I should have jumped over this story earlier, since it involves one of the most horrible, “entitled” women you’ll ever meet, Lisa Raitt. I was appalled at her arrogance, narcissism and mismanagement when she was head of the Toronto Port Authority. Well here are two stories about this scumbag (please see the Responses section for the rest of the stories):
Injunction sought to prevent story about Raitt
and
Baird facing allegations over Port Authority appointments
THE CANADIAN PRESS — Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt, followed by her press secretary Jasmine MacDonnell, leaves a news conference in Ottawa, May 28, 2009.
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June 8th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Injunction sought to prevent story about Raitt
OTTAWA – The Conservative government is distancing itself from a move to block the Halifax Chronicle-Herald from publishing another story believed damaging to the political career of Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt.
Liberal critic David McGuinty called on the federal government to fire Raitt.
McGuinty and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff pegged Raitt as too preoccupied with her own future to focus on the looming shortage of medical isotopes, critical to heart and cancer diagnostic tests.
“It is clear we are in a national health care crisis with a minister who is badly distracted,” Ignatieff told the Commons.
“We have a minister who is trying to recover lost binders, trying to explain incriminating tapes and thousands of Canadians are desperately waiting for medical treatments. This is a fiasco.”
In the Commons, McGuinty cited Internet and media reports suggesting that the Chronicle-Herald story is based on an audiotape in which Raitt, McGuinty said, makes “disparaging” remarks about Aglukkaq and expresses no confidence in her health ministry colleague.
“Unless these allegations prove to be false, it is clear that the minister has absolutely no confidence in her colleague’s ability to handle what is now a full-fledged health care crisis,” said McGuinty.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson tersely responded in the Commons that the matter is currently before the courts, and “the minister is not a party to that proceeding and the Government of Canada is not involved.”
Nevertheless, Conservatives were privately expressing concern about whether the tape was so damning that Raitt would be forced to step aside.
While the identity of the person seeking to block the newspaper’s story is subject to a motion for a publication ban, it is widely reported on news aggregators and blogs that it is Raitt’s ex-aide Jasmine MacDonnell.
The still-unpublished story is apparently based on an audio recording made by MacDonnell that includes Raitt’s comments about Aglukkaq, the federal health minister, and other matters involving Raitt’s portfolio.
N.S. Supreme Court Justice Gerald Moir presided over an emergency hearing to hear arguments on an injunction motion by the as-yet unnamed applicant who was also seeking an order of confidentiality or publication ban.
Such an order could block any publication of the identity of the applicant seeking to stop the newspaper from publishing, said spokesman John Piccolo.
An order of confidentiality, if granted, could also potentially seal the exhibits or entire file, he said.
The Chronicle-Herald has not yet published anything about the legal battle going on, either in its paper or on its website. Reporter Steve Maher declined comment, as did news director Dan Leger.
In the Commons, Raitt once again defended the government’s handling of the reactor in Chalk River, Ont. that has been shut down, leading to the isotope shortage, and assured her critics that other nations are working to boost their production.
Aglukkaq addressed Liberal questions regarding the impact on patients.
“Many tests can be completed using other options,” said Aglukkaq, who told the Commons she is working with experts and provincial and territorial ministers to deal with the looming shortage.
The NDP demanded to know who is bankrolling the motion in court to “attempt to muzzle the press” said NDP deputy leader Thomas Mulcair, but his question was met with the same answer by the justice minister, that the government was not involved.
Outside the Commons, Mulcair told journalists that “given the extent to which everything in this file shows that the government is willing to go to extraordinary lengths to protect Minister Raitt, the question is what’s involved here?”
“We, the public have the right to know. Journalists should not be muzzled by the government directly or through their intermediaries, whether it’s their political party or another third party.”
Baird facing allegations over Port Authority appointments
Transport Minister John Baird is facing allegations that he appointed additional members to the Toronto Port Authority to “cover up” claims of mismanagement against cabinet colleague Lisa Raitt.
The NDP is calling on the auditor general to examine some $80,000 in travel and hospitality expenses that Raitt, now the natural resources minister, rung up in two years while she was CEO of the federal public authority.
New Democrat Olivia Chow also wants Baird’s appointment of two board members last December scrutinized by the auditor general.
Chow says four of the nine port authority directors requested an examination into Raitt’s expenses and other management practices at the port authority.
Chow says that instead of trying to sort out the allegations, Baird changed the agency’s constitution the day after Parliament was prorogued in December to add two new board members.
Port authority chairman Mark McQueen, in a letter to Chow, dismissed the allegations of mismangement as an effort by a disgruntled minority to smear the reputation of members who support the Toronto City Centre Airport.
“Their smear campaign appears to have become only more outlandish,” McQueen writes in the letter released Monday.
Chow calls the change in the board’s constitution undemocratic and says it suggests the Tories have something to hide.
“We know that Mr. Baird pays close attention to the Toronto Port Authority,” Chow said in a release.
“In order to cover up alleged management violations of former CEO Lisa Raitt, he changed the constitution of the board from seven to nine members. That is why I appeal to the auditor general to conduct an audit of the Toronto Port Authority.”
At a news conference, Chow alleged that Baird changed the constitution of the authority to “get his way.”
“Instead of seven members of the port authority, he made it to be nine members, and of course he wanted to make sure that he put his own people in.”
A spokesman for Baird referred questions to McQueen, but said the agency was due for a special examination, scheduled every five years, and will undergo a review by a qualified, independent auditor at that time.
“This special examination offers an ideal mechanism for the board to examine, in detail, many of its practices and protocols related to financial and management control, information systems, and management practices,” Baird spokesman Chris Day said in an e-mail.
“The report will be reviewed by both the Minister of Transport and the board upon its completion to ensure that all appropriate protocols are in place and a summary of the report will be made public.”
Raitt was not immediately available for comment.
The island airport is a point of contention for many residents who oppose its expansion.
The Toronto Port Authority owns and operates the airport, two marine terminals and a marina.
Chow’s comments come just days after Raitt offered to resign after sensitive government documents were left at CTV’s Ottawa offices for over a week.
Prime Minister Harper rejected the resignation offer, but did accept the resignation of one of Raitt’s aides.
Raitt is also under fire for reportedly making disparaging remarks about a cabinet colleague – Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq – in a tape recording that is part of court fight in Halifax.
The port authority board members questioned the practices of some of senior management and board members, and allege expense payments were made without board knowledge.
Management expenses include $50,000 spent on hospitality and meals at a local steak house – with one internal management lunch alone costing about $1,000.
In his letter, McQueen notes the hospitality expenses were approved by the board as a line item in the annual budget, and adds approvals for such expenses now must go through a supervisor.
Chow says Raitt also ignored standing policy by paying $65,000 to a law firm retained by a few board members who then held onto the legal advice exclusively.
McQueen called the accusation “without foundation.”
Raitt stepped down from the authority in 2008 to run in the last federal election.
She had been with the agency since 1999 and its CEO since 2002.
June 10th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
I don’t know why, but i keep cracking up when I see that headline! Good one RR!!
November 6th, 2009 at 4:28 am
[…] I wrote about this scumbagguette back in June in this blog. I’ve had a hate-on since Lis Raitt first got anointed to her cushy job, where she ruled like an entitled queen. I’ve heard her speak many times and she is a bitch through and through. Well, the Comments section contains further proof that she’s a corrupt, entitled scumbag. Read on… […]
January 20th, 2010 at 12:26 am
[…] ahem>, but CM sent me a link to the story mentioning that PM Harper severely demoted that “entitled” Argument for Birth Control, Lisa Raitt, for her incompetence, arrogance and all-round no-goodness (okay, that describes Harper too, but I […]