Let's Talk About the Real Issue; A Global Shortage of Isotopes

News reports are still clamoring over whether Lisa Raitt should resign or be fired. How did Steve Maher get the tape, what else might be on that tape. Aside from a quick question from Tom Clark on Power Play that David McGuinty never addressed, and a similar question Dan Matheson asked Dipper Nathan Cullen, not one person on Parliament Hill has come up with a long term solution for the global isotope shortage.

Why? Because at the present time, there isn't one. There are only a handful of facilities around the globe capable of producing isotopes that are critical in the screening of various types of cancer. Governments around the globe deserve some blame, both current and previous governments going back 20+ years. It's hard to imagine why no government has taken the lead in making this the priority it should be. As it stands now, Australia appears to have done the best job, with their state of the art OPAL facility set to start production in a few weeks. This facility will be able to produce four times the production of isotopes of the plant it is replacing. The plant in the Netherlands has increased production 50% to try and fill the gap while Chalk River undergoes necessary repairs.

The problem is the world's population isn't receding, but growing, and one would imagine that as the population grows, so will the demand for isotopes. It's a little rich for the Liberals led by Michael Ignatieff to pin this as a Conservative problem. Those pipes never started rusting in January, 2006. At the same time its also unfair for the governing party to point direct fingers at the Liberals 13 years previously in power as the result of today's problems. The fact is Chalk River is in the area of 52 years old. Things wear out. Metal corrodes. New technology becomes available resulting in needed upgrades, which normally require the aged facility to be shuttered while repairs and upgrades are performed.

The Maple reactors, despite $600 million being poured in over the years, appear to be abandoned without ever producing a single isotope. It boggles my mind that with today's technology, especially in the area of computer programming, that these reactors could not be put into production with a series of safeguards to prevent any accidents or spills. And at a time when we should be coming up with a solution, we have the mayor of Toronto crying because he can't get $1.2 billion for streetcars that won't be on the tracks for 2-7 years. We see millions in government waste due to cronyism and patronage, ironically enough supposedly spent to improve health care in Ontario. We see companies that have been mismanaged for years getting billions in government money. We have the leader of the Green Party making remarks about the minister of natural resources fumbling the isotopes issue, while she and her own party are against nuclear facilities.

Perhaps it might serve the Canadian public if our elected representatives turned their attention to our real needs, instead of worrying about gossip and who's ahead or behind in the newest poll. We've seen committees set up for a PM out of office since 1993, nannies, election spending. we see finger pointing from both sides of the house, seeing who can score the best one-liner for that 15 minutes of TV time daily.

The only thing missing from the House of Commons now is that women saying I see Stephen, and Michael, and Gilles, and Jack. Because the more I watch it the more it reminds me of Romper Room.