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Canadian minister under fire in flap over nuclear documents
Ottawa (AFP) June 3, 2009 Canada's natural resources minister came under fire Wednesday following disclosures that a senior aide had left a binder containing secret nuclear documents at a television station. Over nearly an hour, opposition MPs peppered Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt during Question Period in the House of Commons with accusations of negligence, calling for her resignation. "Procedures that we had in place were not followed by a member of my staff, and corrective action has been taken," Raitt replied. "I offered to resign, if the prime minister felt it necessary and he did not accept it. The person responsible for handling the documents offered their resignation," she said, over and over. Earlier, Raitt's director of communications quit, saying it was she who had left a binder containing confidential documents on Canada's nuclear industry at a CTV television studio after a visit by Raitt last week. CTV held onto the binder for six days before breaking the news on Tuesday. The files contained information that the government would spend far more money on a troubled nuclear reactor than it had acknowledged, just as it was looking to privatize part of its nuclear agency Atomic Energy Canada Limited. "It's our assessment that while this was a serious breach it was not a breach by the minister herself," Prime Minister Stephen Harper's spokesman, Kory Teneycke, told reporters. Opposition parties, however, were clearly not satisfied. The minority Conservative government, already under fire for its handling of an economic crisis and under constant threat of snap elections, was demonstrating preferential treatment toward Raitt, they said. Former foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier was forced to resign in May 2008 after leaving secret documents in the home of his girlfriend who had ties to a criminal biker gang. Why not Raitt?, they pressed. "The rules say that she is the one responsible, not some underling," said New Democrat MP Thomas Mulcair. Main opposition Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff commented: "The issue here is an issue of competence and not just competence in relation to this minister, but competence in relation to the whole government." Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Nuclear Power News - Nuclear Science, Nuclear Technology Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
Russia, Oman sign nuclear energy dealMoscow (AFP) June 2, 2009 Russia and Oman have signed an agreement on nuclear energy cooperation that could see the two countries building reactors and counducting research together, Russia's atomic agency said on Tuesday. The document was signed by the deputy head of Rosatom, Nikolai Spasski, and the secretary general of Oman's foreign ministry, Badr Al-Busaidi. Oman set up a civilian nuclear energy agency last ... read more |
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