Raitt Apologizes

Choking back tears, Lisa Raitt called a press conference to finally apologize for her incredibly insensitive use of the word "sexy" to describe the medical isotope crisis - citing as proof of her new-found sincerity the plight of her father and a brother who had been afflicted with cancer.

Too little. Too late.

Her display of defensive defiance during Tuesday's Question Period and accusations of "conspiracy theories" against opposition members who dared to challenge her showed that her first instinct was to protect her job - a stark contrast to today's public act of contrition. (Last week, she cried sexism when confronted by an NDP MP's question over the secret nuclear documents she had left at CTV.)

So the public is left to decide: who is the real Lisa Raitt?

I think they've already made that determination and that this PR effort to rehab her image will be seen as what she was accused of in the first place: more crass political opportunism. Crocodile tears.

Meanwhile, and on a more important front, what has she actually done to manage this isotope crisis besides trying to save her hide? That is the question.

Related:

CBC has Raitt's statement.

CTV has the video.

 

Raitt on Tape

In the vast realm of what can be defined as having sex appeal, the topic of a radioactive isotopes crisis doesn't even make a faint blip on the radar screen - unless you're a self-serving, spotlight-seeking politician:

Roll the audiotape:

Ms. MacDonnell said the isotope issue is hard to control, "because it’s confusing to a lot of people."

"But it’s sexy," says Ms. Raitt. "Radioactive leaks. Cancer."

"Nuclear contamination," says Ms. MacDonnell.

"But it’s only about money," says Ms. Raitt.

An "unfortunate choice of wording" said PM spokespuppet Kory Teneycke this morning. "I don't think anybody would use a word like that to describe it in public. This was a private conversation," he continued.

No, Kory, nobody would use that word in public because it shows callous disregard for cancer patients and others who were suddenly faced with extended waiting periods for diagnostic medical tests as a result of the isotope shortage.

And nobody, Mr Teneycke, would dare say in public that "it's only about money" because they know that their fake, feigned, public displays of so-called compassion would then be seen for exactly what they were: shallow political opportunism.

On January 27, 2009, 3 days before this taped conversation, Lisa Raitt exclaimed publicly, "The health and safety of Canadians is always at the foremost of our concern," she said.

Now we know what a huge lie that was.


Related:

Baird covered up for beleaguered Lisa Raitt: NDP

Small hospitals to run out of isotopes this week
 

Should Raitt lose her job?

Yes. Not only because she is responsible for leaving secret government documents about Canada's nuclear policies at CTV's offices (the buck is supposed to stop with her - not an "aide") but because of the information contained in those papers that she has been covering up:

The documents reveal Ottawa has poured far more money into the aging Chalk River nuclear reactor than the public has been told.

...

In documents headlined "Background for discussion with chair of Atomic Energy Canada," the government lists funding for the Crown corporation at $351 million for 2009-2010. That figure was in the January budget.

However, it also lists $72 million to "maintain the option of isotope production." The public 2009 budget does not specifically mention funding for isotopes.

The documents also include a hand-written note that lists total funding for Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd. since 2006 at $1.7 billion, and then a talking-point memo to characterize the spending as "cleaning up a Liberal mess."

...

Publicly, Ottawa has downplayed Ontario's interest in the sale of AECL's Candu division. But included in the binder is background information for a May 25 meeting with Glenna Carr, who chairs the board of directors for AECL: "The government continues to support AECL's bid in Ontario, but the announcement will probably raise questions about this support. We will have to manage this very carefully."

Other documents highlight cost increases for AECL that have not been made public. In one document headlined "Discussion with CEO Hugh MacDiarmid, CEO of Atomic Energy Canada," it lists $100 million in supplementary funding to keep it solvent.

That figure includes cost increases to refurbishing Ontario's Bruce Power reactors and cost-overruns at Candu reactors around the world, according to the documents.

And in papers headlined "Minister Raitt's Discussion with Ontario Minister of Energy George Smitherman," it appears that AECL is far behind schedule on refurbishing two of the Bruce reactors: "Bruce 1 reactor 324 days late," and "Bruce 2 reactor 433 days late."

Sidebar: Good thing the docs were left in a CTV office. If they'd been discovered at the CBC, the Cons would be claiming this affair was some sort of left-wing conspiracy to bring the government down and to expose Canada's nuclear secrets to terrorists (or something equally as stupid).

And, in other leaky nuclear news, US government posts sensitive list of nuclear sites online. Reaction from the gov't: nothing to see here...no big deal... but, of course, it was immediately removed from the site where it had been posted to make sure there was nothing to see there.

Update!

Raitt, who was acting supine and contrite during Question Period while continually repeating her prepared talking points (I offered my resignation; the aide resigned; move along now) actually cried sexism in response to a question by the NDP's Thomas Mulcair. Whoa there, Lisa. Don't even try to pull that canard. Feeling that desperate, are you?
 

Conservatives Behaving Badly

A roundup - because they're just behaving so badly this week.

First up: Tories threaten election over crime bill. Nothing like trying to bully your way into an election and blaming the senate for it at the same time. The Liberals are reportedly poised to bring down the government over the budget instead of being conned by Harper's "cute trick" (as Ralph Goodale put it to CBC's Don Newman) of doing the government's bidding on the crime bill.

Now, let's see if I can figure out what the Harper gov't is up to re: the Afghanistan war.

- Harper says he wants 1,000 more troops in Kandahar and has called for a debate on the fate of the mission in late March - after the budget (when the gov't might fall) and after the March 1 deadline he's given the senate to pass the crime bill, or else, and before the NATO meeting in April.

- When asked in parliament yesterday why he has dragged his feet, this was his response:

Mr. Michael Ignatieff (Etobicoke—Lakeshore, Lib.):

Mr. Speaker, for two years, there has been mounting criticism of the Prime Minister's failure to lead in Afghanistan.

This week we learned the Prime Minister has finally, at the eleventh hour, begun to call NATO countries to ask for much needed assistance for our troops. He should have made those calls last year, and we said so.

Why did it take a year, with the deadline fast approaching, for the Prime Minister to realize the urgency of the situation and take responsibility—


Right Hon. Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, during the last two years, while the Liberal Party completely reversed itself and decided we should suddenly pull out of Afghanistan, the government was working with our allies to strengthen that mission.

We have seen important contributions from many countries, including an additional contribution from Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States. These contributions are very important.

We will continue to press for additional contributions from NATO because we think those are important. However, we do not think there is cause, if NATO is willing to give us what we need, to abandon our commitments to the Afghan people.

In other words, don't blame me. Who needed phone calls? It's not like I'm the prime minister or anything...

Remember when Harper promised to govern with "transparency, honesty, and accountability"?

Right.

Anyway, if an election is forced before the Afghanistan war debate or as a matter of non-confidence over that motion, the Harperites can then ride into their campaign proclaiming that the opposition parties chose to abandon Afghanistan. They're far too predictable. At the same time, of course, that would let Harper off the hook (he thinks) for not dealing with the deadline to our commitment next February. In the meantime, the fate of Canada's soldiers in Afghanistan will stall while he plays more political games. How does that even begin to make sense to him or his party - except for the fact that, as several Liberal MPs repeated in question period on Wednesday, they are "vindictive, dishonest and incompetent"?

No kidding.

Next: John Baird (bully extraordinaire) will be investigate by a commons committee over allegations of political interference in Ottawa's election. He will no doubt use the excuse "The Liberals made me do it" to defend himself.

News on the isotope front: A rep of MDS Nordion (which came under attack in the CMA earlier this week testified to a commons committee investigating the Chalk River isotopes fiasco, that natural resources minister Gary Lunn was informed of the urgency of the situation 12 days before Lunn has publicly admitted he knew what was going on. (no link on that yet)

The Mulroney/Schreiber affair: Mulroney either a) had really clueless advisors or b) has people who have no qualms about lying for him.

The only time between the spring of 2000 and February 2008 that Lavoie said he ever brought up the payments with Mulroney was in a phone call the evening before Mulroney testified before the committee.

Lavoie served as assistant chief of staff to Mulroney during his time in office and was later hired as his public relations consultant.

He suddenly stepped down as Mulroney's spokesman in late November after years in the post, saying he was too busy with his job as vice-president of media giant Quebecor Inc.

C'mon...

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Schreiber accused Mulroney of lying to the committee when he testified:

The German-Canadian arms dealer says he paid the former prime minister to lobby the Canadian government, not foreign governments as Mulroney told the ethics committee in December.

The difference is critical because it would be improper for an MP to accept money to lobby the government while in office.
[...]
Mulroney explained that he didn't declare the money on his taxes for six years because he spent it all on travel to places like Russia, France, and China while working for Schreiber.

But Schreiber said that's impossible. He said strict rules on arms exports in Canada and Germany would have made it illegal to ship to what he described as "communist" countries like China and Russia.

Thus ends this episode of conservatives behaving badly.
 

Conservatives Behaving Badly: Gary Lunn

In a literal 11th hour move, Natural Resources minister poodle, Gary Lunn, decided last nite to launch a pre-emptive strike against the Nuclear Safety Commission's president Linda Keen by firing her in the dead of nite - just in time for today's hearings on the Chalk River reactor radioisotopes affair.

Lunn was on the hot seat as he appeared before a Commons committee this morning to explain his government’s handling of the isotope crisis last fall, caused by the shutdown of the Chalk River nuclear reactor.

Liberal MP Omar Alghabra charged that Lunn stepped over the line in his dealings with the arm’s-length, quasi-judicial commission, culminating in the government’s decision late Tuesday night to dump Keen as its president.

But Lunn said that Keen had ignored the growing health crisis caused by the shortage of medically vital isotopes as the shutdown dragged on.

Keen also failed to act on the government’s repeated demands that the commission take the health consequences into account, and did not take steps that would allow the aging reactor to resume production, Lunn told the committee.

“There was a serious issue. Lives were at stake,” Lunn said.

He refused to take responsibility for his part in all of this, of course.

Keen refused to testify at today's hearing. Although she's lost her job as the head of the commission, Lunn decided she should stay on as a member. How very generous of him.

More, via the CBC:

Another Liberal MP, Lloyd St. Armand, questioned whether Lunn had gone against the government's code of conduct by making two phone calls to Keen about the situation.

The code states that ministers should not intervene or appear to intervene in quasi-judicial tribunals on issues requiring a decision.

Lunn responded that the calls were to obtain information from Keen, as is "completely appropriate" for any minister.

Liberal MP David McGuinty accused the Conservatives of U.S. Republican-style tactics by dismissing Keen in the "dark of night," just hours before she was due to testify before the Commons committee.

"These are the kind of Republican tactics this town has never seen before, that are new to Canadians," McGuinty told the committee. "What kind of conduct is this, minister? What kind of government are you a part of?"

I'm sure those were meant to be rhetorical questions since anyone with half a clue knows exactly what kind of government the Conservatives are running: authoritarianism gone wild.

While Harper stands by his man, it looks like yet another public inquiry may be in the offing - and so it should be.

Photo credit: Tyler Anderson/National Post