As previewed yesterday, the government has sold AECL’s Candu-reactor business to SNC-Lavalin for some $15 million and the promise of future royalties. But while there the pundit class bitches and moans about the giant money pit that AECL has become, I feel it behoves me to draw your attention to this particular piece from the April issue of The Walrus, which looked at the history of the medical isotope industry in this country, AECL, and the last time the government decided it wanted to privatise it. What happened is they sold off the one profitable part of the crown corporation that was making it the money for the rest of its operations, and look at the unholy mess that resulted, from AECL’s decline into a money pit, the colossal missed opportunity of the MAPLE reactors (and inevitably this government’s decision to abandon the medical isotope industry, not to mention the massive lawsuit now being filed by the company we sold off our isotope industry to), and now this – the virtual fire sale of AECL and potentially our country’s nuclear industry. We didn’t learn from our past mistakes, and now we are repeating them.
The TSX-LSE merger is off. How long before Peter Julian and the NDP declare victory and take credit for it?
The government has announced that they will be sponsoring clinical trials for MS “liberation therapy,” which makes a lot of people happy, and scores a victory for the opposition (especially Liberal Kirsty Duncan, who has been championing this for over a year).
Apparently due to “budget cuts,” our embassy in Washington DC has dramatically scaled back its Canada Day festivities and is shutting out a lot of Canadians who live in the area. Yeah, I’m sure these optics are endearing us to those observing us from abroad. But hey, Canada’s Back™ everyone!
After the drama we just went through over the Canada Post strike, he’s a chilling look at privatised postal service in Europe, and how it really is not a good model to emulate.
Michael Ignatieff reappeared on the pages of the Globe and Mail, talking about Canada becoming a nation of expatriates, and how that will soon lead to a culture shift that should render attacks against people like him to be meaningless. But considering the victory of the parochial in the last election, he is perhaps more optimistic than I.
With the benefit of some time and distance, Susan Delacourt has a few more reflections on the recent election.
The Canadian Heraldic Authority has created new personal flags for the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge for use in Canada, which is kinda cool. Both are based off the personal flag of the Queen in Canada.
And Carolyn Bennett relays Pride greetings from Bob Rae (who promises to march on Sunday).