Why Leona Aglukkaq Must be Defeated. Our Healthcare is too Important

In August of 2010, Leona Aglukkaq, blew off an important medical convention, choosing instead yet another photo-op with her boss. This prompted Andre Picard and the Canadian Medical Association to ask:

Does Canada still have a federal health minister? And, more important, does it have a government with the slightest interest in maintaining the national health-insurance program called medicare? For all practical purposes, the answer to both of those questions is a resounding “No.” Leona Aglukkaq, who holds the title of Minister of Health, was glaringly absent this week from the Canadian Medical Association gathering in Niagara Falls, Ont.

Like Gail Shea, Aglukkaq is far too compliant to the wishes of her boss, and we all know that Stephen Harper is determined to destroy our public healthcare system. He's been working for more than two decades to accomplish this goal, and another mandate, with MPs like Aglukkaq, will enable him to do just that.

She forgets that she works for us, not him, and that the majority of Canadians put healthcare on the top of their list of priorities.

Paul Okalik, Nunavut's first premier, and Leona's ex-boss, is challenging her for the seat. Let's hope he's successful.

There are some things that you don't play games with, and public healthcare is one of them.

Stephen Harper is Wrong. Our Health Care IS Sustainable

Just before Christmas, I read a posting on the American Christian Coalition website, applauding Canada for moving to end public healthcare. They were against Obama's healthcare plan, and cited the end of ours as reason for their not adopting his.

In August, our health (?) minister Leona Aglukkaq blew off an important meeting of the Canadian Medical Association, prompting Andre Picard to ask:

Does Canada still have a federal health minister? And, more important, does it have a government with the slightest interest in maintaining the national health-insurance program called medicare? For all practical purposes, the answer to both of those questions is a resounding “No.” Leona Aglukkaq, who holds the title of Minister of Health, was glaringly absent this week from the Canadian Medical Association gathering in Niagara Falls, Ont.

And Maxime Bernier, who would not have been allowed to speak without permission from his boss, is promising to put an end to federal health transfers, suggesting that provinces raise their own money for health services.

Make no mistake about it. This means eliminating the Canada Health Act, which guarantees all Canadians equal access to healthcare. You are treated based on the degree of your illness or injury, not the size of your wallet.

And with the Harper government claiming that our aging population means that the government can no longer provide free healthcare, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives disagrees. They say the reports that Harper is using, prepared by, you guessed it, the Fraser Institute; are misleading.

The OECD’s latest report on Canada’s economy emphasizes the challenge of rising healthcare costs. It contains several propositions, but only three have received media coverage and acclaim. These are that current trends are “unsustainable”, and that solutions lie in user fees and further privatization.

These three propositions are seriously flawed. First the report charts total healthcare costs, not just public expenditures, to make its unsustainable cost case. Including private with public costs greatly exaggerates the case. Secondly it attributes much of the challenge to an aging population. Research has found that this phenomenon adds only 1% annually to healthcare costs. Population aging is also estimated to peak around 2030. To propose radical changes to our system in response to a phenomenon which is both gradual and temporary is hardly justified. Finally, whatever the cost drivers, since 1997 provincial and federal governments between them have foregone close to $300 billion by way of corporate and income tax cuts. That’s a lot of healthcare. The OECD summarily dismisses any prospect of restoring some of the past tax cuts.

A recent poll asking what the most important concern of Canadians was, showed that 2/3 want public healthcare maintained and 54% said that they would pay more in taxes to support Canada's healthcare system.

But there is no reason to put the tax burden onto the public. Cancel the corporate tax cuts, the military hardware and the new prisons. It's a no-brainer.

Is Harper Using Leona Aglukkaq to Announce the End of Medicare?

Stephen Harper's MO, when it comes to announcing bad decisions, is to temporarily remove the muzzles from his ministers, letting them make the announcements, thereby allowing them to take the fall.

Only after the minister is completely backed into a corner, will he make a brief appearance and in six words or less, announce his position, usually quoting the intellectual Bart Simpson "I didn't do it".

So when his health minister Leona Aglukkaq refused to attend a key doctors’ conference, because she was busy having her picture taken with the "Big H", he allowed Diane Finley, wife of corporate lobbyist Doug Finley, to send a clear message. Stephen Harper has successfully scrapped the Canada Health Act, a career long goal, by simply never mentioning it again.

Andre Picard asks:

Does Canada still have a federal health minister? And, more important, does it have a government with the slightest interest in maintaining the national health-insurance program called medicare?

For all practical purposes, the answer to both of those questions is a resounding “No.” Leona Aglukkaq, who holds the title of Minister of Health, was glaringly absent this week from the Canadian Medical Association gathering in Niagara Falls, Ont.

Stephen Harper knows that if he makes the announcement that the policy he wrote for his party in 1987, does not include free health care and never will, he would be out on his butt quicker than you could say "Stephen Who"?

So instead he just avoids the topic and demands that his entire caucus avoids the topic.

Ms. Aglukkaq is an intelligent, thoughtful politician; she has a superb grasp of the health file, which she demonstrated as the health minister for Nunavut. But she is an abysmal federal health minister for the simple reason that she is a victim of political glossectomy performed by the hatchet men in the Prime Minister’s office.

... But the PMO’s decision to keep the minister away from the CMA general council is powerfully symbolic. It should send a shiver down the spine of everyone who cares about the future of health care.

Picard recalls Harper's famous line when he was with the National Citizens Coalition, the organization formed with the intent of dismantling our health care system: “It’s past time the feds scrapped the Canada Health Act.”

It would appear that they have done just that. And as usual, they are using religion to sell it to their base, while working to the benefit of private health providers who have been trying for decades to get their hands on our health care.

This was a key plank in this party's platform as far back as Ernest Manning, who detested Tommy Douglas and his "schemes", stating that "Giving to the individual societal benefits such as free medical care ... breeds idleness... causing a break down in his relationship with God ... where the state imposed a monopoly on a service ... the sinful philosophy of state collectivism scored a victory." (1)

And Preston followed in his father's footsteps:

It is worth remembering that Ernest Manning fought a fierce battle against the introduction of all national social programs, including medicare. In 1965, with Ottawa preparing to act on medicare, he declared: "To those who want to see a free society preserved in Canada, the proposed ... program is a direct challenge to individual liberty and responsibility." As an alternative to a state-run plan, he proposed that governments subsidize private insurance policies. Individuals, he noted, would be responsible for buying those policies — just as they are in the United States today.

The Reform Party's 1991 privatization policy [written by Preston's lieutenant Stephen Harper] shows equally clear marks of Preston Manning's deep devotion to trimming government and ending centralization. It states that all crown corporations should be placed where they can work best, and "We believe that there is overwhelming evidence that this would be the private sector in the vast majority of cases." The policy Blue Book calls for total privatization of Petro Canada [already done by Brian Mulroney] and Canada Post [being done by Stephen Harper], adding that "there should be no restrictions on private competition in the delivery of mail."

Preston Manning's political goals are very clear. He wants a society of widely dispersed power centres with most institutions and functions in private hands, safe from any collectivist conspiracy. He wants each individual to be free to find the Mannings' Christian God. Ideally, he would like each person to provide for the major part of his or her basic needs, including key social services and medicare. (2)

When Obama was trying to get his health care bill passed, a group founded by one of Harper's MPs, John Weston, pulled a dirty stunt to discredit our health care system. And when Harper was asked in the U.S. about our system, he said he knew very little about it. Right. As president of the NCC, he would have known that act from cover to cover.

Back in the day when Canada was a democracy (was it really 4 1/2 years ago? How time flies), the prime minister would have explained why he is ignoring this issue that is so important to all Canadians. And back when Canada was a democracy and had a media, they would have demanded answers. Instead the pm is in the North, engaged in another high priced photo-op.

Fascism is so much better than democracy, don't you think?

Sources:

1. Preston Manning and the Reform Party, By Murray Dobbin, Goodread Biographies/Formac Publishing, 1992, ISBN: 0-88780-161-7, Pg. 9

2. Storming Babylon: Preston Manning and the Rise of the Reform Party, By Sydney Sharpe & Don Braid, Key Porter, 1992, ISBN: 1550134124, Pg. 79

Stephen Harper and Leona Aglukkaq Get Smack Down at Aids Conference

I posted the other day on this government's horrendous performance in tackling Aids Harper and his gang believe that homosexuality is a sin, and therefore Aids is God's wrath.

Canada isn't doing enough to fight AIDS at home or around the world, the Canadian head of the International AIDS Society said Friday.

In his closing address to the International AIDS Conference in Vienna on Friday, conference chief Dr. Julio Montaner slammed Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.

"I would also like to have a special word of recognition to the prime minister of Canada, Mr. Stephen Harper … for demonstrating, yet again, their incredible ability to take credit where none is due."

Harper taking credit where none is due? Not our little Stevie.

The Harper Government Continues to Confuse us Over H1N1 Vaccine

The Harper spin machine has been working overtime to deflect attention away from their mishandling of the H1N1 crisis.

They have also consistently lied. We were told that everyone would be vaccinated, but now the message is that there is only enough vaccine for everyone if a great many Canadians ignore the advice of our government, and don't get the shot.

Is it any wonder we're confused?

Feds can't promise H1N1 shot for all Canadians by Christmas
Top health official also announces 36 serious reactions to vaccine
By Meagan Fitzpatrick,
Canwest News Service
November 17, 2009

OTTAWA — If every Canadian heeds the advice of public health officials to get the H1N1 shot, there will not be enough vaccine available by Christmas as the federal government has been promising, the chief public health officer acknowledged Tuesday.

Dr. David Butler-Jones and Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq have consistently said there will be enough vaccine for every Canadian who needs and wants it by Christmas, but "enough" doesn't mean sufficient supply to cover the entire population.

"We should have enough by the end of the year for close to certainly 60 to 75 per cent of the population," Butler-Jones said in an interview with Canwest News Service. "If 33 million wish to be immunized, then that may take us into January."

While the federal government has ordered more than enough vaccine for the entire population — 50.4 million doses — it is basically counting on thousands of Canadians ignoring their advice to be vaccinated when it says there will be enough for everyone by the end of December.

And we are far from being out of the woods yet:

H1N1's true toll not shown by death tally, picture may take months to come clear
By Helen Branswell

(Dr. Kumanan) Wilson is, however, seeing the destructive power of this strain of influenza.

"Nobody has seen a flu season like this on the ground level," he says. "If you talk to any frontline worker, they've never seen anything like this. And we keep getting told this is nothing."

"Emergs (emergency departments) are filled. All the children's hospitals are filled. Family docs I talk to say 'Oh my God, I've never seen so many flu cases."'

Wilson says it is "disingenuous" to criticize the response to this pandemic by comparing the low death toll to the substantially higher estimates of seasonal flu deaths. "I feel it under plays the significance of this."

Poll Reveals That Canadians Believe That the H1N1 Crisis Was Mishandled

An Angus Reid opinion poll yesterday showed that only 32% of Canadians believe that the federal government is handling the H1N1 crisis responsibly. That's less than their current level of support, so they might want to look at that number.

But this was more than just about the fact that they were too late in securing the vaccine. They also failed to properly inform the public, creating chaos where there shouldn't have been chaos.

There was not enough advertising, having blown the bank on self-promotion for an Action plan that appears to be longer on message than action.

This pandemic is far from over and in fact another strain is expected to hit about February, and there are many who may not receive the shots even in time for that.

But what is perhaps even worse than the incompetence, is the fact that they are constantly lying. How can a nation be comforted when they can't even believe what their government is telling them?

I think the Ref-Cons need to put their partisan nonsense aside for a few days and focus. Admit they screwed up, correct it and move on. The buck stops with them.

This H1N1 Crisis Could Have Been Handled Better. It's That Simple

I really like Leona Aglukkaq, our Health Minister. I think she is decent and hard working, but believe she may be over her head. And I say that in a nice way.

This past summer when the government should have been running extensive PR over H1N1, they were instead concerned with partisan pork-barreling, and the potential pandemic was put on the back burner. Now when there is a rising panic over getting vaccinated, social unrest is growing.

Mass confusion and uncertainly prevails, and I think it's up to this entire government to come out of their offices and start reassuring Canadians. We're constantly hearing of shortages, and that's creating a great deal of panic.

The adorable little kids in the video are exactly what we need. Ms Aglukkaq can't do this alone. She's new and she's been thrown into a ministry that has found itself involved in two distinct crises. The Isotope shortage and now H1N1.

Last week when Liberal Carol Bennett asked the health minister a question, the frat boys led by John Baird, started squealing like hyenas, treating the entire thing like a joke. To her credit Ms Aglukkaq answered the question clearly and seemed rather embarrassed by the conduct of some in her caucus.

We need PR that is reassuring. This government may have left it too late to order the vaccine, and now are having trouble getting enough; but simple little ads with sound advice would be far more helpful. When we hear MPs heckling and laughing over a matter this serious it does not give us much confidence that they have the ability to handle the crisis.

Temperatures rise as 'flu rage' explodes across Canada
By Misty Harris,
Canwest News Service
October 30, 2009

As much as flu fears have people pulling away, H1N1 is also uniting Canadians through emotion — specifically, a deeply entrenched sense of frustration that, for many, has mutated into bitterness, anger and even hostility.

Call it flu rage. Across the country, otherwise mild-mannered Canadians are finding themselves admonishing strangers for open sneezing, losing their cool with queue-jumpers at vaccination clinics, writing angry letters to government and media, and lashing out at friends whose H1N1 opinions differ from their own.

"Anger can cause us to be proactive . . . but it can also become destructive, which is what we see with flu rage," says psychologist Gordon Asmundson, a professor whose research at the University of Regina includes health anxiety.

"It's about a sense of uncertainty combined with the feeling of having no control over a situation. We tend to catastrophize when we're anxious." Tami Xanthakis, a proofreader from Montreal, can't remember the last time she was this worked up about something as "elementary" as a flu shot.

"What's fuelled my anger is feeling like I'm between a rock a hard place, not knowing what to do," says Xanthakis. "I feel like the government is pushing us to do this — like, 'Just be quiet and take it.' But I don't know enough to feel secure with the vaccine."

For others, such as Barbara Carlson of Dawson's Creek, B.C., it's media "hysteria" and Internet half-truths that make her bristle.

"This is the year 2009, and yet, people still believe in superstition and misinformation," says Carlson, a retiree. "Do you know how many e-mails I've gotten that told me I could prevent H1N1 by cutting up raw onions and putting them in water around my house? I finally replied,

'Hanging a dead rat around your neck will do just as much good.' The (sender) was quite miffed."

Dan Hoch, principal of an elementary school just outside Calgary, says emotions are running high among parents and teachers alike, primarily because of what he calls the "mind-boggling" deficit in vaccination sites.

"This is a life-and-death scenario . . . People are asking, 'How did the province not get it right?'" says Hoch. "What would it have taken to ask each school to give up their gymnasium for a day and vaccinate all the kids there — literally run them through the same way we do on picture day? It could easily have been done."

Resentment also looms large among Canadians that find themselves constantly worrying about infection, whether from open-sneezers at the gym or those who blithely bypass the sinks in public washrooms.

"I think about it all the time — more than ever before," admits J'Lyn Nye, a radio host from Edmonton who says she doesn't want to be "sheeple" by herding in for a vaccine she knows little about.

"I come in first thing every morning and wipe down all the studio equipment with Lysol. I love the guys I work with, but you never know where their hands have been."

Lindsay Harris, a Toronto-based mother of two, was so angry at the system Thursday that she posted a public rant titled "H1N1 stands for, 'I'm in hell'" on her blog, glowbabyfamily.blogspot.com.

"Who was the brilliant thinker behind only having 10 flu clinics for a population of 2 million?" asks Harris, whose husband was turned away from the vaccine line just 90 minutes after the clinic doors opened, because of short supplies.

"I even called around to see if anyone had heard of a black-market vaccination clinic. Now there's a thought."

Black markets will not be a good idea because you don't know if it's the vaccine you're even getting. The government should have handled this better, but it's not too late.

Conservative Government Sends Body Bags to First Nation to Deal With Swine Flu

In one of the most horrendous acts, the Conservative government, after promising help to First Nations; the ones most vulnerable to the H1N1 virus; has chosen to send body bags.

This government has done so many insensitive and horrible things, but this one is low even for them. To say that something is too low for a Conservative, is saying a mouthful. Can you imagine telling your doctor you're worried about getting sick and he sends you a body bag? Unbelievable.

Chiefs furious after body bags sent to reserves
September 16, 2009 9:18 PM ET
CTV News Staff

Opposition critics and First Nations leaders are slamming the government after Health Canada shipped dozens of body bags to aboriginal communities in Manitoba that have been hit hard by swine flu.

Chiefs said the body bags were sent to a handful of northern communities where dozens had to be airlifted earlier this year.

"If this is preparedness, they're sending the wrong message to our communities. Who would do such a thing?" Grand Chief David Harper, representing Manitoba's northern First Nations, asked Wednesday.

"It's like sending body bags to Afghanistan for our soldiers. We've been asking for proper health institutions, proper health equipment. Instead, what do we get? Body bags. That's totally unacceptable."

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said at a flu briefing in Ottawa Wednesday that she too was disturbed by the move.

"I have ordered my deputy minister to conduct a thorough and immediate inquiry into the situation and I will continue to work with First Nations, provinces and territories to ensure all Canadians are informed and protected against H1N1," she said.

Aglukkaq said she only found out about the body bag shipments during the press conference and could not answer any more questions.

David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer, called the body bags "unnecessary."
Opposition critics immediately slammed the move, saying it shows the government is unprepared in its flu response.

"This is an absolute disgrace. This is morally appalling," Liberal health critic Dr. Carolyn Bennett said in a news release. "Instead of flu-kits, instead of preparing and planning to get the vaccine on time - instead of planning to save lives - they spent their time planning on how to deal with the deaths."

Bennett is among the many critics who have expressed frustration with the government's slow response to help northern aboriginal communities deal with the H1N1 pandemic.

New Democrat MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis said she was angry that Health Canada refused to send hand sanitizer to reserves but is now sending body bags.

She said the move gives a poor impression about how Canada is preparing to deal swine flu if there is a larger outbreak.

More Postings on H1N1:

1. This H1N1 Crisis Could Have Been Handled Better. It's That Simple

2. Did You Ever Wonder What Stephen Harper's Private Health Care Plan Might Look Like?

3. Reform Conservatives Laugh and Heckle Over H1N1

4. Harper's Neo-Conservatism Is Turning Deadly. When Will we Wake Up?

5. Latest Deaths Reveal That 'Exaggeration' over H1N1 Has Been Proven to Be False

6. Poll Reveals That Canadians Believe That the H1N1 Crisis Was Mishandled

7. Panic by Canadians Caused by Incompetent Government

8. Did you Ever Wonder Just How Inhumane the Harper Government Was?

9. Reform Conservatives Are Still Not Taking H1N1 Seriously

10. The Harper Government Continues to Confuse us Over H1N1 Vaccine

Lisa Raitt Thinks Isotope Shortage is Sexy. Is She Kidding Me?

Though Lisa Raitt's former assistant tried to prevent more than 5 hours of audio taped conversation between herself and Lisa Raitt from being published, a judge disagreed and we may know how our Natural Resources minister really feels.

Apparently on the tape she disses many of her colleagues including Stephen Harper and health minister Leona Aglukkaq.

One comment I found particularly disturbing was when Ms Raitt refers to the Isotope shortage as sexy. What the hell?

Since when can a health crisis be considered sexy? She would have loved the plague.

Raitt criticizes Aglukkaq in tape made public by judge
Tape also recorded Raitt discussing her desire to receive credit for dealing with the 'sexy' medical isotope issue
Jun 08, 2009
The Canadian Press

OTTAWA – Federal Conservatives hoping they had doused a raging political fire involving Lisa Raitt were rocked today by allegations that the natural resources minister was recorded while pouring scorn on a cabinet colleague.

Raitt's woes were compounded when New Democrats reignited a controversy over tens of thousands of dollars in questionable expenses the rookie minister racked up while as a senior executive with the Toronto Port Authority.

But in a case initially shrouded in secrecy, a former senior aide went to court in Nova Scotia to block a Halifax newspaper from publishing the contents of a tape recording which the Liberal opposition said contained "disparaging remarks" about Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.

Justice Gerald Moir of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court dismissed Jasmine MacDonnell's application on Monday evening and revealed details of what is on the recording.

"In the recording minister Raitt and Ms. MacDonnell discuss in a critical manner the political skills of the federal health minister, the honourable Leona Aglukkaq, on the handling of the medical isotope issue. She also discussed her desire to receive credit for dealing with the medical isotope issue and expresses the view it is a sexy issue," he said in his judgment.

"They also discussed pressure placed on Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff by major businesses to refrain from defeating the Conservative government."

In court, Michelle Awad, MacDonnell's lawyer, said the conversation was private and was accidentally taped during a drive in British Columbia in January.

"The conversations were always meant to be private, they were private, they were recorded completely unintentionally," she said.

"Neither Ms. MacDonnell nor the minister knew the conversations was being recorded. ... It (tape recorder) was turned on inadvertently in the bag she was travelling with."

Moir, who told the court the recording is five hours and 16 minutes long, said it should be public.

"It is wrong to deprive the press, and the public it serves, of remarks made privately but not confidentially in the sense of trade secrets," he said.

MacDonnell quit last week over another gaffe involving sensitive documents.

The former communications director for Raitt apparently mislaid her tape recorder following an interview with the newspaper's lone Ottawa reporter. The device recorded a private conversation with Raitt. The recorder ended up on the desk of Chronicle-Herald reporter Steve Maher.

The Prime Minister's Office gave every indication Monday night that the natural resources minister would stay on .

"While this issue may be embarrassing, in no way does it affect the minister's ability to do her job," spokesman Dimitri Soudas said.

A spokesman for the minister said late Monday she did not offer to resign, nor was she asked to. Although he conceded he hadn't heard the tape himself, Liberal MP David McGuinty earlier told the House of Commons that Raitt reportedly described Aglukkaq as "not very competent."

In the Commons earlier today the Liberals and NDP relied on media reports about the story the Chronicle-Herald was fighting to publish, suggesting it is even more damaging to Raitt's career than last week's revelations her aide left ministerial briefing documents marked "secret" at CTV's Ottawa office.

Liberal critic David McGuinty and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff pegged Raitt as too preoccupied with her own future to focus on the looming shortage of medical isotopes, critical to heart and cancer diagnostic tests.

"It is clear we are in a national health care crisis with a minister who is badly distracted," Ignatieff told the Commons.

"We have a minister who is trying to recover lost binders, trying to explain incriminating tapes and thousands of Canadians are desperately waiting for medical treatments. This is a fiasco."

In the Commons, McGuinty went further.

"Unless these allegations prove to be false, it is clear that the minister has absolutely no confidence in her colleague's ability to handle what is now a full-fledged health care crisis," said McGuinty.

Nicholson tersely responded that the matter was currently before the courts, and "the minister is not a party to that proceeding and the Government of Canada is not involved."

A call to MacDonnell's Halifax family home was not returned.

Nevertheless, some Conservatives were privately expressing concern about whether the tape was so damning that Raitt would be forced to step aside.

Indeed, outside the Commons, McGuinty suggested the whole affair raises questions about Prime Minister Stephen Harper's judgment.

"The Canadian people have a right to know whether that acrimony exists at cabinet," said McGuinty.

"My judgement is this. The minister is now embroiled in controversy. She can't do her job. She allegedly is not expressing confidence in her colleague, the minister of health. She is not dealing with the crisis that we have in front of us.

And worse, she's covering up the fact that there are no sufficient supplies of medical isotopes to come in from either Belgium, the Netherlands or Australia."

McGuinty also said that even if additional supplies were available to the international marketplace, Canadian hospitals would be shut out because "the Americans will pay much more."

"We're already seeing now early evidence of a bidding war going on between nuclear medicine outlets across Canadian hospitals," he said.

Asked if the Liberal party would propose a vote of non-confidence in the government as a result, McGuinty would only say, "That's a much larger question that we'll deal with in due course."

Harper was not in the Commons today as Raitt and Aglukkaq rose to their feet repeatedly to defend the government's handling of the crisis.

In the Commons, Raitt assured her critics that other nations are working to boost their production.

Aglukkaq addressed Liberal questions regarding the impact on patients.

"Many tests can be completed using other options," said Aglukkaq, who told the Commons she is working with experts and provincial and territorial ministers to deal with the looming shortage.

The NDP demanded to know who is bankrolling the motion in court to "attempt to muzzle the press" said NDP deputy leader Thomas Mulcair, but his question was met with the same answer by the justice minister, that the government was not involved.

Outside the Commons, Mulcair told journalists that "given the extent to which everything in this file shows that the government is willing to go to extraordinary lengths to protect Minister Raitt, the question is what's involved here?"

"We, the public have the right to know. Journalists should not be muzzled by the government directly or through their intermediaries, whether it's their political party or another third party."

Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett told the Commons that as of today the Ottawa Hospital "will be out of isotopes" and demanded to know whether the federal government would reimburse hospitals for the increased cost of obtaining new supplies. Aglukkaq said only that the government does not regulate the price of pharmaceuticals, including isotopes.

Will Jasmine MacDonnell Get the Last Laugh?

Last week when Natural Resources Minster Lisa Raitt allowed her assistant to take the fall for her carelessness, I thought it was about as low as you could get.

It's not that it was the first time that Ms Raitt screwed up, so her fall from grace was a very short fall indeed.

Now the assistant who lost her job may get the last laugh, as she would like to make public, tapes of Lisa badmouthing her colleague, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.

Whether the tapes are allowed to be made public or not, the damage has been done and it's clear that Lisa Raitt is not capable of doing her job. Harper must fire her.

Rather ironic after his juvenile comment about all the tapes he has on Michael Ignatiff (many from decades ago).


Ruling expected on bid to scuttle potentially embarrassing story for Raitt
By David Akin,
Canwest News Service
June 8, 2009

OTTAWA — A Halifax judge is expected to rule Monday evening on a request by a former senior aide to Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt to spike a story that could be devastating to the political career of her former boss.

Canwest News Service has learned that the Halifax Chronicle Herald was prepared to report Friday on the contents of an audio tape, recorded in late January or early February, in which Raitt makes disparaging comments about Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.

Canwest News Service has also learned that senior officials in the Prime Minister's Office were briefed on the contents of the tape last week.

"It's all bad," said one government source with knowledge of the contents of the tape.

"We have learned that the natural resources minister was taped while making unflattering remarks about her colleague, the health minister, whom she described as being not very competent," said Liberal MP David McGuinty. "Unless these allegations prove to be false, it is clear that (Raitt) has absolutely no confidence in her colleague's ability to handle what is now a full-fledged health-care crisis."

Raitt did not reference the tapes in any of her answers in the House of Commons.

The person who made the recording, according to government sources speaking on condition of anonymity, is Jasmine MacDonnell, Raitt's former director of communications. MacDonnell, who was in the courtroom Monday but did not speak to reporters, resigned last week after a binder containing about 150 pages of government documents marked "Secret" was left at an Ottawa television studio.

The sources believe MacDonnell accidentally recorded herself and Raitt candidly assessing the capabilities and qualities of other cabinet ministers, including the prime minister. MacDonnell then left the tape recorder behind, and it eventually ended up on the Parliament Hill desk of the Chronicle Herald's Ottawa bureau chief, Stephen Maher.

"It is clear we are in a national health-care crisis with a minister who is badly distracted," Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said in the House of Commons Monday. "We have a minister who is trying to recover lost binders, trying to explain incriminating tapes, and thousands of Canadians are desperately waiting for medical treatments. This is a fiasco."

All the court documents, including the name of the person seeking the court injunction and a detailed description of the content of the tapes, remain sealed. The judge ordered a temporary ban on the publication of the hearing Monday that began at 2 p.m. local time in a Halifax courtroom. The judge was expected to rule on the permanence of that ban later in the evening.

Dimitri Soudas, press secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said no government department is involved in the hearing in Nova Scotia on Monday afternoon. Soudas said he had no knowledge of the matter. Steve Outhouse, who has replaced MacDonnell as Raitt's director of communications, also said his office is not involved in the matter.

Ryan Sparrow, a spokesman for the Conservative Party of Canada, said the party has no connection to the matter.

Neither Maher nor any of the paper's editors were able to discuss the matter.

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

I really want to like Leona Aglukkaq, and in fact I do. When she was named the Minister of Health on October 30, 2008, she became the first Inuk in Canadian to hold a cabinet position in the federal government.

She is young, bright and clear headed. During the Swine Flu outbreak, she remained calm and cool, and handled herself extremely well.

In fact even the Liberal health critic, Keith Martin, said that Aglukkaq was doing a "terrific job," and he especially liked how she phoned all opposition critics to build consensus on the swine flu issue.

However, this new crisis could get her sucked into a negative response on the isotope shortage, being orchestrated by Lisa Raitt and Stephen Harper. Her name is now appearing in the press on most stories dealing with the situation, and critics are no longer kind to this "rookie" MP.

This is a shame. The Tories finally have a true rising star, but instead are throwing in their lot with a woman who has already proven that she can't be trusted.

Whether Ms Aglukkaq can come out of this unscathed, is anyone's guess, but her boss sure isn't coming to her rescue. Will she be as expendible as Jasmine Macdonnell? I sure hope not.

Two weeks ago:

'Patients will suffer' from Chalk River shutdown: medical imaging industry
4 out of 5 medical isotope reactors in the world currently out of service
May 19, 2009

CBC News

Patients in North America will face delays in medical treatment as a result of the month-long shutdown of an Ontario nuclear reactor that supplies medical isotopes, says a spokesman for the medical imaging industry. The shutdown is occurring at a time when three out of four other reactors in the world that produce the isotopes are also off-line.
"Lots of diagnostic examinations will not be able to be done during the next week," Jean-Pierre Cabocel, general manager of the Association of Imaging Producers and Equipment Suppliers, said on Tuesday.

Treatments that rely on diagnosis through imaging will not go ahead, he added.

"Patients will suffer."

Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) announced Monday that its Chalk River reactor, located about 185 kilometres northwest of Ottawa, will remain out of service for more than a month due to a leak at the base of the reactor vessel.

The agency noticed the heavy water leak on Friday, a day after the reactor was shut down due to a power outage in eastern Ontario and western Quebec. The leak, which also released a small amount of radioactive tritium, was traced to a corroded outer wall of the reactor vessel.

Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt said in a statement Tuesday that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission assured her the heavy water leak poses no health and safety risk "and that AECL's actions are in keeping with a strong safety culture."

Due to the shutdown, AECL said it will be unable to meet its production requirements for medical isotopes starting this coming Saturday.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said in a statement that the federal government has been talking to the provinces and health-care providers and encouraging them to maximize the supply of medical isotopes available through measures such as modifying patient scheduling and triaging.

Isotopes have short shelf life so this was very good advice from the health minister.

MEDICAL ISOTOPES: Reactor closed indefinite period
Greg Weston

Sun Media

National Affairs Column
May 28, 2009

OTTAWA -- Canada's only medical isotope reactor will be out of service for the rest of the year and possibly forever, leaving thousands of desperate cancer and heart patients across the country with a shortage of nuclear scans and treatments.

Of the remaining two, the one in South Africa is a relatively small producer, while the Dutch reactor that supplies 30% of the world market is being taken out of service for maintenance in July. Federal officials confirmed yesterday they've been unable to secure an alternative supply.

Isotope distributors are warning of shortages even in Alberta and other areas of the West supplied by the Dutch reactor still in operation. A five-week shutdown of the Chalk River facility in 2007 for safety reasons prompted the Conservative government to order it back into service, claiming cancer and heart patients would have died without immediate access to nuclear scans and treatments.

This time, the situation is far more dire, yet federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq has been all but silent on the crisis.

Patients put at risk
By Greg Weston

Sun Media

May 31, 2009

Federal health minister Aglukkaq, for one, has been all but invisible, presumably so she won't have to explain how little her government has done to prepare for another isotope crisis since the last one in 2007.

Health minister silent as isotope crisis deepens

It was the early morning hours of May 15 when the alarm systems at the 52-year-old Chalk River nuclear reactor began signalling a possible radioactive leak.

In an internal memo that afternoon, officials at the Ontario facility said they anticipated no lasting disruption in the reactor's production of critical medical isotopes used in cancer treatments and diagnostic scans.

That would quickly change.

At 8:13 p. m. on May 18, the federal agency that operates the reactor, Atomic Energy of Canada, issued an urgent advisory to federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and other high-ranking government officials.

"Given the high probability of the current outage continuing for more than a month, the threat to isotope production is set at the highest level, Red."

Before the leak, an estimated 4,000 Canadian cancer and heart patients a day were relying on the Chalk River isotopes for radioactive scans and treatments.

Without it, Canadian hospitals and clinics are expected to be down to a fraction of their normal isotope supply this week.

The result is what nuclear medicine specialists are calling a health "catastrophe."

The Chalk River reactor is now expected to be out of commission for the rest of this year, if not forever.

That makes the current situation a far worse health disaster than the 2007 shutdown the same Conservative government called a "national and international medical crisis."

In that case, the government went to the extreme of firing the country's nuclear regulator, Linda Keen, after she ordered the Chalk River reactor shut down for a matter of weeks for safety reasons.

After legislating the reactor back into service for isotope production, Gary Lunn, who was natural resources minister at the time, told a Commons committee: "If we had not acted, people would have died."

If anyone in government is worried about cancer and heart patients dying this time, you'd never know it.

On the contrary, Stephen Harper's government has been doing everything possible to mask the growing health emergency.

Federal health minister Aglukkaq, for one, has been all but invisible, presumably so she won't have to explain how little her government has done to prepare for another isotope crisis since the last one in 2007.

Chalk River is the largest of only five isotope reactors in the world, all of which are more than 40 years old and in regular need of repair.

One might have thought that after the scare two years ago, the Harper government would have ensured back-up supply agreements with other producers in Europe and Africa.

Instead, senior officials tell us the government "completely dropped the ball."

Almost a week after the latest reactor shutdown started, we asked Aglukkaq's office what the minister and her federal health department had done to address the current crisis.

As a reply, we received a memo from another minister stating that Aglukkaq "spoke with her counterpart in the U. S. to communicate the urgency of the situation to our neighbours to the south."

Since the U. S. has no isotope production of its own, the shutdown of our leaky Canadian reactor has curtailed about half of all nuclear scans in America.

It was indeed an urgent message for the U. S., but zero help to cancer patients in this country.

As Canadian hospitals were bracing for the looming disaster last week, Aglukkaq was finally in the news -- cheering the Governor General's controversial snack of raw seal's heart.
It's not all the health minister's fault she is being largely decorative.

Like everything in Harper's administration, the isotope crisis and all government communications about it are being managed by the prime minister's spin machine.

The strategy is clear: Keep the media and public attention focused on the woes at Atomic Energy and its leaky reactor, and away from the far more politically damaging health consequences of the resulting isotope shortage.

All media questions are directed to Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt who is responsible for Atomic Energy, while Aglukkaq and officials at Health Canada are effectively gagged.

As part of the smokescreen, Raitt held a press conference last week to announce the planned privatization of Atomic Energy.

The timing of the For Sale sign on the federal nuclear agency in the midst of the medical isotope crisis, of course, was not at all coincidental.

If you can't stand the heat, sell the kitchen.

A press release issued at Raitt's sideshow quotes health minister Aglukkaq -- not in attendance, of course -- acknowledging "the hard work of health professionals, and provincial and territorial governments across Canada who are on the front lines of the current isotope shortage."

Thankfully, someone is.