Despicable and Ignominy

Before we had the early-learning tool of Sesame Street, there were the Saturday morning cartoons for those of us who were lucky enough to have a television set. (Yes, Martha, there was a time before TV). Some of these cartoons seem to be ageless and with good reason. Who can hear Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” without picturing Bugs Bunny and his flying scissors? However, two words from the cartoons sprang to mind in the past week: Despicable, as said only by a lisping Sylvester; and Ignominy by the son of Sylvester when he saw the giant mouse (kangaroo) defeat his Dad in a boxing match. “Oh, the ignominy of it all!”

In Ottawa and Toronto in the past week, two other words garnered all the headlines: Isotopes and eHealth. Just as we were recovering from Mulroney’s despicable testimony, along comes MP Lisa Raitt with her lame and lamentable sorry excuses over the isotopes problem. Little matter that the comments were uttered several months ago, her ‘apology’ rang as contrived as the contrite Brian Mulroney. What the whole fiasco, beginning with ‘secret’ documents left in a TV studio, and now playing out on the floor of the Commons, is that Raitt is another self-serving politician.

Now we all know that politicians are in parliament primarily to represent the people of their riding, but it seems that in too many instances, their focus shifts to being re-elected and climbing the political ladder. I used to think that saying “Oh, the ignominy of it all” was reserved for Toronto Maple Leaf fans but I am sure people in the riding of Halton are now saying it about Lisa Raitt. Added to the senseless shouting in question period, the likes of Raitt now give further reason why people stay away from the polls on election day.

No doubt, Lisa Raitt would have been more careful of her words if she had known that her former hapless assistant was recording the conversation, but what we heard was the inner workings of the mind of a politician. Over to Toronto and we see the inner workings of the mind of another disgraced public figure. The eHealth board dismissed Sarah Cramer, with a generous severance package, for her blatant misuse of public funds. Sarah and her consultant friends appeared to be imbued with that sense of entitlement that seems prevalent of late in too many public servants. I suppose when one sees your elected masters handing out money by the fistful for causes and projects that seem only remotely connected to the public’s best interest, one might feel entitled to some of the largess. It might be time to go back to Sylvester and say ‘despicable!’

The Prime Minister has so far stood behind his MP, Lisa Raitt, but methinks there is more trouble brewing in her portfolio. The recent airing of a CBC report on the asbestos business is going to be raising more questions about the government’s commitment to the health of people. Not only are we getting out of the unprofitable business of making medical isotopes, but we are exporting a carcinogen to developing and third-world countries. (Yes, Martha, your government loves you and is looking after you). If Raitt thought isotopes and cancer were sexy, I cannot wait to hear what she thinks about asbestos and the number of people who are dying around the world because the Government of Canada is more concerned about a few jobs in Thedford Mines than thousands of poor people on the other side of the world.

In Ontario, the provincial government is standing behind the Board of eHealth even though the Chair has connections with Cramer and some of the consultants hired without tender. That a number of the consultants also had close connections to the Liberal party has no bearing on the entire despicable mess at eHealth. Perhaps the Minister cannot stand the thoughts of the ignominy of the whole fiasco and prefers to let the dust settle in the hope that we will forget about the misuse of public funds.

One wonders if the result on the handling of the Raitt and Cramer affairs would have been different if their bosses were as tough as the City of North Bay’s Director of Community Services. Knox made no bones about the mess his Chief Building Inspector got himself into. While ‘despicable’ and ‘ignominy’ may not be the words to apply to this minor offense, the disgraced official would have to admit that his actions were, in the words of Sesame Street, DUMB. Knox is right about one thing – the image that these affairs project to the public is damaging.

The question that has to be asked is: Should we be holding the Cramers, Raitts and Killins to a higher standard than we hold ourselves? Or do we just hang our heads and say, “Oh, the ignominy of it all!”?