New day, new political scandal

[afransen]

Actually, you can get access to classified documents through ATIP. They might be heavily redacted but you can get access to them. Usually, when briefing Ministers on really sensitive stuff, their aides will simply refuse most documents simply because it's so easy to ATIP a Minister's office.

If the government did strictly enforce the legislation on the books (and its actually pretty good) then we might well end up seeing far more stuff (particularly at the political level) get classified. There's a trend these days towards classifying documents as lowly as possible. If the boat gets rocked we're far more likely to go toward reduced disclosure if anything.

Apparently that's another technique: send things to Cabinet so they become subject to that rule that classifies cabinet documents for what... 30 years?

 

[kEiThZ]

Apparently that's another technique: send things to Cabinet so they become subject to that rule that classifies cabinet documents for what... 30 years?

I don't know what you're getting at here. This is the normal process of bureaucracy at work. Keep in mind that cabinet briefing documents don't appear out of thin air. That document is usually the last one, buit upon a body of other classified material. That means that it is usually the document containing the least sensitive information and bearing the lowest classification possible….most Ministers will usually not hang to any Top Secret material. In fact, as I stated earlier, stuff that is more sensitive is never put down on paper and passed to any politician simply because of the risk of it being subject to an ATIP request. Sending stuff to Cabinet makes it more likely to be disclosed (do you have any idea how many ATIPs the media put in to the offices of various Ministers?). And like I said earlier even if it's classified, Cabinet is still obliged to disclose all but the most sensitive portions of the documents. So I highly doubt that any bureaucrat will go out of his way to send stuff to Cabinet to make it more 'secure'. If it's that sensitive, the Minister will get an oral brief that nobody can find out about without a judicial or parliamentary inquiry. And the sensitive material will simply be retained by the briefer for later referral….making it more difficult for outsiders to access. Of note, is that these procedures have been the same for decades regardless of which party has been in power. Having Cabinet briefing notes classified is hardly novel. Secret CEO has been the default classification on all cabinet documents for as long as anyone can remember….and that's actually in line with similar practices in most other countries. I highly doubt the White House or 10 Downing Street would not classify every scrap of paper that came in to their hands.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/648585

*eww* Crocodile tears. She's getting creepier by the minute - though I must say, our (TPA) loss is their gain.

AoD

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

Lost in all this kerfuffle is the hotness of Raitt's former aide. Wonder who her daddy is.

edit: whoops, answered my own question:

"She is the daughter of Ralston MacDonnell, who is head of a well-connected Nova Scotia engineering company, and a fundraiser for Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff."
cite

Hmm, daughter of one of Ignatieff's fundraisers? Is she a plant?

 

[kEiThZ]

^ At least one critic who is actually doing her job instead of making political hay:

Liberal critic Carolyn Bennett said she appreciated the apology, but said the medical isotope crisis still requires a change of ministers.

"Minister Raitt has been incompetent up to now" in getting an alternative supply of isotopes.

That kind of criticism I can support. Suggesting ambition is wrong is ridiculous. Every politician loves a crisis and and an opportunity to shine. If they didn't they would not be politicians.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

Hmm, daughter of one of Ignatieff's fundraisers? Is she a plant?

i don't know. from that photo, you can't see if she has roots.

 

[kEiThZ]

Jasmine MacDonell may be hot but her career is probably going to be ice cold here on in. Accidentally taping off the cuff comments made by your boss and then leaving them in the washroom for a reporter to find is a pretty surefire way to make sure you won't get too far as a press secretary.

 

[ungodlycrosscheck]

A couple of observations...

Dr. Bennett's assertion is patently false. Canada has been working with its partners to guarantee access to alternative supplies of isotopes.

What's barren from the Opposition's attack is what they would do differently.

I'm sure Minister Raitt really is as callous as the Oppostion is painting her... I'm sure she never shed a tear when her adult brother died of lung cancer. Look the fact is that political language sometimes doesn't translate well. Furthermore, ambition is a pretty consistant feature among politicians, and Raitt is certainly no exception. Anyone who really at their core feels that the Minister didn't speak the way she did because she saw an opportunity to do something positive for Canadians and in the process make a name for herself in Ottawa, where she is still a newcomer, really needs to give themself a vigourous shake. She's done a remarkble job in the face of a full court press by the Opposition.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

ungodlycrosscheck:

Canada has been working with its partners to guarantee access to alternative supplies of isotopes.

How's that guarantee coming along?

What's barren from the Opposition's attack is what they would do differently.

Now? Probably nothing. A year ago, when the first serious breakdown occured? I am sure there are alternate arrangements and contingency plans that could have been made. Linda Keen must be laughing her way to the bank right now.

I'm sure she never shed a tear when her adult brother died of lung cancer.

Well, considering the amount of tears she shed at the press conference, I am sure that ability is purely empathic.

...because she saw an opportunity to do something positive for Canadians...

Is this about doing something positive for Canadians, or for herself?

AoD

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

Accidentally taping off the cuff comments made by your boss and then leaving them in the washroom for a reporter to find is a pretty surefire way to make sure you won't get too far as a press secretary.

Do we know it's an accident though? I dunno...this whole thing smells, too many coincidences, too many strangely convenient mishaps. It almost looks...orchestrated, and if it turns out Ignatieff is behind the whole thing, then damn, I must say my respect for him has increased ten fold. I mean, it's positively Nixonian...

Or I could be wrong and these people may all be really *that* stupid and incompetent, in which case I'd rather take the conspiratorial-Machiavellian scheming on the part of Ignatieff and his fixers.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

fiendish:

Clearly, someone hasn't been doing background checks on the aides closely enough.

AoD

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

From what I hear about the whole aide "thing", it doesn't even get to that stage. Some pretty young thing like Jasmine has a big-shot daddy (or bf, usually a son of some *other* big-shot) who knows someone who knows someone, and the arrangements are made. The "background check" is a quick phone call or discussion over drinks, and off to Ottawa she goes. Saw a *lot* of this when I worked at the Ontario Legislative Assembly library.

 

[kEiThZ]

^ That's how it works for Parliamentary aides. Ministerial aides, however, are usually assigned the policy staff in the relevant ministry. Was she a parliamentary aide or a ministerial aide? Though 24 seems young to be a Ministerial aide.

 

[unimaginative2]

She's ministerial. She was the press secretary. Apparently it pays $120,000 a year. That's a hell of a lot better than at Queen's Park.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Good lord, 120K?!