It's a victory for Canadians!!!

I would not want to be the Federal Minister of Industry, Hon. Jim Prentice's cat tonight. Fluffy is probably hiding under a bed out of the range of Jimmy's size fours.

You see Jimmy is the latest in a string of casualties that are falling out of the ineptitude of the Harper government.

The groundswell of opposition to the sale of MacDonald Detwiller (MDA) to a US defence contractor, ATK, has resulted in the halt of the sale by Jimmy as not being in Canada's (read the Harper government's) best interest.

Three cheers for the triumphant Jimmy. He saved Canada. He saved our technology. He saved our massive investment in technology owned by MDA. He saved the jobs of the people at the Florida Labs in Ottawa (where the real brains behind the MDA assets work for the federal government).

What? What was that comment from the legal beagles at ATK? You have thirty days to comment on Jimmy's decision and, if you don't like it, you can take Canada to a free trade hearing?

We are screwed. Just see:
canbloopers.blogspot.com/2007/11/is-health-canada-trying-to-kill-us.html
to know how well we fair in being "protected" by NAFTA.

Say bye, bye to MDA.

A new type of Northern Lights - from garbage!!

OK. Let's say that you make a widget out of plastic and metal and sell it to some guy in Tanzania. That guy uses the product for what it was made and when, 5 years later, the product is no longer wanted, needed or working, the guy in Tanzania demands that you pick up the spent widget and throw it in the your own local garbage dump for him. I can hear you now... take a hike! You bought it, you used it, you throw it away. Right?

Welcome to the world of Con politics. Canada's Greatest Government (TM) signed us up, in November, to the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership. The Partnership goes like this:

We dig uranium out of the ground and process it into fuel for reactors around the world. The countries who buy from us use the fuel and when it is spent, and at its most radioactive, they ship it back to Canada so that we can dispose of it for them. Can you say: Big Holes in the Canadian Shield filled with ten million year old spent uranium? That is what you are going to get.

How come you didn't know about this in November or December? After all AECL was high up in the news cycle. Because CGG created the isotope controversy to cover it up.

Too bad, so sad, CGG. We know now.

Nuclear specialist Gary Lunn trumps CNSC

Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn says, ""The continuing refusal of the commission, under your leadership, to prevent unreasonable risk to the health of Canadians potentially undermines public confidence in the regulation of the nuclear industry in Canada."

He is of course talking about the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, the body, which reports to parliament, that is charged with safeguarding Canadians on nuclear safety.

The issue at hand is that the CNSC refused to allow a 50 year old reactor at Chalk River to be brought back on line until it was upgraded to protect against accident or terrorism.

OK, let me get this straight. The Minster is saying that the Commission's refusal to be bullied into backing down on a safety issue undermines the confidence in the nuclear industry in Canada?

I would suggest that the actions of Canada's Greatest Government (TM: PM Harper) is what will cause Canadians to scratch their heads. If AECL had done the upgrades that had been recommended to them for a number of years before the incident and if Health Canada had a back up plan to protect the profits of MDS Nordion, the only client for the isotopes produced by the deficient reactor, then none of this would have happened.

Lunn is calling for the dismisal of Linda Keen, the President of the CNSC since 2001. Since all we know of her is that she is a liberal hack, according to PM Harper, I thought that it would worthwhile to check out her resume. The following is from the CNSC web site:

Linda J. Keen is an Albertan. She received her B.Sc. (honours in chemistry) and M.Sc. (agriculture sciences) from the University of Alberta. After working as a chemist, she continued her career in three science-related fields: agriculture and agri-food, mining and currently, in the nuclear area. As a certified agrologist, Ms. Keen has worked in the private sector, for the International Development Research Centre in West Africa, for the Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia and for a British Columbia crown corporation, Expo ’86. Her agriculture work has encompassed a variety of roles including scientific research, trade policy and international marketing, culminating as the director general of strategic planning and coordination for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. After a period of time at Industry Canada where she spearheaded its approach to Team Canada and developed the Export Source Web interface, Ms. Keen was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister of Minerals and Metals at Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). In addition to heading the development of the Mining Sustainable Development Policy and the world-renowned CANMET laboratories, she led NRCan’s approaches to international affairs, policy and regulatory development. She was also responsible for the regulation of explosives in Canada and participated in the dual Task Forces on Risk Management and Risk Communications.

Ms. Keen was Chair of the International Nuclear Regulators Association in 2003. She was the first Canadian President of the Convention on Nuclear Safety from 2004 to 2007, which involved international peer review among its 65 signatory countries to ensure worldwide nuclear safety. Ms. Keen was also the Honorary Chair of the 2006 Women in Nuclear Conference, held in Canada for the first time, and the keynote speaker of the 2005 International Conference of Women in Science and Engineering, held in Seoul, South Korea. She speaks regularly in Canada and internationally on matters of regulatory excellence and efficiency.

Let's compare that the Gary Lunn's resume, according to the Natural Resources web site:

The Natural Resources portfolio is well suited to Minister Lunn because his early working days were spent in the mining and forestry industries in British Columbia and northern Canada. This experience has allowed him to understand first-hand the importance of Canada’s natural resources to our present and future prosperity. A certified journeyman carpenter, Minister Lunn has designed and built numerous homes, including his family’s current home in Sidney, British Columbia.

I don't know. It is too close to call, who's resume is better.

Cure to the drug problem

The Ontario provincial government has found a cure for drug addiction. Give the addict more drugs!

The Government announced that they will fund a "needle exchange programme" for IV drug users, a program that Ottawa councillors rejected. The province and the special interest groups that lobby them see the issue as a public health one and therefore see free needles as curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS. The city, on the other hand, sees the issue as public security; the drug trade and user population are disproportionately involved in crimes against person and property in this region.

Who is right? Nobody and both! It is a public health issue and a public security issue all in one.

You can't have a safe-site programme without a rehabilitation program. It is akin to trying to cure alcoholics by giving them free booze. Without treatment the alcoholic will just continue until she/he dies. Maybe that is the idea?

If the province wants to help addicts, let them go all the way instead of taking tiny steps. A drug rehab programme and centre is mandatory to achieve the goals of both the province and the city.