Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Minister, thank you for joining us this morning.
I've listened very intently, very carefully to everything you've said, and I have to tell you it's quite a story. What you came here to present this morning is in fact quite a story.
Minister, let me quote Auditor General Sheila Fraser from several days ago, when she said about the situation, “I find it a very unfortunate situation. She”--referring to Ms. Keen--“has a very important role as an independent regulator. I think, like us in this audit office, she is deeply concerned about the independence of her organization as it comes to its ability to make these kinds of decisions. I guess I find it unfortunate that discussions over decisions have become personal.”
Minister, let's take a look at what's been happening around this town in the last two years: Linda Keen; Marc Mayrand was blamed for the veil issue because of your government's pathetic legislation; Bill Corbett is being challenged in court because of your “in and out” scandal; Johanne Gélinas was fired as environment commissioner; Jean-Pierre Kingsley, the former Elections Canada head, was driven out by your government; John Reid, hardly a shrinking violet, left as information commissioner; and Graham Fraser, the official languages commissioner, was undermined by the employment of Bernard Lord to do Mr. Fraser's job--all in the context of Prime Minister Harper saying, previous to the last election, that the people of Canada had nothing to fear, because the government would be held in check by Liberal appointees in the senior ranks of the public service and in independent, quasi-judicial tribunals in the courts.
Well, Minister, I guess the question now is should Canadians fear, should Canadians actually fear, the real agenda of the government now that the government is proceeding with what is reminiscent, in my view, of some of the developments in the 1940s and 1950s in the American Senate?
What's particularly egregious about this, Minister, is that these are individuals who head up commissions, boards, quasi-judicial tribunals--mostly independent actors who are specifically mandated by enabling legislation to do their jobs. These days, Minister, it seems that anybody who tries to do their job around this town loses it. These kinds of Republican tactics this town has never seen before. They're new to Canadians.
So let me ask you something here. Maybe I have another alternative narrative; maybe what you're really doing here today is covering up for Stephen Harper's intemperate remarks on the floor of the House of Commons by alleging that Linda Keen was some kind of Liberal hack doing the deeds and the doings of the Liberal Party of Canada; maybe those intemperate remarks got him in trouble. And now you, less than 24 hours after we met here with your colleagues, fire Linda Keen in the dark of night, while Canadians aren't watching, when yesterday your parliamentary secretary was at this committee fighting for your right for rebuttal, to respond to Linda Keen, because you did not trust what she was going to say.
What kind of conduct is this, Minister? What kind of government are you a part of if you are simply doing the bidding now of a PMO by fabricating a story about health concerns?
Minister, I have a couple of questions for you.
Exactly what part of the job did Ms. Keen fail to perform? Tell us exactly where she's in breach of her responsibilities, as circumscribed by the enabling legislation, as a nuclear safety regulator. Tell us exactly how you see the health and safety of Canadians actually in the mandate of that enabling legislation.
Then also tell us, please, can you point to a section of the act that states that it's the commission's responsibility to ensure that MDS Nordion can meet its sales demands? Can you tell us where there's a legal international obligation for Canada to supply medical isotopes to the United States and other nations?
Come on; every Canadian is watching you now. They see this story and they don't believe you. They don't believe your government. And we believe you're covering up for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's unfortunate, intemperate, yet revealing remarks about a senior regulator in the government of Canada.
Tell us clearly, Minister, how exactly Ms. Keen did not perform her duties. Tell us how as “regulator” she is unable to continue to play her role within the Government of Canada.