Dear Minister Lunn:

Since two of my regular readers sent me articles on this subject, it's worth pointing out what they have to say.

CBC
CTV

Canada could have avoided the recent medical isotope crisis if supplier MDS Nordion had joined international efforts to co-ordinate global production, a report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal says.

The article Monday in the journal said MDS Nordion wouldn't co-operate with Europe's two large-scale isotope suppliers — Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group in the Netherlands, and the Institut National des Radioelements in Belgium.

Whoa ... waitasec. So, AECL could have taken steps to mitigate the risks involved, but chose not to? Really?

Why would that be?

"They see themselves as the big dog,'' said Kuperman, a professor of public affairs at the University of Texas. ''They are not going to share information with the small ones nipping at their heels.''

Kuperman maintained there is plenty of "surplus capacity'' among isotope suppliers but MDS Nordion and AECL didn't want their competitors to pick up the slack when the Chalk River reactor was shut down.

Right. Got it. So for what amounts to a petty commercial reason, the reactor's operator essentially created a supply crisis. Had AECL and MDS Nordion been more collaborative and less worried about their majority market share, the entire situation could have been avoided, and likely would have done more to preserve their market share than what did unfold.

So, Minister Lunn, when are you going to start acting on the Auditor General's report on AECL and give that company the overhaul that it clearly - and desperately needs? The more that comes out, it's clear that the problems that need to be addressed were not occurring in the regulatory body, but in the corporate entity that was responsible for the reactor's operation.

It's time for you to eat a little humble pie, and restore Ms. Keen to her job ... with an apology for your behaviour in this matter.

So Much For That Minister

Harper's rapidly running out of cabinet-making material. The latest minister of his to demonstrate their utter cluelessness is Maxine Bernier, who is bungling his trip to Israel.

Uncertainty continued to surround Ottawa's position on a key element in the search for peace in the Middle East, as Bernier wrapped up his first visit to the region.

The confusion on the potentially explosive issue of Israeli settlements arose Sunday when Bernier was twice asked during a West Bank news conference whether Ottawa – which officially opposes new settlement activity by Israel – makes a distinction between housing construction in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem.

Both times, the Canadian minister pointedly ignored the question. The second time it was asked, he abruptly ended the news conference and left the room.

One of two things - either he didn't dare answer the question because he ran out of PMO-approved script, or the minister was not briefed on one of the key issues relating to Israel.

In the first case, Bernier's not being an effective minister, merely a puppet for whatever partisan crap the PMO wants to throw around. In the second case, either the minister or his advisors (or both) completely missed the point in briefings before you go into a politically volatile region.

"Traditionally, there hasn't been any ambiguity in our policy," a Canadian expert on the Middle East told the Star yesterday. "There might be some ambiguity now."

So, after Gary Lunn's massive CNSC bungle, Mr. Bernier making a royal cock-up of his trip to Israel and Helena Guergis' bone-headed comments, it's becoming clear that the Conservatives are in serious need of new wood for cabinet making. Having fired so many of his original frontline ministers, and turfing out of caucus anyone who dares question his all-knowing wisdom, Harper's left scraping the bottom of the barrel for ministers - and hoping that they don't screw up "too badly".

How promising.