A question for Gary Lunn ...

Just exactly to what type of professionals would you suggest we entrust vast expanses of an unspoiled British Columbia central coast?

Decisions on the safety of supertankers transporting oil through B.C.'s northern waterways should be left to professionals instead of politicians muddying the waters, Gary Lunn, Saanich-Gulf Islands Conservative MP, said Tuesday.

"The people to do this correctly are the professionals, not a bunch of people trying to make political hay," said Lunn, a former natural resources minister. He has pointed out that a moratorium on northern tanker traffic, brought in by the previous Liberal government, is voluntary, not legislated.

Maybe oil professionals like, oh, I don't know, BP?
That worked well, didn't it?

And Enbridge has such a lovely track record. Just in case you haven't heard of their little incident last July at Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River....

I have an idea. Let's have the Minister of State for Sports practice what he preaches. Lunn could start by shutting his cake hole and staying out of the discussion altogether. He clearly doesn't have the interests of the people of that region as a priority.

Kim has more.

Where were they six weeks ago?

Lord Kitchener's Own, Accidental Deliberations and Impolitical have excellent coverage of two Globe and Mail articles, here and here. First is more evidence of a conspiracy between the Harper government and AECL to find a way to rid themselves of a nuclear regulator who placed safety above political or commercial considerations.

AECL's private-sector partners, including SNC-Lavalin, GE Canada and Hitachi Canada, hired some of the best-connected lobbyists in Ottawa to carry that message forward; other industry members complained directly to the Prime Minister's Office, sources said.

"We've tried to communicate however we could to whomever we could, to make this point," said Patrick Lamarre, president of SNC-Lavalin's nuclear division.

Michael Burns, the B.C.-based wind power executive who Mr. Lunn appointed as chairman of AECL, began to lobby the minister, whom he said he spoke with once a week during his chairmanship, about addressing the problems with Ms. Keen and her commission.

"I told [Mr. Lunn] then the dysfunctional relationship was going to cause serious trouble for commercial operations at the company. I told him we were going to have a train wreck. And I gave him a plan to fix it," Mr. Burns said.

The goal, he said, was to induce the government to legislate an overhaul at the CNSC, including Ms. Keen's position.

That's just the start, however, and if you haven't read the whole piece in the G&M, you're missing critical information, including the fact that had Harper not gone ballistic in Parliament and overrode the regulator that an agreement between then CNSC chair Linda Keen and AECL would have seen the Chalk River reactor restarted within a few days anyway. Did you hear that out of Harper or Lunn? No.

Secondly, the next article focuses on Gary Lunn and the apparent mush that has misplaced his memory.

Minister of Natural Resources Gary Lunn was sent information about the impasse between Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. and Canada's nuclear regulator at least two days before the afternoon he says he learned about the problem, a source alleges.

Mr. Lunn has testified before a parliamentary committee that his staff first alerted him on Dec. 3 to the fact that the nuclear reactor that produces more than half of the world's medical isotopes had been shut down indefinitely due to an ongoing, month-old dispute between the Crown-owned AECL and its regulator, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

However, a highly placed source close to Atomic Energy told The Globe and Mail that an e-mail was sent to Mr. Lunn before the Dec. 1 weekend underscoring the need for him to turn his attention to the mounting problem.

"I sent an e-mail on Nov. 29 or 30 ... which said this is serious, we need to get on this," the source said.

That article too, requires a full read because either Gary Lunn is a liar or he is completely and utterly incompetent.

The coverage is captivating. And I can't add to the comment on them beyond what the blogs mentioned above have already done. I do, however, have a point - a different point.

It is February 23rd. Back in early December 2007 we were smelling a set up. There was far too much wrong with the way the story broke and with the direction it took. There were others who were piecing together information which suggested a manufactured crisis.

Well before that however, someone caught a whiff in the wind that something was rumbling around Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., a Crown corporation responsible to Gary Lunn.

All of those suspicions arose from two things:

1. Harper, despite attempts by his spin machine and the media to portray him otherwise, is still the same Reform Party anti-regulation narcissist who wrote the Alberta Firewall letter, who despises the federal structure of Canada and who plays to a base which more aptly fits in the right-wing of the US Republican Party; and,

2. Various media and non-media reports, when taken together, dispelled the myth of a global isotope shortage; the basic premise for Harper launching a highly publicized outrage.

While the G&M's articles shed a great deal of light on the real motivation for Harper's charade and exposes Lunn as something of a hapless dim bulb, it seems to be a month late at the least. Understandably, news outlets need to exercise extreme care before they run with a story, but without too much effort a great deal of information was found which told more of a story than the media seemed willing, (or is it able?), to produce.

In short, with the exception of a few, there seems to be a resistance on the part of reporters and editors to engage in tough questions based on skepticism. Perhaps it is the result of damaging media convergence or perhaps it is fear that too many tough questions will put a reporter out in the cold, but if bloggers are able to gather together enough information to be able to point at government malfeasance shouldn't news organs, who purport to represent a questioning public, be able to do it?

As much as the permanently established and professional journalists provide the feedstock for bloggers, that can change. If you need proof, it's right here.

Heavy water runs deep... part de deux

No, there's no doubt. The Chalk River medical isotope shortage was a manufactured Harper government crisis which goes much deeper than the firing of Linda Keen. In fact, Lunn's removal of Keen appears to have been an afterthought on the part of the Harperites.

They wanted to make sure attention was deflected from Lunn, who knew all along that the AECL Chalk River reactor was under pressure from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to install proper safety devices.

The so-called risk to the health of Canadians is far from the truth. While Chalk River produces the cheapest isotope, molybdenum-99, (from which technetium-99m is easily extracted on-site at a hospital), there are other sources which, though more expensive, are available for medical procedures.

By pure coincidence, on the same day that 900 ft Jesus posted this, a report which has flown under the radar of the Canadian news media appeared.

Advanced Medical Isotope Corporation (AMIC) is currently in formal negotiations to partner with a firm headquartered in China to export isotopes as well as to produce shorter-lived isotopes in both Taiwan and Mainland China. This will provide the benefits of both higher volume availability as well as greater treatment options utilizing different medical isotope production methods currently being developed by AMIC.

Readers can be excused for not understanding the impact of this report. The Chalk River reactor produces molybdenum-99 and cobalt-60 for MDS Nordion; AMIC is a different company and represents direct competition.

And AMIC has reportedly developed a different process, using small facilities and local production. While the isotopes would be different, the application and targets appear to be the same. That would represent a direct threat to the stranglehold MDS Nordion has on medical isotope distribution and, with MAPLE 1 and MAPLE 2 still not operational, a threat to the viability of oldest nuclear reactor outside the United States.

When you're a Conservative bent on selling AECL, a Crown corporation and Chalk River's owner, that's enough to rattle your socks. When the country's nuclear safety regulator declares the one plant that is producing cheap medical isotopes unsafe, that could drive you to distraction.

Worse, AMIC is looking at a source which has become a bane for almost every other North American industry - China.

The US has the capacity, particularly in some university reactors, to produce the necessary medical isotopes to meet US demands. In the past, when Chalk River was unable to supply the necessary isotopes, US reactors had their licenses extended to begin production of the same isotopes. And while I don't think this is likely to happen, if the United States ever decided to restart the Fast Flux reactor at Hanford, Washington, Chalk River's existence would be under serious threat.

Personally, I don't think anyone in the Harper government, including Harper, is bright enough to have executed any of this of their own accord.

I think they got a phone call; got told a story of failing companies and competition which would have made Milton Friedman write a book from the grave and then panicked.

This bunch is too reckless to have thought this one out.

Covering one scandal with another...

I don't think the talent pool in Harper's office is diverse enough to have figured this out for themselves. In fact, I believe the whole thing is accidental and sheds a great deal more light on the fact that most of Harper's cabinet ministers are in way over their heads than they are Machiavellian.

It should not go without notice however, that one scandal has been replaced with another.

Dr. Dawg extracted one of the best lines from Lawrence Martin, a column you should definitely read:

Since taking power two years ago this month, this type of behaviour has been a hallmark of this government. It confuses class with crass.

That's just the start of it.

Beyond the call of normal duty? No... Exceeded his authority.

Aha! We have a new Harperite code for Abused His/Her Authority. (Emphasis mine)

Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn should be "commended" for his decision to re-open a nuclear reactor against the advice of the country's nuclear watchdog in order to relieve a worldwide shortage of medical isotopes, the prime minister said Thursday.

"I think the minister of natural resources, in fact all the ministers of the government who worked on this file, are to be commended for acting, frankly, beyond the normal call of duty to ensure that the Canadian medical system was not needlessly endangered by decisions made by the president of the nuclear commission," Stephen Harper said during a New Brunswick press conference.

Acting beyond the normal call of duty.

Let's be clear here. Lunn had no authority to order a nuclear reactor to be re-started. Absolutely none.

The Nuclear Safety and Control Act (1997) establishes the existence and execution of the independent non-departmental quasi-judicial body known as the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. The role of the minister responsible? To table reports to Parliament which originate at that commission.

The CNSC is answerable to Parliament; not a minister. A minister has no authority to issue orders to any quasi-judicial body.

And just in case Harper and Lunn thought they didn't know better, it's actually included in their own Privy Council Office direction for Accountable Government, Part II, section 7.

The nature of the relationship between a Minister and an administrative tribunal with independent decision-making or quasi-judicial functions is a particularly sensitive issue. Ministers must not intervene in specific decisions of those bodies. Specific guidance governing Ministers’ dealings with quasi-judicial tribunals is included in Annex E, as are guidelines on Crown corporations in Annex F.

Is that clear enough? MUST NOT INTERVENE.

What part of that does Gary Lunn not understand? In fact, it would appear Harper doesn't get it either.

Perhaps a little amplification is in order. From the PCO Accountable Government Annex E - Dealings With Quasi-Judicial Tribunals:

Ministers and Secretaries of State shall not intervene, or appear to intervene, on behalf of any person or entity, with quasi-judicial tribunals on any matter before them that requires a decision in their quasi-judicial capacity, unless otherwise authorized by law.

And...

Ministers, Secretaries of State and their staff cannot intervene on behalf of any person or entity with a quasi-judicial agency on any matter before it that requires a decision in its quasi-judicial capacity.

Is that now clear enough?

So, Gary Lunn violated the Privy Council Office's own rules regarding the conduct of ministers. He did so with certain knowledge of his actions.

In any other government Gary Lunn would be out on his ass. Gary Lunn's issue of his December 10, 2007 Directive to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Regarding the Health of Canadians was not lawful and possessed no force. In fact, it was a violation of the rules of Accountable Government as issued by the Privy Council Office. In short, Gary Lunn far exceeded his authority in attempting to interfere with the CNSC.

Lunn's further action, a letter to CNSC president Linda Keen, serves to exemplify his total disregard for the rules governing the behaviour of ministers of the Crown. Lunn threatened to fire Keen for behaving exactly as she is expected to behave as the head of an independent non-departmental quasi-judicial commission.

But to Harper, this is now beyond the normal call of duty.

Which goes to prove Harper doesn't make a differentiation between duty and limits on authority or policy and politics.

POGGE has taken the time to explain why.

And Harper is a liar.

It's alive!

I have to admit, I did not think the Harper crowd was that stupid. For some reason, despite the unbelievable partisan hackery they display, I thought they were smart enough to let things die down and understand when they should.

Apparently, that is not the case.

The Harperites are blinded by a faith in their own infallibility and by their belief that everyone accepts heavy-handed authoritarianism. They accept no blame for any failing.

When the Chalk River nuclear reactor was shut down, they behaved as though it had been an orchestrated personal attack. They immediately politicized the event and turned it into a partisan attack on the independent nuclear regulator in this country.

And then they bypassed her with legislation.

It goes to their stupidity and their inability to actually deal with anything remotely difficult.

Harper and his disciples shot themselves in the foot the minute they started trying to blame anyone but the operators of the Chalk River reactor for its shut-down.

But beyond that, Harper, in his finest Daddy-knows-best voice, made an unqualified statement that, despite safety concerns of the regulator, there would be no nuclear accident at Chalk River, the site of the very first nuclear reactor accident - ever.

Still more was their uncomprehending attitude that the Canadian public would actually listen to this bunch when it came to nuclear safety.

In the end, covered in their own shit, they had accomplished what they had set out to do and the situation should have died a quiet death, only to be regurgitated during the next election campaign.

But, no. They couldn't leave things alone. Having taken an event, which was completely beyond their control and for which nobody would have likely blamed them, the Harperites took the whole thing personally and attacked the nuclear regulator.

That's just plain stupidity.

Instead of moving on to the next item on the list, Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn took an unprecedented move to threaten the dismissal of the president of the CNSC.

Now, Linda Keen, in response to the letter sent to her by Lunn, which was leaked to the media, has fired a huge rocket back.

The question though is: What did Lunn think would happen?

These guys simply don't get it. Now, much to the good cheer of all opponents of the Harper regime, this issue, which had found its way to the simmering back burner is right back on the full-power front element.

An issue which might have slipped from the minds of Canadians is now going to receive a public and very messy airing. And it should make Canadians very very wary.

This is what the Conservatives are all about. They're so wrapped up in themselves and so paranoid that every little thing that happens is the result of a conspiracy out to "get them" that they don't know when or how to back away.

Now they've touched off a powder keg. Canadians might not pay attention to political infighting but they will pay attention when someone is messing with the process of something as critical as nuclear safety.

Gary Lunn just demonstrated what kind of idiot is sitting in the halls of power.