working to resolve the crisis caused by a shortage of medical isotopes after the recent shutdown of an aging Canadian reactor.

“I'm so disappointed,” Ms. Raitt said in the recording posted at the Herald's site. “... She's such a capable woman, but it's hard for her to come out of a co-operative government into this rough-and-tumble. She had a question in the House Monday, or two days ago ... that planked. I really hope she never gets anything hot.” (hot like sexy cancer)

Reminds me of another phony apology from a Conservative MP. I wonder if they keep a list of them in their handbook. 1. Peel an onion. 2. Say you're sorry. 3. Blame it on the opposition.

The Isotope Crisis Reveals More Conservative Deceit

The Canadian public is being lied to again by our government. This time it is over isotopes and the nuclear plant at Chalk River, and involves the Prime Minister and two members of his cabinet, who have not only kept vital information from the House of Commons, but also from us.

How can we trust anything they say?

Barely a week ago, they told us that everything was fine and that there was no crisis. Then we learn that Lisa Raitt left a top secret file behind at a media outlet, which revealed many contradictions, meaning that everything wasn't fine. In fact, everything was a mess.

Don't worry, be happy. I think not.

Chalk River crisis? What crisis?
Don Martin,
Canwest News
May 26, 2009

OTTAWA -- Perhaps Canada's current minister in charge of nuclear heavy water leaks, production shutdowns and radioactive medical fallout isn't as rabidly excitable as the one who presided over the last idling of the ailing Chalk River power plant.

Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt deploys her natural Cape Breton serenity when confronting the indefinite shutdown of the world's most important isotope-production plant, despite the imminent spectre of cancer patients racked up and backed up waiting for increasingly scarce diagnostic imaging material.

When confronted by predictions of medical mayhem from her opponents in the House of Commons, Raitt's words translate roughly into: "Crisis? What crisis?" as she points to her "five-point plan" for handling this sort of isotope supply interruption.

This grand plan is actually a one-page ministerial statement that, among other modest moves, pledges to "ensure that Canada plays a leadership role in the planned discussions" in Paris over security of isotope supply.

She almost makes it sound as if other sources of isotopes or medical alternatives to Chalk River are an eBay order away and, to be fair, whispers say she will announce a long-term isotope supply contract on Thursday.

Still, it's all quite the contrast to the hyperkinetic Gary Lunn she replaced, who fired Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission chair Linda Keen in an early 2008 huff for refusing to kick-start the plant on his command because he was convinced the continued shutdown could spill blood on his political hands.

He whipped Parliament into a frenzy just 17 months ago and secured unanimous all-party approval to over-ride Keen's safety concerns in the public's interest and kick-start plant operations.

It wasn't just Lunn sounding the alarm.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper cautioned in 2007 that this particular reactor's shutdown would "jeopardize the health and safety and lives of tens of thousands of Canadians," yet he has yet to respond to the current crisis in the Commons.

Former health minister Tony Clement warned "every day counts in this situation. Two or three days works out to something like 210,000 procedures worldwide."

Yet the current health minister spent Tuesday banning flavoured tobacco product and discussing Gov.-Gen. Michaelle Jean's symbolic dining on a raw seat heart.

This oddly muted response confuses Keen, who returned to Parliament Hill for media interviews on Tuesday for the first time since her firing.

She rates this shutdown as much, much worse than the safety compliance concerns she raised over a pair of disconnected pumps.

With new spills being noted regularly and reluctantly released by the plant's Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. owners, Chalk River has become the most notorious leaky ship in Canada's nuclear power fleet.

That's why she's gobsmacked by missing signs of urgency in coping with a crisis the Canadian Medical Association predicts will soon impact 30,000 patients per week in Canada with another 400,000 patients in the United States cut off from precious isotopes.

As someone fired for being the catalyst of a medical crisis in 2007 only to witness an almost nonchalant government response to a far more dire situation brings a wry smile to her face. "The irony is complete."

It's not only the government shrugging off this ugly scenario. Despite experts calling it a ‘catastrophe in the making,' the Chalk River shutdown has rated just three questions in the House of Commons this week.

If the Conservative blueprint for coping with a sick nuclear plant that has immense global medical significance is a single sheet of paper, the politics of this issue will go radioactive and the public reaction will go nuclear even faster than the economic meltdown.

Leaks at a nuclear plant? What's the problem? Sure you'll glow in the dark, but just think of the money you'll save on batteries. Greg Weston also weighs in.

Minister's slip reveals deceit
By: Greg Weston
London Free Press
June 4, 2009

While Canada's broken-down medical isotope reactor is no longer producing a drop of anything of value to cancer patients, it is certainly generating ample political baloney from the Conservative government.

The 52-year-old Chalk River reactor that ordinarily produces up to half the world's supply of medical isotopes for cancer scans has been shut down indefinitely after it sprang a radioactive leak May 14.

Now the rusting relic is the subject of a different kind of leak -- an entire binder of sensitive government documents on the reactor and the federal agency that runs it, Atomic Energy of Canada.

The internal briefing notes for Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt were accidentally left behind at CTV's studios after a recent interview with her on the Chalk River mess and resulting medical isotope shortage.

When the network finally aired the lost-docs story, Raitt says she tendered her resignation to the prime minister, but he refused to accept it.

Instead, the axe dropped on Raitt's 26-year-old press secretary Jasmine Macdonnell, one of the brightest young lights on Parliament Hill.

As one insider said: "Someone had to take the fall."

The opposition parties, of course, wanted that somebody to be Raitt.

After all, they argued, Maxime Bernier was sacked from cabinet last year for leaving classified documents at his girlfriend's pad.

As Stephen Harper said back then: "Ministers are always responsible for the protection of classified documents. The minister (Bernier) admitted his mistake in this matter and resigned his post."

At a press conference yesterday, Harper said the difference between the two cases is "personal responsibility" -- Bernier lost documents all on his own, while Raitt could point a finger at staff.

Or not. More likely, Bernier was sacked from cabinet because his sexploits with former biker chick Julie Couillard had obscured his judgment and made him a political disaster waiting to happen. The lost documents were just the final excuse for an execution.

Raitt is exactly the opposite -- smart, experienced, politically astute, an excellent communicator, a female from seat-rich Ontario, and generally one of Harper's stronger assets in cabinet.

In short, she is worth taking a flak attack over lost documents.

Further proof this is a government that doesn't let the truth get in the way of public opinion is to be found in the contents of Raitt's lost briefing book.

For instance, taxpayers learn for the first time that the Harper government has pumped a staggering $1.7 billion into Atomic Energy just in the past three years -- most of it up in smoke if the Chalk River reactor remains beyond repair.

Even if the reactor had remained working, Raitt's briefing documents say Canadian taxpayers would have had to shell out $72 million this year to produce medical isotopes, 90% of which go to U.S. hospitals.

The documents openly admit the financial truth about Chalk River was deliberately hidden in the last federal budget.

But nowhere have Harper and his ministers been caught tripping over their outstretched noses more than in their handling of the growing medical isotope crisis caused by the Chalk River shutdown.

Sixteen months ago, the Harper government ordered the reactor restarted after a shutdown for safety reasons, saying cancer and heart patients would die without an immediate isotope supply.

At that time, the shutdown lasted four weeks and the world's other four isotope reactors were operating.

This time, the situation is far worse -- Chalk River is out of order indefinitely and two of the other reactors are also down.

Yet, Raitt testified at a Commons committee this week there is nothing to panic about. Either the Harper government lied to Canadians 16 months ago, or it is lying today. Either way, government deceit is a far bigger issue than lost documents.

Careless Lisa Raitt Passes the Buck

In her defense, Lisa Raitt is no more incompetent a Natural Resources minister than Gary Lunn, or more careless an MP than Maxime Bernier; though clearly they are not ringing endorsements.

In further proof that the Conservatives have no idea what they're doing, Raitt left behind a binder filled with sensitive documents after a CTV interview.

OK, she didn't leave them with a biker boyfriend, just the media! (Yikes) But we are talking about nuclear energy here ... stuff that goes boom in the night. How can we trust someone like Lisa Raitt to protect us when she can't even keep track of her own stuff?

Chalk River Crisis - Raitt must go: Opposition

Documents show government will have to spend millions more on isotopes-producing reactor than previously revealed
Jun 03, 2009
Joanna Smith

Toronto Star

Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA–Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt is shirking her ministerial duties by failing to resign after a binder full of sensitive documents was inadvertently left at an Ottawa television station, opposition MPs charge.

Raitt rose to her own defence in the Commons this afternoon, saying she offered her resignation to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which was not accepted.

However, Raitt says she did accept the resignation of her own press secretary whom she said was responsible for the documents related to Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (Sorry Lisa, but a staffer IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THOSE DOCUMENTS. YOU ARE!!!)

But that prompted outrage from opposition MPs, who accused the government of making the 26-year-old aide a scapegoat while Raitt, who represents the GTA riding of Halton, ducked her responsibility.

"When she blames her employee, it's despicable. What will the government do about this minister who will not assume responsibility," Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said.
Raitt called it a "serious matter.

"Clear procedures were not followed in this case. Corrective action has been taken," Raitt said.

"I offered to resign if the Prime Minister felt it necessary. He did not accept it. The person responsible for handling the documents offered their resignation. I did accept," she said.

That won her a standing ovation from the Conservative bench but howls of derision from the opposition.

Ignatieff mocked the government response, questioning whether other problems in the department such as the shutdown of the Chalk River nuclear reactor and resulting isotope shortage would also be blamed on the young aide.

"How are we supposed to believe such a fiction? When will this minister take her responsibility seriously?" he said.

But facing question after question, Raitt did not stray from her scripted lines.

CTV News reported documents concerning Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. were left behind at its Ottawa bureau last week.

The network said it waited six days without hearing from her office before breaking the news last night.

"Confidential documents were not handled properly as was clearly the case in this incident; however, it is also clear that this was not as a result of personal actions by the minister, rather proper procedures not being followed on the part of minister's staff," PMO communications director Kory Teneycke said on CBC Newsworld this afternoon.

A government official confirmed the aide was Jasmine MacDonnell, press secretary to Raitt.

MacDonnell also worked as press secretary to former natural resources minister Gary Lunn.

MacDonnell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

This is not the first time a Conservative cabinet minister has faced trouble over leaving sensitive documents behind.

Conservative MP Maxime Bernier (Beauce) resigned as foreign affairs minister in May 2008 after a former girlfriend with ties to Quebec biker gangs revealed he had forgotten some documents at her apartment.

Teneycke dismissed a suggestion that Harper was being more lenient with Raitt than he had been with Bernier.

"There is a clear difference between personal conduct of handling of documents versus those of others in the department or in the minister's office," Teneycke told CBC. (Huh? What is the difference and why was this responsibility left to a staffer?)

"It's taken very seriously by the government in every instance, but unlike a past experience our government had with this, this is not as a result of the minister's personal actions and so we do draw a distinction between personal handling of documents and that problem of procedures not being followed."

Bernier said today the decision to resign belongs to Raitt.

"I think she has good judgement. She must use her judgment like I did in my circumstance," he said. "I did what I had to do at my time. I assumed my own responsibility. She's going to do what she thinks is good for the country and for her."

CTV said the documents - some clearly marked "secret" - detailed government plans to spend more money on the troubled National Research Universal (NRU) reactor at Chalk River, Ont. than previously announced.

Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. expects the NRU to be out of service for at least three months after discovering a heavy-water leak May 15.

The shutdown is blamed for a looming shortage of medical isotopes crucial to diagnostic tests.

CTV reports that one document titled "Background for discussion with chair of Atomic Energy Canada" lists $72 million in funding for AECL to "maintain the option of isotope production", which was not mentioned in the 2009 budget tabled in January.

The documents also reportedly include a handwritten note listing total funding for AECL at $1.7 billion since 2006 and a memo describing the spending as "cleaning up a Liberal mess".
A federal government employee dropped by the station to pick up the documents today, CTV reports.

Liberal environment critic David McGuinty said Raitt should lose her cabinet post even if it turns out to be someone on her staff who is at fault.

"Ministerial responsibility is ministerial responsibility," McGuinty told reporters as he left the Liberal caucus meeting. "The test has been laid down by the prime minister. He says this is a grave offence. . . just a year ago. He has to decide now whether he wants to be consistent with his cabinet and the Canadian people."

New Democrat natural resources critic Nathan Cullen said a shutdown at Chalk River was the wrong time for this kind of thing to happen.

"It's an incredibly sensitive time, with the whole nuclear file in a mess," Cullen said in an interview.

Cullen said he was surprised by the $72-million figure because he had asked for that information before and had been told it was unavailable.

"The amount of money is just staggering," he said.

In the wake of Bernier's lost papers, an internal government investigation urged tighter controls over sensitive documents.

The probe by the foreign affairs department urged "control measures" to account for "all copies" of briefing books after finding that government policies were not followed.

"Each copy should be numbered, and a record maintained of the official to whom it was issued, against a signed receipt," the report said.

In Bernier's case, he carried background documents related to a NATO summit in the spring of 2008 to the conference in an unlocked briefcase and then left the papers at his girlfriend's house when he returned.

A department investigation later concluded that Bernier failed to follow guidelines for proper storage and transportation of classified information.

And it urged better training for staff in the office of the foreign affairs minister on how to safeguard sensitive information.

"It appears that security briefings to the Ministers' staff should emphasize the need to protect all classified-protected information. They should be made aware of the need to use security equipment such as locked containers to ensure its integrity while in transit," the report said.

CTV Inc. spokesperson Alexis Hood said the network would not comment on the story.
"
Our reporting speaks for itself," she said.

Raitt-gate rocks Tories

Minister avoids the axe while aide takes the fall for misplaced sensitive documents
Jun 04, 2009
Joanna Smith

Toronto Star

Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA–Jasmine MacDonnell stood outside a popular steak house a couple of blocks from Parliament Hill, having just learned she had made a huge error.

Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt, or one of her aides, had forgotten a binder full of sensitive government documents concerning Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. and the troubled Chalk River reactor at the CTV Ottawa bureau last week.

The network waited until Tuesday night, six days later, to break the story and the 26-year-old MacDonnell's phone started ringing about 15 minutes after it aired.

Those who saw her said she looked quite upset as she stood outside Hy's Steakhouse & Cocktail Bar, where she had been dining with Raitt and Mark Cameron, a senior adviser in the Prime Minister's Office.

MacDonnell was Raitt's press secretary. She was the aide who left those documents behind. She paid for it with her job. Her boss did not.

"This is a serious matter," Raitt said in the House of Commons yesterday, where opposition MPs called for her head. "Clear procedures were not followed in this case. Corrective action has been taken.

"I offered to resign if the Prime Minister felt it necessary and he did not accept it," she continued. "The person responsible for handling the documents offered a resignation, and I did accept it."

MacDonnell could not be reached for comment yesterday.

"I don't like people blaming 26-year-olds," Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said.

This is not the first time a Conservative cabinet minister has left sensitive documents lying around, and opposition critics were quick to point out how differently Prime Minister Stephen Harper dealt with the crisis this time around.

Conservative MP Maxime Bernier (Beauce) stepped down as foreign affairs minister in May 2008 when he learned his ex-girlfriend, Julie Couillard, who had already got him into trouble because of her ties to Quebec biker gangs, was about to reveal on television that he had left briefing notes at her apartment.

"This obviously is a warning to all ministers," Harper told reporters after announcing he had accepted the resignation, denying it had anything to do with Bernier's ties to Couillard.

A guide for ministers and ministers of state prepared last year says the prime minister holds cabinet members "personally accountable for the security of their staff and offices."

Opposition critics yesterday attacked Harper for sparing rising-star Raitt – and letting a junior staffer take the fall instead – despite the fact Raitt was involved in a similar mistake as Bernier.

"Ministers are always responsible for the security of classified documents," said Geoff Regan (Halifax West), Liberal critic for natural resources. "Who said that? None other than Prime Minister Stephen Harper. It's clear that the Prime Minister must follow his own rules here and hasn't done so."

New Democrat MP Thomas Mulcair (Outremont) said he could not find any "objective reasons" Harper should be more lenient with Raitt than he was with Bernier.

"Word for word in this corridor one year ago today he said that Maxime Bernier had to resign because he is personally responsible for those documents, no matter who left them, no matter what happened," Mulcair said.

In Quebec City, Harper said the difference was he did not believe the breach was the result of the minister's "personal action.''

Raitt, Harper said, "was undertaking employment activity, ministerial activity in the company of her staff who were responsible for these documents and certainly for accounting for these documents later.

"I think she had a reasonable expectation that that would be done."

After Bernier lost his papers, an internal investigation at the foreign affairs department urged tighter controls over sensitive documents.

"Each copy should be numbered, and a record maintained of the official to whom it was issued, against a signed receipt," the report said.

CTV said the documents – some clearly marked "secret" – detailed government plans to spend more money on the troubled National Research Universal reactor at Chalk River, Ont., than previously announced.

AECL expects the reactor to be out of service for at least three months after a heavy-water leak was discovered May 15. The shutdown is blamed for a looming shortage of medical isotopes crucial to diagnostic tests.

CTV reports that one document titled "Background for discussion with chair of Atomic Energy Canada" lists $72 million in funding for AECL to "maintain the option of isotope production," which was not mentioned in the 2009 budget tabled in January that included $351 million for AECL.

Other ministerial communications staffers on Parliament Hill – including one who described MacDonnell as "competent" with a "very sunny disposition" – said she left quietly yesterday.

They were not given any reminders about keeping track of sensitive papers at their morning meeting.

"We all know that's part of the job," one press secretary said.

Where the Isotope Story Began: A Tall Tale or Tail Between Their Legs

It's pretty clear that the Conservatives have no idea what they're doing when it comes to nuclear energy. That certainly doesn't help me to sleep at night and their latest debacle actually has me walking the floor.

On January 15, 2008, Conservative MP Gary Lunn, on the advice of Stephen Harper, fired Linda Keen, the head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission; for refusing to reopen the Chalk River nuclear facility; because of major safety concerns.

Then in February 2009, it was learned the government had hidden the news that there was a leak in the reactor, for two months, prompting allegations of a cover-up and suggestions that the public had been put at risk. Should we be concerned that nuclear waste is leaking into our waterways? Hmmm.

In fact, they have told us that the reason they pushed for Chalk River to remain open despite the fact that it had leaked 7,000 litres of potentially carcinogenic waste into a major Canadian waterway and the former head of CNSC, Linda Keen, said that it was an accident waiting to happen; was because we needed crucial isotopes.

Now we learn that chalk river will be closed for months. What's changed? Were they lying to us then or now and do they have a clue? Apparently not.

Isotope scramble: tale of two crises

Toronto Star

May 30, 2009

When the Chalk River nuclear research reactor was down for just three weeks in late 2007, it was considered such a crisis that emergency legislation was required to reopen it.
"
Had we not acted, people invariably would have died, since medical isotopes for serious cancer procedures were not available, and we could not let that happen," said Gary Lunn, then minister of natural resources, at the time. "We had to act, and we did."

Now, with the half-century-old reactor down for at least three months (some say much longer), there's no problem, according to the government's spokespersons.

Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt assured Parliament this week that the government is taking "great action" on the isotope file, "is seeking to ensure global supply" and "is working to manage the shortage."

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq also downplayed the seriousness of the looming shortage of medical isotopes sparked by the shutdown at Chalk River. "It's not a crisis," she told the Star yesterday.

How can that be? The Chalk River reactor produces half the North American supply of medical isotopes, which are used in a variety of diagnostic tests for cancer and heart ailments. Hospitals have already had to delay tests and switch to alternative methods in the face of this shortage.

The health minister can talk to hospitals about prioritizing tests, but that is no comfort to a patient with heart disease or a woman waiting to find out if her breast cancer has spread.

Stephen Harper's Conservative government is either dramatically underplaying the current medical isotope crisis or wildly overplayed the last one.

And this week's flurry of announcements, including the appointment of an expert review panel "to consider proposals for alternate sources of medical isotopes," has not reinforced our confidence that the government has a handle on the situation.

After the 2007 crisis, the government also appointed a panel of health specialists to study the matter and recommend ways to avoid a reoccurrence. The so-called "lessons learned" panel advised the government a year ago that it should "diversify generator supply sources, preferably within Canada." Specifically, it said that research reactors on university campuses across the country could be adapted to produce medical isotopes.

No apparent action was taken on that recommendation until yesterday, when the government announced funding for McMaster University to upgrade its research reactor to produce medical isotopes.

Bewilderingly, Industry Minister Tony Clement said the funding had nothing to do with Chalk River but was part of the government's "short-term stimulus" package.

The government has some explaining to do. Specifically, why did it take a second crisis to prompt the government to find a backup supplier of medical isotopes? That should have been a government priority long before now.

More of the story:

Source of Chalk River leak found

Radioactive Water; Reactor produces half of world's medical isotopes
David Akin,

Canwest News Service

May 28, 2009

Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) said yesterday it has found the source of the leak of radioactive water at the Chalk River nuclear reactor that produces nearly half of the world's medical isotopes and that it will force the reactor to stay shut down "for at least three months."

Since the reactor was shut down on May 15, the Crown corporation had stuck to its original estimate of down time of "at least a month."

Canwest News Service reported last week that current and former engineers at the Chalk River facility believe that, in the best-case scenario, the 52-year-old reactor will be offline for at least eight months, if it comes back online at all.

AECL said it had been working around the clock to identify the source of the leak of radioactive water from the giant 15-metre-tall aluminum vessel that houses the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor's core. Though the reactor was commissioned in 1957, the vessel was replaced in 1972.

Engineering sources told Canwest News Service that the manufacturer of that vessel recommended it be replaced every 15 years.

AECL said yesterday it found the leak at the base of the 37-year-old tank in a location where there is corrosion on the outside wall of the vessel. AECL said it also found additional corrosion points on the outer wall of the vessel that require more examination.

AECL has not yet proposed a remedy for the leaks. Instead, it must prepare more specialized test equipment to inspect the interior of the vessel, which is filled with a complex array of tubes and pipes.

"Sophisticated diagnostic procedures are required to determine the exact nature and extent of the repairs before returning the NRU reactor safely to service," said Bill Pilkington, AECL's chief nuclear officer.

The NRU is the source of medical isotopes used to treat and diagnose cancer and other diseases for 20 million patients in 80 countries each year.

"Until all investigations are completed, it is premature at this point to set a definitive timeline for the return to service of the NRU reactor," said AECL chief executive Hugh McDiarmid. "We want to reassure Canadians that every effort is being taken by our team of experts to address the situation as quickly as possible while adhering to all prescribed safety procedures."

AECL said that the water initially was leaking at a rate of about 120 kilograms each day. It now says that, because it has lowered the water level in the tank, it has reduced the leak rate to about 25 kilograms of water each day.

Some of that leaked radioactive water is evaporating and being vented. AECL said there are no threats to human safety or to the environment with the release of the vapour.

The rest of the water is being stored in specially designed drums until it can be processed and, where possible, reused at the facility.

Tracking the Isotope Story:

1. Note to Leona Aglukkaq. Stephen Harper Will Not Save you Now