Secret Chalk River files left at CTV. Will Lisa Raitt survive this?

After Natural Resources minister Lisa Raitt spent the day on a parliamentary committee hot seat over safety and production concerns at the Chalk River nuclear reactor, a situation that largely developed under the watch of her predecessor, Gary Lunn, news is breaking tonight that has to make one wonder how much longer Raitt will be spending at the cabinet table:

Sensitive government documents left behind at a CTV News bureau reveal Ottawa has poured far more money into the aging Chalk River nuclear reactor than the public has been told.

The binder of documents was left nearly a week ago at CTV's Ottawa bureau by either Minister of Natural Resources Lisa Raitt or one of her aides. Some of the papers are clearly marked "secret."

The last time a cabinet minister mishandled secret government documents it was Maxime Bernier leaving documents at his ex-girlfriend Julie Couillard's house. And we all know what happened with Bernier.

Raitt was already taking a beating in the Chalk River file. It's hard to see how she walks away from this. Whether it was her or her staffer that left the documents behind, the principle of ministerial responsibility applies, and this is clearly an unacceptable lapse.

What's in the documents is equally momentous:

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."

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.

The Conservatives have mishandled this file badly, and to try to blame this mess on the Liberals is a transparently pathetic attempt at spin. It was clear 18 months ago that there were serious problems at Chalk River. Linda Keen was fired for blowing the whistle. Today in question period Stephen Harper was all about safety first, oddly vindicating Keen's call 18 months ago to favour safety over isotope production.

The government has had 18 months to fix the problems at Chalk River. It has had 18 months to put alternate arrangements in place to ensure an adequate supply of medical isotopes in the event of another reactor shutdown. Instead it has failed on both counts: Chalk River is in worse shape then ever, and there are no back-ups in place. Because of Conservative mismanagement, ill Canadians are going without the medically necessary treatment they need.

It's an epic failure. Once for which, I suspect, Lisa Raitt will soon be walking the plank.

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Why the Conservatives really fired nuclear watchdog Linda Keen?

When the Conservatives sacked Nuclear Safety Commission head Linda Keen it seemed it all had to do with nuclear safety and medical isoptopes. Keen was erring on the side of safety by ordering the Chalk River reactor shut down for safety reasons, the government wanted her to ignore the safety concerns to ensure the continued production of isotopes, required for many important medical procedures. She refused to back down, and she was canned.

That's a disturbing enough story, but Greg Weston reports in the Sun today there may have been even more to it:

When the Conservative government fired the country's nuclear watchdog last year, a few well-connected lobbyists toasted her demise as a victory potentially worth millions to their clients.

(snip)

But behind the scenes, industry insiders say lobbyists had long been trying to get rid of Keen for reasons that had nothing to do with medicine. Their clients were companies that stand to make huge money from the next generation of Canadian nuclear power reactors called the Advanced Candu, or ACR-1000. Rightly or wrongly, it seems, the iron-fisted Keen was getting in the way.

Playing games with nuclear safety in the name of medical isoptopes isn't a decision I'd make, but you could make a case. But potentially playing games with nuclear safety so well-connected lobbyists can line their pockets? That is completely unacceptable.

Cathie has more.

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A radioactive situation

With the Harper government's firing last year of nuclear regulatory boss Linda Keen for daring to put safety first and raise questions about the operation of the Chalk River nuclear reactor, it seems that economy and the production of medical isoptoes has won out over basic questions of nuclear safety.

Reading this article about a recent radioactive spill at Chalk River, which is operating at double its normal output to produce isotopes with a plant in Holland offline, I've lost track of just how many scary and concerning revelations are contained in this piece. But I'll try to list the major ones.

* A RADIOACTIVE SPILL HAS OCCURRED at the aging Chalk River nuclear reactor west of the capital after the facility was recently cranked up to double its normal output of medical isotopes, used in diagnosing and treating cancer, Sun Media has learned.

* Nonetheless, after a brief shutdown, the reactor has operate at full power, even though Chalk River officials admit they don't know what caused the leak, and say it could happen again.

* Documents indicate officials at Atomic Energy took four days to report the spill to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

* Even then, the spill proved to be five times larger than what the officials initially reported.

* They didn't go out of their way to inform the public, either. A news release about the brief shutdown of the reactor in December made no mention of a spill, only "unanticipated technical challenges."

* Meanwhile, another part of the reactor has sprung a water leak from a six centimetre crack in a weld. That leak has still not been repaired since it was first reported more than six weeks ago.

* Atomic energy spokesman Dale Coffin says the crack in the seam could require up to a month of work to repair, "but right now our schedule doesn't allow us to do that."

When it comes to nuclear reactors, isn't it sensible to err on the side of safety? All I can say is, I wouldn't want to live near Chalk River.

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Harper’s war on whistleblowers: What would Allan Cutler say?

If I were an enterprising young political journalist, or even a lazy middle-aged political journalist, I’d be looking to get on the phone with Allan Cutler and ask him what he thinks about this story:

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz praised an unnamed public servant yesterday for fingering former Canadian Food Inspection Agency biologist Luc Pomerleau as the source of a politically embarrassing leak.

"Some people have likened him to a whistleblower. I dismiss that," said Mr. Ritz in a phone interview. "The whistleblower was the gentleman who turned Mr. Pomerleau in."

Mr. Ritz went so far as to predict Mr. Pomerleau "will face charges," but his office later said the minister misspoke.

Word of CFIA plans to save money by giving industry a greater role in food inspections, among other cutbacks, first became public last month when Mr. Pomerleau was fired for emailing what has since been termed a cabinet document to his union.

Mr. Pomerleau, who was also a union representative, said yesterday that he found the document on an internal server that was available to all CFIA employees and forwarded it both because of its impact on CFIA jobs and public policy.

So in Conservative-land, it’s not the guy that made public plans to gut the public food inspection system in favour of an “industry-led” program that's the whistleblower, it’s the guy that fingered him as the leaker and got him fired.

I mention Allan Cutler, because his claim to fame is as the sponsorship scandal whistleblower. The Conservatives were so eager to get him as their candidate in Ottawa-South in the last election, they paid another candidate to step aside and then denied it until he sued (they settled). They trumpeted Cutler (who went on to lose to David McGuinty) as a model civil servant and the principled whistleblower. And they promised in their campaign platform to take greater steps to protect whistleblowers such as Cutler:



Oh how far they’ve come, eh Mr. Cutler? And this is far from the first hostile anti-whistleblower act by the Harper conservatives:

*A doctor in Northern Alberta who previously drew action to increased cancer rates he believes may be related to carcinogenic pollution from the tar sands development is now the subject of a complaint to the College of Physicians and Surgeons regarding his claims. The complainant is none other than Health Canada.

*A contract worker arrested for allegedly leaking the Conservative government's climate-change plan is portraying himself as a defender of the public interest and a victim of a politically motivated "witch-hunt."

Jeff Monaghan was arrested Wednesday and led out of his Environment Canada office in handcuffs by the RCMP. He was quickly released, but still faces possible charges of breach of trust for allegedly sending documents to a journalist and environmental activists.

I recall something about a scientist in B.C., I think from Natural Resources, but I can’t find the background. And of course the biggie:

*Federal Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn defended his decision to fire the head of Canada's nuclear safety watchdog Wednesday, arguing she lost the government's confidence over the way she handled the shutdown of a medical isotope-producing nuclear reactor late last year.

From trumpeting a whistleblower as their star candidate and promising to protect them, the Conservatives have gone to firing whistleblowers instead, and musing about criminal charges. As I said, I wonder what Allan Cutler would say? It seems he now offers advice on these issues for a living:

UPDATE: I'm informed that Allan Cutler is actually now the president of Canadians for Accountability. According to their Web site, they're a group of a volunteers dedicated to:

Educating Canadians about whistleblowing and abusive management situations through counselling, education and assistance in accordance with the law,


To promoting an understanding of whistleblowing: what it is, the dynamics, the culture, mechanisms and solutions,


Promoting public awareness of the importance and value of whistleblowing in the Canadian context, including labour unions, senior management and employees, and


Advocating for a culture of truth, transparency and integrity in Canada's public and private sector institutions and Canadian society in general.

And it looks like perhaps some of the whistleblowers wronged by the government should perhaps give these guys a call, maybe they can help:

If you've witnessed wrongdoing in the workplace, and don't know what to do, we're a sympathetic ear. Call us or meet us, and we'll do our best to help you understand your situation and what you can do about it.

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Why Linda Keen was right, even if the HoC overruled her

I had fun with my last post, but I did want to make one serious point about this whole nuclear business. Particularly, I wanted to address what seems to be one of the conservative talking points, which is that the all-party HoC decision to re-open Chalk River means Linda Keen was in the wrong.

Quite simply, that’s not what it means at all. As president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Keen was a bureaucrat and regulator whose job was…well, here’s what the Web site says:

The CNSC regulates the use of nuclear energy and materials to protect health, safety, security and the environment, and to respect Canada's international commitments on the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The CNSC’s mandate does not include regulating for economic objectives.

Her job was to regulate the safe use of nuclear energy in Canada. Chalk River was not up to standards, and had serious safety issues it wasn’t addressing. She had no choice but to take the action she did and order it shut down.

And it wasn’t within the scope of her job to consider economic issues related to the production of isotopes, or even health issues relating to their unavailability due to a reactor shutdown. She’s a regulator, she needs to enforce the rules. To weigh the risk of a meltdown vs. the need for medical isotopes is a political decision. For Keen to have waded into it would have been outside the scope of her job…you might have called it bureaucratic activism.

That balancing act was a political decision. Therefore, it should be made by politicians. And it was. The HoC met to consider the issue, heard from experts on both sides, and made the decision to overrule Keen and restart the reactor. That doesn’t mean Keen was wrong. It means the MPs decided to take the safety risk, deciding it was outweighed by the need for isotopes.

Only elected MPs could make that call, a bureaucrat/regulator could not. MPs who are accountable should their gamble fail.

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Boo, headline writers, boo!

Since I’m sure there's lots of serious analysis of the Conservative sacking of Canada’s nuclear watchdog, Linda Keen, out there in blogland (to read why it's evil, click here or here...to read why its brilliant, click here) I thought I’d take a more lighthearted approach and look at how the nation’s headline writers are handling the big news.

After all, as a journalist let me assure you, this is a story sure to warm a headline writer’s cold, tiny heart. There are so many ways you could go, such as:

Cons go nuclear

Harper nukes watchdog

A Conservative meltdown

Nuclear scandal goes critical

Keen plots counterstrike

Analysis: Mutually assured destruction

And many more. I think you get the idea. A good headline writer might even work in a reference to Matthew Broderick’s War Games…Stephen, what is the primary goal? The excellent made for TV movie The Day After would also work for inspiration, although probably not until Thursday, so there's still time...how about The Chalk River Syndrome?

But that’s why I was disappointed, as I took a look around the various news sites, at the lack of creativity exhibited by the nation’s headline writers. Take, for example, the major dailies:

Globe and Mail: Head of nuclear watchdog fired
National Post: Ottawa fires nuclear watchdog

The broadcasters:

CBC: Nuclear safety watchdog head fired for 'lack of leadership': minister
CTV: Government fires head of nuclear safety commission (since changed)

The wire services:

CP: Government fires head of Nuclear Safety Commission over Chalk River shutdown
Bloomberg: Canada Fires Nuclear Safety Chief Amid Dispute With Minister
Reuters: Canada sacks nuclear watchdog over reactor closure

And just for fun, the Iranian press, no strangers to issues nuclear:

Press TV: Canada sacks nuclear watchdog head

Well, that was pretty boring, wasn’t it?

I’ll give partial credit to the good folks at Sun Media, who I was counting on to really nail this one. At the Sun it’s all about the headlines, after all. They gave it a crack, and came pretty close, I just think it reads a tad awkwardly:

CNews: Tories fire nuke watchdog boss

Hopefully they’ll get it write for the print edition tomorrow morning; I’m counting on you Toronto Sun.

Anyway, I think the CRTC needs to take stronger action against the concentration of media ownership in this country than they did the other day, otherwise this lame headline trend will only worsen.

I decided to award two honourable mentions for these headlines as, while they did show creativity, they were written before the Keen firing.

Toronto Star: Political behaviour goes nuclear
Edmonton Sun: Commons committee eyes nuclear exchange

See, you can do better nation's media outlets. Let's pick it up!

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