Updated: Wed Jun. 03 2009 10:02:09 PM

CTV.ca News Staff

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he let Minister of Natural Resources Lisa Raitt keep her job because her staff was responsible for the secret documents left behind at CTV News' Ottawa bureau.

Harper said because Raitt was "working at the time" when the documents were misplaced, the case was different than the one involving former foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier, who had to resign after misplacing classified documents.

"In the case of Mr. Bernier, his actions were much more personal and that was the difference in responsibility," Harper told reporters Wednesday afternoon.

"(Raitt) was undertaking ministerial activity in the company of her staff, who were responsible for these documents, certainly for accounting for these documents later . . . and she had a reasonable expectation that that would be done."

The documents were left behind for nearly a week without any inquiry from Raitt's office. A staffer has resigned over the matter.

Harper said that the incident was "a serious matter and there will have to be changes."

Raitt told the House of Commons during question period that she offered her resignation to Prime Minister Stephen Harper Wednesday.

"Certain procedures were not followed in this case. Corrective action has been taken. I offered to resign if the prime minister felt it necessary. He did not accept it," she said.

"The procedures in place were clearly not followed. Corrective action has been taken. And I have accepted the resignation of the individual who is responsible for the documents."

The staffer is Jasmine MacDonnell, 26, Raitt's director of communications. "I offered my resignation," she said Wednesday, as she left the prime minister's offices on Parliament Hill. MacDonnell also served as press secretary to former natural resources minister Gary Lunn.

Kory Teneycke, a spokesman for Harper, told CTV News Channel's Power Play that there were two failures in security procedures.

The first was leaving the documents behind, and the second was that the documents were not reported missing.

There was supposed to be an overhaul of classified document security after the Bernier affair, and Teneycke admitted the new system has failed.

"It has been tightened up . . . but obviously this is a failure of that system to work properly," he said.

Teneycke said that ultimately the staffer was individually responsible for the secret documents and would only say the "government is globally responsible" for the system's failure in this case.

A wrinkle in the official explanation is the difference between who signed out the document, who was using it and who was ultimately responsible for its security.

"Sources have told CTV that that briefing document actually was the minister's document," CTV Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife said Wednesday. "Why did the minister not ask, 'where is my briefing document, why is it missing?'"

The documents also featured Raitt's own handwriting on them. Raitt did not learn they were missing until CTV reported on the documents Tuesday night.

Opposition demands Raitt resign

The opposition parties demanded that Raitt resign and said that she is ultimately responsible for mistakes made within her department.

"The issue here is an issue of competence and not just competence in relation to this minister but competence in relation to the whole government," Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said.

"Canadians want competence in their government, when are they going to get it?"

Last May, Bernier resigned from his post as foreign affairs minister after acknowledging he had left behind classified government documents at the home of his former girlfriend Julie Couillard.

"Ministers are always responsible for the protection of classified documents," Harper said in the House of Commons on June 2, 2008.

"The minister admitted that he failed to protect classified documents. That is why he offered his resignation and why I accepted it."

NDP MP Thomas Mulcair said the prime minister is not following his own rules in the case of Raitt.

"The rules say that she is the one responsible, not some underling. How is that acceptable?" he asked during question period. "It's unacceptable. She should resign and leave immediately."

Harper was not in the House to answer questions on the matter.

On Wednesday, a federal government employee picked up the documents after CTV reported Tuesday night that they had been left behind for six days.

The documents reveal Ottawa has poured far more money into the aging Chalk River nuclear reactor than the public has been told.

Some of the papers are clearly marked "secret."

CTV's Graham Richardson said nobody from Raitt's office called to ask for the documents since they went missing.

"If they weren't noticed missing, why is that? And if they knew they were missing why didn't they call around?" Richardson questioned on Wednesday.

"Did they not call around because they didn't want to alert the media that they had lost some documents? Did they not know where they'd lost them?"

Details of the documents

Ontario's Chalk River reactor supplies at least one-third of the world's medical isotopes, which are used in diagnostic tests for some forms of cancer. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. shut down the reactor last month because of a heavy water leak.

In documents headlined "Background for discussion with chair of Atomic Energy Canada," the government lists funding for the Crown corporation at $351 million for 2009-2010. That figure was in the January budget.

However, it also lists $72 million to "maintain the option of isotope production." The public 2009 budget does not specifically mention funding for isotopes.

The documents also include a hand-written note that lists total funding for Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd. since 2006 at $1.7 billion, and then a talking-point memo to characterize the spending as "cleaning up a Liberal mess."

The Conservative government plans to privatize AECL's nuclear reactor division in order to boost sales of its CANDU reactors, as Ontario weighs whether to buy two new power plants.

Publicly, Ottawa has downplayed Ontario's interest in the sale of AECL's Candu division. But included in the binder is background information for a May 25 meeting with Glenna Carr, who chairs the board of directors for AECL: "The government continues to support AECL's bid in Ontario, but the announcement will probably raise questions about this support. We will have to manage this very carefully."

Other documents highlight cost increases for AECL that have not been made public. In one document headlined "Discussion with CEO Hugh MacDiarmid, CEO of Atomic Energy Canada," it lists $100 million in supplementary funding to keep it solvent.

That figure includes cost increases to refurbishing Ontario's Bruce Power reactors and cost-overruns at Candu reactors around the world, according to the documents.

Comments are now closed for this story

Nancy: Expect the Liberals to yell Crisis again
Sounds like the Conservatives are on top of the file from the so called secret file. No real surprises. The Liberal over the top reaction can be expected and they can scream crisis again like they do with everything else lets face it the reactor is 50 yrs old.

Daddy Tax bucks from Embrun, ON
Why is it that the government is neither open nor transparent about our financial investment in AECL and our deficit.($50B?) Do we have to rely on left over "secret" documents to discover the truth? Does Harper and Finance Minister Flaherty feel that "We can't handle the truth"? What I can handle is a little integrity and transparency from all levels of government (federal, provincial and municipal)because they are all giving us the "censored version" and quite frankly, if we the taxpayer are paying the bill then we deserve the truth. Not incessant BS.

Tyrone & Yolanda
If opposition can only scream about a staffer leaving a binder behind I think the Governmemt is doing pretty good.

The Man
Leaving secret government documents in a building full of snooping reporters and hawk-eyed cameramen? Fatal mistake.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Geo in TO
Nobody noticed they were missing? Does that also mean nobody noticed where my tax dollars have been going?

A. Madden
And who is surprised? Not me. We are preparing for an election here in NS. One wonders if it is worth voting. Don't blame another party for your mistakes Mr. Harper. The public is growing weary of this. Just stop the foolishness and get some work done as we, your employers are entitled to expect from you!!! If I wasted as much time as those in Ottawa do, passing the buck, I would be unemployed and rightly so.fed up in Nova Scotia

Goldens
Time to sell AECL and put AECL into more competent hands. Lift the burden from the taxpayer and get on with the sale.
John Wilson
Btwn NS

Fed up with the feds
If it top secret info, why would be even be allowed to leave the government building where this person works.... fire them!!

bella-in-ottawa
I don't understand how these gov't officials can leave such important documents? The minister and her staff are obviously not very competent.

Paul - Orillia
This is the worst government ever!
Complete incompetence and mismanagement, all for someones personal ego.

Nice going Canadians on voting these fools to run your country.

Canada will be continued to be labeled a joke with a joke government!

SunCoaster
I think they were left on purpose, this shows we are paying more than they are telling us. This supports their case for selling the facility into private hands. Just part of public manipulation to achive the goal privitisation.

Dan in Quebec
This is not news......overspending tax payers money and then not telling the people who's money you are spending, the truth (keep it secret). Blaming someone else for your incompetence and problems versus taking responsibility and fixing it.

Sounds like a bunch of mischievous kids!

JJ from Saskatoon
It's great to see federal ministers treat secret documents so carefully. Fortunately the Tories weren't in government during the war or we'd all be speaking German.

Wes Hagel
Wes(Sask)

If someone's mail is accidentally put into my mailbox, I don't give myself the right to snoop, (and it's not even marked secret). What ever happened to mutual respect.

Rene
I'm glad it wasn't a Foreign Affairs document that was left behind... Oh wait that was last year. Funny how history repeats itself.

FreakAlert
I, for one, don't think it was no accident.

Chris
Sounds like a bit of "Show and Tell" to me.

Crazy Jim
pffft...

Okay children, this wasn't a leak.

DUH!

dj north bay ont
Makes youwonder how many more
documents are disappearing out of Government Buildings.Good thing MP's make 150 000+ a year

Wendy
If you are one of the only suppliers in anything you make billions of dollars.

This is just another example of Harper's lack of economic sense.

Harper is destroying Canada's economy with a growing deficit of 1 billion per week.

Greg in the Hammer
I'm sure all the CONBOTS will be flooding this message board with posts trying to make this a Liberal issue. Get with the program people: this government is incompetent in pretty much everything it does, from the economy to simple document management. Time for this joke to end.

When are these clowns going to realize that they've been in office for over three years, and that the public isn't going to accept "the liberals did it" as an excuse for screwing everything up

Adam in Ottawa
Hmmm. A report by the Conservatives trashing the Liberals about the past maintenance of the Chalk River facility "accidentally" left behind at the headquarters of a major news outlet? I don't know...

James in Edmonton
I'm sure they forgot the document on purpose by leaking to the public.

Trent
Yeah, I am sure leaving them behind was an accident.

Anneke
I find it surprising that commenters are so blasé about secret documents being left about by the minister. If I left such government documents in MY care lying about, I would (rightly) be charged with a federal offense.

They are marked "Secret" for a reason and, as such, are supposed to be carefully handled so they aren't seen by anyone not meant to see them. Those Conservative apologists who are willing to accept this government's appalling record when it comes to its lack of security consciousness would, of course, be apoplectic if this were any other governments' "mistake".

opinion
I am sure it will be the aid's fault, definitely not the Minister? Somebody has to take the fall for this governments shortcomings.

Knotoo Konserned
We interupt this thread for an unimportant point.........Anyone ever consider that the binder was left behind on purpose ? Maybe part of a plan to show how much this nuclear facility is draining the taxpayer and to build a case for its sale to the private sector. Just a thought...................
Conservative haters may now continue with their regular programming.

Mike from Georgetown, ON
What a way to get media attention! Mark it "Secret" and leave it in a news room.

No harm done here... there are far more important things to worry about these days.

The isotopes produced here are important to health care worldwide. Spend what it takes and get the production going again. The life you save may be your own!

Independently Minded
I am stunned that Con supporters are "condoning" this incredible breach of security... Does your partisan ship have any limits or are you all just "sheeple"?!

What if it were sensitive security documents about troop movements in Afghanistan or of suspected terrorist cells operating in Canada?

Where is the professional responsibility?

Then there is the fact that in the documents, yet again, we see a demonstration that this government is "hiding" the truth from the "Boss" (the Canadian people) about our tax dollars. Hiding debt and spending all over the place.

I guess Flaherty hasn't changed much since his term in Ontario...

Where is this fiscally responsible and transparent government Harper promised? So far it's become a lot of hot air to convince Canadians, coast to coast, of something these MPs are NOT. HONEST and FORTHRIGHT!

These MPs have no control over the public purse or even the documents circulated within their own departments...

A word comes to mind...INCOMPETENCE!

Joe Fusco
As a supporter of the current government, I do admit that this is a significant issue, in which the aide or Honourable Minister should be disciplined. However, I fear the Opposition will merely take this incident and rail on the government to argue that the ENTIRE government is incompetent and Canadians need to go to the polls. We do not.

Judy
See, Maxine Bernier wasn't so stupid after all....everyone does it!!!

Mark
Can any of the normal posters here ever resist the desire to be so partisan and try to trash the other side instead of commenting on the news story.

Some one in the government leaving behind a "secret" document (though financial informations sounds more like confidential) is not the sign we have the worse government ever.

Some one leaving behind a "secret" document should be held accountable.

smitty
They seem to be moving in the right direction. The government should offload all commercial business and let commerce look after its own. Taxpayer owned businesses just turn into bottomless money pits ie; CN, Petrocan, Air Canada, CBC...and we find out way too late that we've been funding a losing venture or start believing that it's our duty as Canadians to do so. Business relies on 2 very simple priciples to see if a company should stay running; profit= keep it, loss=dump it. Government can't do anything with that much simplicity, it doesn't take enough bureaucracy or public employees.

Paul Stewart
Was this really accidental though or did someone *want* this information shared? It's always easier to "make a mistake" and ask forgiveness later....

Island Man
Why are secret documents being carried about in such a careless fashion. Do these CONs not take their responsibilities seriously? Did they not learn from Bernier? Should secret documents not be tracked? How could they be left lying around so long and not be missed? This government continues to show it's total incompetence as it continues to betray the trust of Canadians.

PB_Toronto
Why are all the sheep so keen on making mountains out of mole hills and crying conspiracy and coverup at every turn. Come on people this is not the 60's. Mistakes happen. I think I'm the only one here who finds it appalling that if anything was left marked "secret" and its found what gives someone the "right" to rummage through it? Glad to see the Media has all our best interests at hand by sacrificing their moral high ground.

Dave in Surrey
Gross incompetency or a leak of information...

Either way, this government needs to be fired!!!

Alex (Toronto)
Sure, let's sell AECL to the folks who ran Three Mile Island. We can sell CN to Amtrak, CBC to Fox News, and auction Petrocan to the Iranians or Venezuealans.

If the government wanted to leak the information, they could just release it verbally and journalists could cite "high-level sources". It's not even so much about the cabinet ministers per se, though they are responsible, but about whether senior civil servants with responsibility in these areas are being chosen for competence or for political loyalty. I think it's the latter and that's why we are seeing these incidents, and that's why this is a political issue. If courier companies can trace documents and parcels with bar codes and RFID chips, someone in the civil service should be able to do the same thing with copies of classified documents.

Robin
Call the election already Ignetieff and let's get rid of the high school graduates who are running the country. Since taking power, their ineptitude has been proven again and again. Simply, they are out of their league.
I couldn't care less if Ignatieff has been out of the country for 50yrs. Everyone knows that Harper IS only in it for HIMSELF.

Zhimmy
Honestly...how do Top Secret documents get left on the desk of CTV News...My opinion is that its either gross incompentence OR the government or someone wanted them leaked to see it. Let's not be foolish here and just believe that it was an accident. OR are you so easily tricked?

DCR-Toronto
I agree that this file may have been left on purpose. We all know that money being spent on the reactor was necessary to keep it going. The public doesn't want to pay any more for this. Thus, supporting the governments bid to sell the reactor.
Of course the opposition will be screaming to NOT sell the reactor. The public not wanting to spend more, will side with the Conservatives. Not a far off theory, at all.

karen
If this was marked "secret" how come the contents are being revealed? Does CTV not respect private property?

If I left my purse/briefcase behind at your facility, would you be looking through all its contents (besides looking for owner's identity)or respect my property?

Listen up Nancy
Nancy, you conservatives are like a dog with a bone. Or maybe you are just in an endless loop. It's always the Liberal's fault no matter what comes out in public. You are like the boy who cried wolf. People just stop listening to you when the message keeps repeating ad nauseam. It makes you look foolish.

Kat C
Is anyone else concerned that someone went ahead and opened the files and reported on them? By the way - if CTV posts this comment, since it's about them, I will really appreciate it.

Dave
There is no accident here. The conservative government cannot trust the CBC to report anything it does with any confidence so it leaves non-sensitive 'secret' documents at CTV and is prepared to take a little heat for getting the necessary financial information to the people of Canada.

How Ms Raitt is handled will be proof.

SK Man
Why is the media so anti-government? This is not a big deal...

G Chaput
CTV needs to review its values and ethics if it opened an envelope marked secret which was not their property. However, given the items published by CTV are already publicly available information, these papers appear to merely be briefing notes brought to the meeting by the Minister or her aides. Regardless, for CTV to publish the content indicates some lack of professional judgement and media integrity.

Will
Since Maxime Bernier was fired for doing the same thing, it's only fair that Lisa Raitt gets fired too. I can't belive 2 Harper ministers would do this in such a short amount of time. How can we trust this government with protecting Canadian's information if they leave all sorts of secret documents lying around and no one notices?

ComSense
Smarten up voters of Canada. We have this hillbilly government because the voters are easily fooled. Try doing some reading the next time you vote.

Rick in NB
Sorry Alex ( Toronto )
CN is and has been a private company for almost 13 years now. That's why it is one of the largest and most sucessful railroads in North America. Heck even Bill Gates owns millions of shares.
The government has never had any luck in running companies. Petro Can and Air Canada are just two examples.

Laughing in Vancouver
This is government transparency at it's ultimate!

TimT
oh puleeease. Is anyone really buying this? It was left at CTV, known to favor conservatives, and eve had the nice talking point "cleaning up a liberal mess" written in.

How dumb are we???

Irrisponsable Cons
Hey Nancy The Liberals & all opposition parties should scream blue murder.
Give your head a shake, do you really think it's OK to leave classified Government documents hanging around in an open place were anyone could read them.
This is irrisponsable behaviour & it's not the first time this has happened.
Thank God these documents didn't fall into the wrong hands. remember we are post 911 & CSIS has already foiled several terror attemps that were being planned on Canadian soil.

keith
This is only a 'past liberal issue' insofar as it is an old reactor that wasn't maintained properly and now we are feeling the effects.

Simply put the funding that is going into it now is to play catch up. Just as if you bought a car and the previous owner hadn't done the required oil changes.

We have seen similar spending in the military to replace decades old equipment.

As for CTV... If I left a computer with passwords to my banking information in one of their offices does that give them justification to look at my private records? Let alone report on them?

The numbers as reported do get a bit murky, although I would suspect as the government was angling for a sale it is important for them to keep some of the cards close to their chest.

micky
why does this sound so familliar--does Maxime Bernier ring a bell???
sounds like habitual carelessness to me on the part of conservative members of parliament

Scratch
This was a calculated move by the Conservatives to move away from the disastrous $50B+ deficit this year. To try and blame the Liberals, even though they have been in power for 3.5yrs now. These shenanigans have to stop, is no one running the government these days?

terri
Sorry Robin, speak for yourself. I think the government is doing an awesome job . I don't care think it was an accident that they were left there and I agree with the person that said they shouldn't have read it in the first place. I don't open mail that has been accidently left in my mail box if it is not mine.

Andrea in Ottawa
Well leaving documents behind is just a sign of pure carelessness. But the information in it, is probably no accident.

R/H Ontario
Although I voted for the Conservatives in the last Election, I think that the next time I go into the voting booth, I will be not voting Conservative. But I will also add my sheer disbelief at CTV employees and the so called Professional Journalists involved in this story, to even consider snooping through "Secret Documents". I thought, mistakenly it seems, that 'They' all had some sense of decency and honour!!!!! No honour there I guess! Whatever makes a news story, no matter who is roasted in the process. Good job that in the last war (WW2) there were more reliable and patriotic journalists around, plus there were rules to be obeyed. Now.....all out the window, what a sad state we live in now that "Free Speech" is paramount.

Marie
It goes to show you how careless, inexperienced and how crucial it is to vote these useless people out. This is my Canada and I want to see some strong leadership, not one that is practising and making things up as they go. I want one that practises what they preach instead of blaming everyone but themselves for their bungling tactics that are costing Canadians dearly.It is time that we gat a chance to vote these pretend people right out of here. It is time for the Media to get on their case instead of making excuses . It is time for the media to listen to the people, support them because without that support they are nothing and will not last.

Edmonton Jim
Now this is another example of incomptence....at least no ties to Biker gangs here.!

Having said that, the information indicates that this government is not open and accountable to Canadians. Is that the type of government we elected?

Dave in Alberta
This is the second secret minister's Binder left in public

If the conservative party was in opposition, there would be a call for the resignation of the minister as well as the minister of security. Will the conservative follow their our advice.

If not, it is more sinister, would a minister of the government release secret documents for political gain.

It is one or the other.

Kevin In vancouver
The real issue here is the Government needs to hire better aides. I don't know what the criteria is to be a ministerial aide but I think they might want to consider people with a little more attention to detail personality traits rather than people with education but no real life experience. Maybe each minister needs at least one ex military person on staff.

John - a Progressive Conservative
What I see is more lies, more attempts to hide facts from the public and STILL blaming the last government for everything that isn't favourable.

Mr Harper is a poor leader and along with his so called team continues with the same lame excuses for their lack of competency and inability to take positive action on anything.

The old saying is "with power comes responsibility".

It is time for this government to finally start taking some responsibility or find a leader that will.

John E Perfecto
It has now been confirmed that some government people are actually human. Possibly not all, but some. A federal government employee picked these documents up. And did what? Call the media? What did they say? " its' not my job to pick up", so I better call the media and let Canada, no, let the world know?

Ian Ottawa
I will bet the staffer will step up a rung in the Liberal Party once the election is over and they will say, "It was an honest mistake and we believe this person should not be chastized..blah, blah, blah."

Marj S
Such lackadasical care of sensitive material. No surprise there. Can't you just imagine a political cartoon, reactor being carried on car roof, with sign outside of the facility...saying "PC, garage sale"!

Robert in Vancouver
Most of the other issues regarding what the documents contained has already been brought up by other posters in this thread, so I’ll leave that to them. After reading the article one thing did bother me though. Not meaning to shoot the messenger here, but if these documents were clearly marked “Secret” as stated in the article, what were these journalists doing leafing through them? And after they discovered them, what efforts were made to notify the government that they had them?

Granted, the public’s right to know is part of the foundation of a free and democratic society, but not at all costs. If these documents contained the names of collaborators working with Canadian troops in Afghanistan should the media be presenting this information for public scrutiny as well? And before I hear the obvious retort of “well we wouldn’t do that” I’d like to ask them since when is it the media who decides what constitutes a national secret and what doesn’t?

The fact that documents marked “Secret” were forgotten, and forgotten for that long, aside from being inexcusable, and stupid, is also news I grant you. However, it does not automatically make their contents fare game in what appears to be an effort to kick up a little dust to increase ratings.

Nick in Gatineau
Details of raids against criminal organizations ?

Details about an cabinet MP having an affair with a KGB russian transvestite posing as a waiter ?

Nope.

Just a 'secret' document which is not supposed to be seen by anyone who does not have the clearence to see it. Reporters do not have the clearance to see it.

So why there blatant acceptance of the mistake ?

Why was the document identifying the costs as a Liberal problem ?

Haven't they figured out yet that Chalk River is an Internationally recognized institution and that it longer matters who is in power but rather that it remain operational ?

Why hasn't the government itself commissioned Candu reactors specialized in Isotopes ?

Why would this document emphasize an allotment for Isotopes ? Are they saying that Isotopes are too expensive and they want to stop producing them ? Will the private terrorist group that will purchase it stop producing them ?

Time to produce material regarding Harper's past indiscretions. Let me see...

LAL
The fact that these documents were marked "secret' and were left at a media bureau for "6 DAYS" only solidifies the incompetence of the Minister of Natural Resourses. Her resignation is inevitable.

The fact that the government expects us to believe
"secret documents" were left at a media bureau for "6 DAYS" was simply an unfortunate oversight, further demonstrates this governments reluctance to accept that Canadians are not idiots. The end to their governing is inevitable.

Gary
Lets quit bashing the gov't , this was not a matter of national security, Besides we should be thankful the gov't is trying to keep this archaic facility running doing very important work for medical treatment. The minister should not resign if anything the staffer should be reprimanded

No way
Do you really think handing over a 50 year old reactor to the private sector is a good idea? Give your head a shake. Its 50 years old it needs to be replaced. Its like driving a 25 year old car, its gonna cost ya. We need a new reactor fast! Sick people all over the world count on it.

GJS - Markham
The precedent was set with Maxine Bernier; therefore Lisa Raitt must now be fired for the same incompetence. That will do until we can have an election and fire the entire group of incompetent Conservatives - Harper in particular.

my take on this
Before becoming Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his crew ranted about the Liberal government constantly. The Conservative Party of Canada has had a minority government (thankfully) since January 2006 and I have never seen as much incompetence coming from a bunch of brow beaters in my life. Stephen Harper's conservative government reminds me of the Michael Caine movie Without a Clue.

El Sid from the Jaw.
Running a business or a farm or a sports franchise (Phoenix Coyotes) today is similiar to a relationship. At some point the future potential losses must be weighed against the potential gains and a line drawn in the sand. Governments/managers/people can't just keep pouring good money after bad hoping/praying that it all gets better. I trust that we are at least breaking even in our production of the medical isotopes. It would be nice to know.

James in New Brunswick
This sounds like something that was deliberately left behind with the intention that it be found and reported on.

Now, was it left by a conscientious "whistle-blower" or by the government because it couldn't very well just come out and say that Chalk River is a white elephant....

Ron from
Real sad! This incompetence of leaving the secret documents (accidentally on purpose) reminds me of Homer Simpson carrying a fuel rod around in his back pocket.

Somebody will be carrying around the "fuel rod" for this one.

Dan in Ontario
I can't believe some of the comments of the Conservatives here. Is leaving Secret documents around in public places okay? No wonder Harper has tried to control his cabinet so much. This is complete incompetence. First Maxime Bernier, now this. Lisa Raitt has never served the local public very well wherever she served, like at the Port Authority in Toronto. This pretty much reaffirms that.

Independently Minded
@SK Man

The media is not anti-governement, they are however like the "Boss" the Canadian people, anti-incomptence.

Now the Con sheeple need to be aware that unlike the US, there is a code of conduct in Canadian News, requiring them to be unbiased. Hence the repeated notice by CTV News Net regarding (the now Conservative Senator) Mike Duffy's treatment on his Dion interview last winter and how he breeched that code of conduct.

I am not so much shocked by a news service reading classified documents left in their office as I am about the Minister or her aide's ineptitude at leaving such sensitive documents behind to begin with.

Again, what if they were about our troops in Afghanistan?!

"Secret" is still secret and after Bernier, one would expect a greater control over such documents. This government appears to be incapable of learning from past mistakes...

Ethan
The minute you say SECRET or DON'T TELL ANYONE well things just go to zoo land. The reality is this is no secret, never was never will be. All this info should and is public knowledge. It is time the Cons. stopped playing games and put forth facts to the best of their knowledge. Even the debt we are headed for why not put numbers on a huge board and state where the numbers are coming from (even at approximately value). The public would like it very much.

CYL
Interesting ! does this come under the heading of 'open' and 'tranparent'.
Who's head is on the block.

Dray from SK
I think what everyone's missing is writing "secret" on something doesn't mean it should be "secret" - does our government have the right to hide what they're doing with all our money - in a public trust in a public utility? Stop the witch hunt/blaming about documents and look at the facts. Nuclear is 1. unsafe and 2. exorbitantly costly.

MRC in Ontario
Human error at the wrong place at the wrong time just sucks, don't it?

Cambob
First reaction: The Prime Minister should immediately force her resignation.

Second reaction: The utter incompetence of this minister (she is resposible for her staff) is completely unacceptable.

Third reaction: The opposition has total fair game to grind this in the face of the government.
Fourth reaction: What's on tv tonight...

Lynn
It sounds to me like the files were left behind deliberately so that the info would be leaked to the media.

I think there is someone inside Minister Raitt's administration who is concerned about how much money is being secretly spent on this nuclear reactor and feels the public has a right to know about it.

Les in BC
This smells like a well planned setup. Why would this woman even have these documents in her possession outside of the government offices to begin with.?

If they were classified as top secret, you can be assured that even a grade two idiot would not let that package out of his or her sight.

Nope, this is a well planned agenda being played out in the political arena.

don
I noticed with great concern that the person who retrieved the SECRET documents from CTV Bureau Chief Bob Fife did not put the documents in a secure briefcase! He simply left the CTV office with the SECRET documents in hand and entered the elevator. It is clear that Government has never trained these people how to properly transport and handle sensitive documents. This is just another example of the incompetence of the Harper Government! Like Maxime Bernier, Minister Raitt MUST resign or be Fired.

DB Cooper
Sorry, I couldn't stop laughing after I read where Bernier said that he used good judgement. Too funny!

Military Aviator
"Maybe each minister needs at least one ex-military person on staff."

Kevin in Vancouver, I couldn't agree more!! If the government (any party) wants someone with attention to detail, professionalism and accountability they should absolutely hire an ex-military member.

As for the documents, some of you are confusing "secret" and "top secret". The two terms are vastly different!! I have a stamp in my desk that says "secret" and I can put it on my print-out of last nights sports scores...guess that makes them secret too.

DL
Anyone who does not see the problem with documents being left behind is either a CPC hack or a schmuck ... these are government documents!

If an employee in my company leaves documents around that are sensitive in nature ... they get fired for incompetence.

happy
Just the Conservatives acting like incompetent children again.
Let's vote soon!

Charley Rose
I smell a rat and Lisa should hire a P.I. to find it! Sounds very fishy to me, almost too cleverly and 'accidentally' left behind. I mean really.

constancebay7
It probably was done on purpose in order to reveal the spending involved with Deep River. As usaul everyone thinks it means time to get rid of the government. People have got to stop blaming the government of Cnada for the economic conditions. Yes the liberals ripped us off. Yes the conservatives probably are too. The point is, it was Mr Bush that screwed the economy up in the entire world, not our politicians the American politicians are to blame.

Former Conservative
Too funny... it is becoming a habit for Minister Blunders and a Junior falling on their sword.

Just another sign of Conservative incompetence. These people do not take their jobs seriously. One thing is for sure some of them will go back to there old jobs as shoe sales people.

Oh BTW - I love the harassing TV commercials slamming IGGY - Looks really good on Harper.

Ear-Fredrick
Congratulations to the one who left that document laying around purposely so that Canada can see it. Brillant!

pdm
why would one minister have to resign after leaving papers in a private home while another, leaving papers in public get to keep her job! two sets of rules by KING HARPER. And then some poor office worker loses their job. Great Government we have.

Spud Lite
Many years ago I was in a boat (in knee-depth water) that started to sink. The first thing I hollered was, "Save the beer! Save the beer!"

Now that we have this sinking government that keeps shooting holes in its own boat, the outcry is, "Save the Minister! Save the Minister!"

What a surprise that they found a sacrifical goat in some faceless, nameless staffer. Poor bugger.

Daniel Young
No one should lose their job over something like this. Instead, the focus should be on preventing it from happening again. We all make mistakes and this was clearly an important one. But I doubt the Minister or her assistant would deliberately leave such documents behind or unprotected.

Brad in Calgary
This issue is like the Seinfeld show...a whole bunch of fluff about nothing. Since when would the Min of Nat Resources be responsible for anything of national security. I agree with the other posters....so a few unimportant docs were left behind....CTV is making this an issue because they have a "scoop" and can make this into a national problem. Stop blaming the gov't for everyhting from the economy to the bad weather in the winter. Let it go. Fire an underling (they did I guess) to keep everyone happy and move on.

Laura Langstaff
Y'know, I voted NDP last Federal election, because I hoped that they would be more responsive to the people. I have communicated with Jean Crowder, and she has consistently done as her constituents ask. I feel let down by Jack Layton though. If he STILL is reluctant to take out these Conservatives who refuse to be open, accountable and transparent, than I certainly will not vote NDP again! The NDP will never govern, until they stop being gutless fraidy cats!

Dave
Well Tom T. Judging by the comments I am reading, I would have to say most people in this country are stupid. Just look at the governments that have been elected over the last 30 years. Should tell you something about the mentality of voters out there.

Kevin in T.O.
Holy smokes people, the aide made a mistake. As a result, the aide has resigned their position which displays an act of accountability. This happens in the private sector quite frequently too. But how many of you were calling for the collapse of CIBC when they leaked private information about their clients? Any minor thing that goes wrong with this government and its under the microscope. How come the Liberals don't have to face this kind of scrutiny?

kc in alberta
Another example of all around poor leadership and refusal to take responsibility at the highest levels of the Harper government.

A likely reason that Raitt was spared while Bernier was not is that she is one of the few women that support and ran for the Conservative party and one of even fewer women allowed to serve in their cabinet.

That's an important optic that fequently comes in to play in the Conservatives ongoing struggle to build any firm support beyond their traditional base.

Michele in Burlington
I do not understand why the government is prepared to sell off Atomic Energy to private interests when the production of energy in general and medical isotopes in particular are so critical.
Meanwhile untold billions are being handed out to a failing auto maker. Am I the only person that sees something wrong with this picture?

Chris Williams
Why are these MPs carrying sensitive documents all over the place? Aren't there any guidelines whatsoever on how these documents are handled? Aren't there any information guidelines in place for MPs?

Robert in Calgary
Expect the Conservatives to remain comotose.

Machiavelli
Yeah, right. Give these bungling buffoons a majority. Nice how the minister wasn't honourable enough to take the fall. She had an underling do it. Typical Tory ruthlessness.

Al
So much for accountability and responsibility. Typical Canadian politics. An aide gets fired instead of the person responsible.

Independently Minded
@Daniel Young

Umm, this has happened before and now it's happened again!

How many Conservative minister "mistakes" does it take before the message sinks in?

"Don't take sensitive documents out of your office!"

Pretty basic to me...

Grim
Wendy - the gov't is planning on spinning of the reactor building portion - CANDU reactors - not the isotopes. People need to read the story and comment on the material the is presented. Our country is becoming more illiterate and illogical every day as can be seen by the countless moronic postings on these and other news stories.

Adam
The conservative government has been great at trying to keep its face off all forms of conflict. There was no excuse for why the federal govt didn't step in for ottawa's bus strike. Public transit IS and essential service to a major city. Quite frankly, this case just sums up the fact that they have no idea whats going on or how to run the place.
Then again, who expects any politician to actually make things better for anyone but themselves? Its sad to say we've got the censored version of everything, but why hide this kind of information? The general public should know where its tax dollars are going. If the costs are higher than expected, call a vote to see if its a feasable cost/benefit ratio. Its called democracy. Don't expect too much of it though.

Doug Rutherford, Whitehorse
I should ask if they were actually classified as secret or just embarrassing.

I'm not a conservative supporter by any stretch of the imagination; however, the minister wasn't the one to lose the documents and isn't, or shouldn't be, expected to keep track of every document within her portfolio. The staff member who lost them should resign and did. The minister, herself, should not have to in this situation.

Peter MB
Everyone including the Liberals knew that this reactor was getting old and was a money pit and liberals offered no impute on what to do with it since 2006.

We should be happy the conservative shut it down before it melted down. One thing the documents clearly point out is that this is yet again another liberal mess that has to be cleaned up just like the 2 billion dollar useless gun registry. But the liberals will never admit to making a mistake.

Here in Manitoba we have lots of cheep surplus hydro power that we can share with Ontario. We just need an east west power grid.

Dave in Surrey
NY Times reported the 1.74 Billion figure a week ago...

No one find that odd?

Anyone wonder where the "Secret" documents labelled "Clean up Liberal Mess" were left before the CTV?

Things that make you go hmmmm...

Cheaper than an Attack Ad eh Mr. Harper!!!

Lorne fr Agassiz
This is another example to just how bad our government is!
The mininster won't resign but she was fast at getting the aid to resign.
As always the conserative always pass the blame on anyone but themselves.
Harper didn't accept the resignation of the minister because they will not take blame for anything, always pass the buck.
COME ON CANADIANS lets force the oppositions to take this government down, believe me it would not hurt as much as having the conserative stay.
Please Canada wake up and smell the stinch coming from the conserative government.
They opened a can of worms and with the bailout, now the lumber industry is crying foul, soon the fishing industry, then who?
The minister was happy to take the staff member resignation which proves she is putting the blame on others.
She is the minister and she is supposed to be responsible but the conseratives blame someone else. Next they will blame the canadians for the reccession.

CynicalMe
Was it a surprise to ANYONE that it would be an aidr rather than a minister?

Gord in PA
Most people who carry documents and papers use briefcases so I find it interesting that the documents were not in a briefcase with locks. They would have been awkward to carry loose like that.

Jim
To the Cons of the list - be quiet, this was a mistake and the Minister should step up and accept responsibility. It doesn't matter if she or an aide was the one who left the material behind, ultimately it is her responsibility - it was her file.

To the Libs on the list - quit telling the Cons to stop blaming the previous government. Lib leader Iggy and others have been busy blaming Mulroney for leaving their beloved Chretien with the deficit and how Chretien pounded it into defeat. Paul Martin did that task without help from Chretien. Liberals seem to rather conveniently forget that deficit spending and the national debt were the creation of the grandaddy of all Liberals - Pierre Elliot Trudeau.

Niagara George
The fact that the minister left sensitive documents is unforgivable. The fact that it took 6 days for her to realize they were missing means the prime minister must send her to the back benches.

To pass the blame to an aide is a complete degredation of responsibility. The next thing we will hear is that this aide was also the cause of the Chalk River debaucle.

Scott
Raitt should have taken the blame, whether it was her or an aide - be the responsible person.

Lorne fr Agassiz
Peter MB

You must be a conserative because you blame others! There are always something the last government did, the government of the day blames them for all the mess.
The only party that is to blame is the government of the day.

They knew what was wrong they have been in power long enought to know that, yet they spend tax payers money on it or somthing else and then mark it secret, why because they don't want canadian to know and that proves to me that they are the quilty party.

Daryl NS
"Nancy: Expect the Liberals to yell Crisis again
Sounds like the Conservatives are on top of the file from the so called secret file. No real surprises. The Liberal over the top reaction can be expected and they can scream crisis again like they do with everything else lets face it the reactor is 50 yrs old."

Nancy, apparently you are very uneducated when it comes to Nuclear technology. This is HUGE, and had the wrong person got their hands on it, you better believe you should be worried. What's worse, there's no way to confirm how many copies good old CTV made and distributed...and I'm sure they'll never tell you.

All it takes is 1, just 1 and your and my life is changed forever.

Joe Sanity
I wouldn't be surprised if they did it on purpose to take away attention from their mismanagement of the economy. Oh well, Nothing a couple more attack ads shouldn't fix! ;-)

GWinnipeg
Right - It's the aide's fault. With that kind of logic, the average Canadian citizen should go to prison for any government misappropration of public funds.

Accountability in the Canadian government is an absolute joke.

SS - Ottawa
How is no one mentioning the fact that maybe you shouldn't hire a 26 year old as your Director of Communications??

Paul
Since 1993 Canada has had one of the most secretive governments in the world. Why is information about an old reactor that needs to be shut down for safety such a big secret in the first place? When governments Liberal or Con keep secrets from the citizens of a country, the people should start to worry.
This is why I am now a card carrying member of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

JPL
@Peter MB

Hmm, I don't think law enforcement thinks the gun registry is 'useless' seeing as how it's how they info on weapons in a house before they enter said house. That is the point of the gun registry fool. Police go on many, many, many domestic dispute calls and the registry provides them with invaluable info about fire arms....or what to expect when they arrive at said domestic dispute. Don't be such a pedantic conservative follower.

Robert in Calgary
It's almost irrelevant. Politicians should not be put in charge of the nuclear power issue and nuclear power should not be a socialized process, which it is, and it is extremely inefficient, extremely costly, very unreliable and due to its nature, highly dangerous and often destructive to the environment. It takes a steady vision and long term vision to understand nuclear power. Policitians spend all their energy on preserving their party and focusing on the next election; essentially working with blinkers on and blind to the realities of the world, incapable of working with a comprehensive understanding of reality. Party politics is for idiots and nuclear power is run by idiots.

John MacDonald
Hey, remember how mad the Liberals got when Scott Brison linked that stuff about Income Trusts to his buddy at the banks? Remember how Brison resigned?

Me neither. Because it didn't happen. Again the Liberals are trying to make a mountain out of a molehill because they have no ideas or positive vision for Canada.

Natty, ON
Minister should step-down, it is what her party continuously insist-on for mis-steps from others. This was an unmistakable blunder.

Stefan
Is this really worthy of the wall-to-wall coverage the story has received for the last 24 hours? Who cares. A binder full of spending information is hardly cause for the world to come crashing down. Once again, it's symptomatic of why good people shy away from the ridiculous circus-like nature of politics. Sad.

plail
The Liberals leaked the changes to the tax treatment of income trusts and their were no resignations. We also had no resignations from adscam. How can they now demand that this Minister resign?

Sanders
Raitt should be gone. No doubt about that. Mr. Harper certainly has double standards in not accepting her resignation. Stick to your principles, Mr. Harper.

Of greater concern is the secrecy of what our elected government does with our hard earned money.

Tony
Oh boy...if this had been the Liberals Harper would have been screaming until he was red in the face about her resigning. Typical double-standards.

CE
Again all of the Libs up in arms about the Conservatives....wow!!!! if it wasn't for them trying to hijack the Govt about there lack of spending maybe the deficit would not be anywhere near as high...have any of you thought of that...oh and if they did not spend that much then all of you Libs would be crying and crying saying "see the Cons do not care about people and have no heart why are they not spending to help people through the tough times" The only reason why the Libs had a good run in the 90s was thanks to an insanely strong US economy...question to the Libs did Martin EVER HAVE TO PUT OUT A BUDGET IN ANYTHING BUT A INSANE BOOM PERIOD....the answer is NO. stuff like this gives you Libs absolutely NO credibility whatsoever. So please just stop talking and save us the hypocrisy.

FreakAlert
Isn't it terrible that this government is letting some 26 yr old kid take the rap for this? I think so.

Independently Minded
@Paul

Hey Paul join the ever growing ranks of the Independents...

We are not beholden to support or denounce any political party, just to judge them on their actions or inactions...

We are part of the "Boss" after all...

MARG MM
Since there is all kinds of speculation as to how this happened, how about this. The aide is actually a "Liberal in disguise", and left the documents at CTV, so all of the Liberals could make a big deal out of it, discredit the Gov't. and get lots of "air time". Stranger things have happened!!!!!!!!

Just another thought on the subject. It should get some of you going!!!

Paul
Well now that all the Liberals and Conservative on here have repeated what went on in the House of Commons today as a tax payer I would just like to know what are we going to do about the reactor problem and more importantly medical isotopes?

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said. "Canadians want competence in their government, when are they going to get it?"

Yes we do want competence Mr. Ignatieff or should I call you Count Ignatieff. When are you and your party of elitist misfits actually going to start offering real solutions to problems instead of pointing fingers and playing petty politics?

too much time on our hands
I think the entire country should be run on the basis of these blogs... : P

Can't wait to find out where the aide ends up working...that will tell a story....

Tucker
Tony:

Did the Conservatives rant and rave for Ruby Dhalla to resign last month after alligations of her mistreatment of immigrant caregivers? No they didn't. So kindly go back to the forums at Liberals.ca where you will feel more at home with your nonsense.

George from CANADA
regardless of the party in power, this is a mistake. I'm POSITIVE the Cons would have cried foul and demanded action, just like the Libs are now.

It's amazing that people can condone the behavior, or say "well, when the Libs did X nothing came of it?".

For those people I ask - do you want more of the same? or do you want a government that holds a high performance standard?

lack-lustre results from a political party is why they get turfed in an election, it's not so the other parties can be equally suspect.

GROW UP, BE AN INDEPENDENT THINKER and STOP TOWING THE PARTY LINES!!!

Stu from London
Wow, Conservatives making excuses by bringing up pass Liberal "scandels"? How strange???

Raitt is responsible for the aide, she should resign, like Bernier did. When will this government start taking resposibility for their incompetence?

GJS - Markham
To CE

Paul Martins first budgets were in a recessionary period. His managment contributed greatly to the boom period and several years of surplus and paying down the debt.

The Conservatives in 3 years have mismanaged us into deficit. They blame the rest of the world but there mismanagment has made what would have been a bump in the road into a mountain.

ghyber
So, can anyone tell me why the media, those defenders of civil rights and ombudsmen of the general public, always report the age of a person. Who cares if the minister's age is 26 years.

Cara
Government documents are often marked secret for a short period of time prior to a news conference, which this was, to prevent the information getting out BEFORE the information is formally announced, like a budget, stimulus package election call..... Once it is announced to the media, it is no longer secret.
So no big scandal once again. Just media drama and typical Liberal outrage.

Independently Minded
@Tucker

No the ministers didn't, however there are still lingering questions as to why the need to hold a parliamentary "probe" into a matter that clearly required a police investigation.

Calling for the dismissal of a cabinet minister during question period is one thing, (allegedly) attempting to ruin a minister's reputation outside of the chamber with allegations from questionable witnesses is another.

One is public bluster, the other is devious and underhanded.

We should demand better of our MP's outside of the chamber.

@Paul

I have to agree with respect to the question regarding where is our money going.

As for Iggy, I don't expect to find out what the Libs plan is until an election is called. I recall what happened to Dion's half baked platform when he released it too early.

Attack ads aplenty from the Harper acolytes and no real platform to consider at all from the Tories.

LOL
Looks to me like the 'news bureau' ran out of stories and seen an opportunity to fill space.

J6
Maybe the Liberals will grow a spine and finally put this Tory government out of it's misery... The Liberals have kept them in power for 2 years now (71 votes for the Tories and counting). Anything you say about the Tories should be applied to the Liberals who have rubber stamped their agenda over and over again. I guess the Grits could put them on probation for the 3rd time.. :)

PVT
I have always been a diehard Conservative supporter but the fact that these documents reveal a bald faced lie to the public shakes my confidence. Couple this with the Bernier debacle and the way the Conservatives are dolling out money like it grows on trees and I wonder why I didn't just voter Liberal in the last election.

Just goes to show that the saying "Same sh%t, different pile" applies 100% to politics in Canada. I am sitting out the next election...

BCleo
CTV should have advised the government it had the docs immediately upon realizing the sensitive nature of such docs. Furthermore, it shouldn't have disclosed info contained therein.

Mary Ellen DeVries
Really, is Raitt responsible for her aide who left the documets behind? GET REAL IGNAETIFF. The right thing was done and the aide has paid dearly for her mistake, why it took six days is a good question the young aide was probably scared to death. I am sure she has learned a valuable lesson. But asking Raitt to resign is absurd.

BCleo
Seems like most posters are out to "get the Conservatives". What's the alternative? A Liberal government and culture that still hasn't accounted for tens of millions of dollars in the sponsorship scandal. No thanks !!! I feel the Conservatives have done fairly well in managing the economy compared to other countries. Perhaps it's time, though, for a burst of Libertarianism on the political front.

VM
I always thought that the buck stops at the leader’s desk. So why is the junior made into a sacrificial lamb?

KMC (Markham, ON)
It seems to me that CTV has deliberately set out to "create" a scandal and damage to Tories.

First off Ottawa has acres of files. The varies ministers don't use the files every day of the week. So, the absence of this "binder" is not that extraordinary.

What IS extraordinary is the fact that CTV sat on the binder for six days, knowing full well that they should have immediately contacted the Minister to advise her that they were in possession of it.

Good heavens, if someone left his/her raincoat in your house, you'd certainly call them and let them know.

Further, that CTV chose, instead, to hang onto the file, rummage through a file marked as "secret" and publish its contents, is quite beyond belief.

The Minister's aide was certainly remiss, but clearly CTV made a deliberate effort to create a "scandal" and damage the Tories.

Independently Minded
@PVT

Hey bud, don't sit out the next election, just go Independent and make the MPs prove that they are worthy of your vote!

Too many parties get a free ride when Canadians abstain from voting.

It's time we acted like the "Boss" and "interview" potential governments like we should...

Remember, Parliament answers to US, the Canadian people, NOT the other way round!

KRB
I suppose also that Harper is responsible for those 11,000 litres of fuel flying into the Ottawa river b/c of that train derailment, and of course he had no hand at all in Canadians’ after-tax incomes going up 3.7% from 2006 to 2007. It’s all very tiresome.

don
I would like to see the video tapes which CTV recorded during Minister Raitt's interview played. The video tapes may reveal the circumstances under which the Secret documents were left behind. Was Minister Raitt in a hurry to leave and rushed the aide? Were the documents in the control of Minister Raitt just prior to the end of the interview? Why did Minister Raitt need to have such sensitive documents in her possession at the CTV interview? I think there is more to this situation than meets the eye! I think it is a despicable act for Minister Raitt to escape responsibility by sacrificing her director of communications in order to save her own career. If this is the way Minister Raitt operates, it is time for her to find another line of work also.

KC-Bby
Good. More incompetence from this gov't and they stand by their mistakes. Uninspiring, lackluster, unoriginal, boring, and all-political - explains why they can't form a majority in democratic Canada. The problem with this lot is they are thinking 2-demensionally. Their political instinct is geared to pound on the opposition but short-sighted to win any election. When watching these negative-ad campaigns from the Harper camp I'm reminded each and everytime.

George from CANADA
@CARA's comment:

I guess you were the aide who had to step down, since you know why these documents are secret and why this really isn't a big deal?

Because, if you're not the aide, then you are a Conservative hack who has no reasonable ability to think independently.

Steve the Pundit
Much bigger, weighter examples of scandal and mismanagement were a regular part of the formal Liberal government. Chretien never made anyone resign (nor did he ever admit to wrong doing when he was implicated; golf course loan, anyone?); Liberals demanding this of Conservatives now is really pretty much the pot calling the kettle black.

Shaun - Hanover, ON
There is no doubt that certain government officials and staffers should be held responsible for the apparent mistaken disclosure of a classified ‘Secret’ document. I do feel that the media in this case should also share some of the blame. Who knowingly retains a classified government document for nearly a week, then decides to read it and then disclose its contents to the world? Is this ethical broadcasting?

Paul the Centrist
Wow. From what I'm gathering reading these comments:

1. Conservatives see this as no big deal

2. Non Conservatives believe that Canada will now implode upon itself and nothing but the perfection of either Layton or Iggy will work.

At least if the Liberals were in power, they'd have been able to cash in favors from the media to suppress a leak to the newswire.

Still a Harper Supporter
Stinking Opposition!

I admire how calm and composed the minister stayed under the attack of the opposition. And I applaud her for her remark to the NDP Finance Critic, that yelling doesn't make the subject more compelling. Why can't these people behave in a more civilized way in the House of Commons? They all keep screaming and yelling.

Humans make mistakes. The minister has apologized and has acknowledged that it was a serious mistake. But why should she have to resign over this if otherwise she is a competent minister?

That Ruby Dhalla has not resigned after her scandal. She's still there with that smug smile on her face.

I absolutely cannot stand the opposition. None of them!

RichardD
Okay, time to put things into perspective.

First of all, the documents were marked "Secret," not "Secret-Marked as Classified." Yes, there is a difference. A big one. "Secret" just means that only a select number are allowed to see it, but there's nothing vital to national security that could be potentially damaging should that information come out. Caucus meetings, for instance, are classified as "Secret." This is why no one at CTV has had a visit from the RCMP to do some serious explaining over revealing the information.

Second, there is a big difference between Bernier and Raitt. Bernier had information on Canadian and ally troop numbers in his file, and he was dating a woman with ties to biker gangs. Raitt didn't.

Third, it shouldn't matter who left the file. Raitt is the Minister. The conduct of her people is her responsibility, especially those who are accompanying her. She should resign.

Marni
Thank you to Harpers Government for providing us with light comedy during these stressful times. Remember how we were promised transparency, honesty and accountability.?We are waiting Mr. Harper...you can start anytime now. If you can't keep track of confidential documents how can we trust you with our social insurance numbers? How safe is our country with your fumblebums in charge? I don't think firing some insignificant person in the secretarial pool really makes us sleep better.

Remember how your party tormented a former leader with the accusations of flip flopping. I would suggest that your refusal to fire the person responsible for these misplaced documents is an example of you flip flopping like a codfish on the pier.Step up and start taking care of the country...train your staff to look after government documents. Leadership review should be done by your party asap.

And the CTV spin is???
Perhaps CTV could enlighten us why they hung onto these docs for over a week and never contacted the Government to give them back. To busy meeting with the Liberals to come up with more anti-Conservative spin,I suspect. Typically biased CTV.

Prof. Pye Chartt
LIBERALS NEVER SCREW UP

Now that I've got that off my chest...oh, wait...


-------------


"Former federal Liberal executive Benoit Corbeil is the first political figure to plead guilty in the federal sponsorship scandal and he's suggesting he might name other figures involved in his influence-peddling plot." (CTV; June 3rd, 2009)


------------


Never mind.

Tim from Calgary
Raitt offers to resign because of a mistake by one of her staff. She did the right thing and she gets credit for her decision. On the other hand, the Liberals quickly shuffled people around when Adscam hit the media. A Liberal minister never offered to resign, instead Gagliano was quickly shipped off to far away Denmark.

Wally (Toronto)
Just what else are the Harper Cons planning sell off under the table? Diefenbaker sold off/scrapped the Arrow along with a vibrant promising Canadian aircraft industry back in the 1950's. Is History going to repeat itself with AECL under the Harper Cons? The taxpayers vested millions of dollars towards the development of Canadian nuclear reactors over the years which are by far better than other reactors built by other countries. (They don't burn expensive enriched uranium and don't have to be shutdown for re-fuelling like other "dime a dozen" pressure water types of reactors.

Westcoaster
I don't get it. Someone finds a "lost" document and fails to return it to its rightful owner immediately. Why is this not wrong?

Don't we tell our kids that its wrong to make use of a lost item, that it should be returned to its rightful owner ASAP?

Westcoaster

MisterD
How come they don't notice secret documents missing for six days but they always notice when my taxes are paid late hmmmm

Denise
This matter was handled logically and the person directly responsible actually took responsibility for the issue. The Liberals are desperate to milk this affair - obviously since they need to create as many MOUNTAINS out of molehills as possible prior to setting off an election in order to accommodate their arrogant pseudo-American leader's impatient desire to run as Canada's next Prime Minister.

IT Manager from Edmonton
This is the best government ever!

Can you imagine the furor from the opposition if the PM fired a 26 year old staffer over this? She's a young woman with a bright future ahead of her and the PM was right to cut her some slack.

Apparently the only people who are never wrong or make mistakes are Liberals right?

Secret Documents
I agree that CTV had no business in snooping through the documents.

Peter in Kingsburg
I think everyone has missed the point of all of this. If the minister had forgotten her gloves at this meeting then CTV would have given her a call and she would have retrieved her gloves. However it was not a pair of gloves but some secret documents. So why did the CTV not only sit back and wait but felt it was their duty to open the document and read its contents. It had nothing to do with the CTV yet they just went ahead and opened secret documents from a government office. Should the minister wanted them opened then she would have handed them out. Now this does not relieve the minister or her staff from the responsibility of leaving the documents in the first place.

So folks the next time you have a meeting at a media outlet do not leave anything behind for it will be opened by those that feel they have the right to do so.

The question that has to be asked is whether the media acted in an ethical manner?

lulu
Who is responsible for her staff??
I know what would happen to me if my boss found out I'd done something like this. Can you say EI? (But what would be the point?)

dmac
I agree with the statement by Wes Hagel. There appears to be a total and deliberate absence of responsible action here by CTV management. They too have a duty to do the right thing and contact the Government about the document(s) left behind. People are people and we are going to have slip-ups. Some of us are so busy and have so many things on the go and have so many expectations made on us (usually because there are so few of us around anymore that have the gusto and the guts to be out there leading from the front rather than leading from behind) that just from the sheer number of activities involved we will drop the ball on an activity somewhere.

I suggest the Minister also bears some responsibility because as a manager she should have recognized or caused to have recognized that her staffer was either over-worked and slipped up (the most likely case) or not qualified (the least likely case). IMO this mostly just another case of a ‘doer’ being punished because s/he was over-worked and, out there ‘doing’. ‘doers’ make targets of themselves because they are out there moving and getting the work done instead of lazing around the house, in the bar or at the game. CTV Management involved could have done the right thing but chose to point fingers instead.

Britta
Just watched the item on the news. Robert Fife describes the process for handling secret documents to include the requirement for a locked briefcase for transportation of these documents. Yet we watch a young man take possesion of the documents and carry them in his hands out of the CTV building. Will they never learn?

Independently Minded
I have to agree with other posters.

This is definitely the same style of flip flop Martin did.

A year ago, the minister was the Captain of his/her department, responsible for the conduct of their staff. Now, its a staffer who is responsible and NOT the minister.

Ummm, please explain Mr.PM.

Either there is a consistency in your policies or there isn't.

I'd prefer and explanation rather than the typical pat on the head and condescending comment like, "Never mind, you wouldn't understand..." which appears to be the elitist attitude with most of the Conservative MPs these days.

Mr.PM, I am an Independent. I could swing my vote any way I choose and thus far I am not seeing much to generate confidence in your government lately...

Adam Calgary
In response to "Paul - Orillia"'s comment "Nice going Canadians on voting these fools to run your country.

Canada will be continued to be labeled a joke with a joke government!"

If you think these guy are funny you should have seen it when the Liberals held the reigns!!! (sponsorship scandal anyone?)

John
This is such a non-news. It's not corruption, it's not mismanagement. Minister Raitt is doing a fine job in the Natural Resources portfolio.

Let's get real about this (BC)
The worst of this is that the document was accidentally left in a news office and CTV jumped at the chance to create as much news as possible from it, rather than being courteous and responsible and immediately informing the government aide that she had left it behind.

Perhaps we need a law that charges people that purposefully view classified government documents without authorization.

I am wondering if any CTV employees offered their resignations because they were unethical and took advantage of this situation and caused Jasmine to lose her job.

Prof. Pye Chartt
@ Peter in Kingsburg

"However it was not a pair of gloves but some secret documents. So why did the CTV not only sit back and wait but felt it was their duty to open the document and read its contents."

________________


In this age of "Gotcha!" journalism, the media seldom feels compelled to act in any other manner than that which directly benefits it the most.


Undoubtedly, the folks around CTV News are high-fiving each other today. Why not? After all, immediately it became a "political" issue, and the battle on Parliament Hill was set. The staff at CTV News will sleep well tonight, exhausted from laughing all day.

What CTV would do if they happened upon left-behind "TOP SECRET; CLASSIFIED" documents is anybody's guess. …Perhaps they’ll tell us.

David
Mr.Harper does the words Flip flop bring back any memories? Stephane Dion was accused of flip flopping. What is it called when our Prime Minister "flip flops" on decisions to be accountable but only when it suits him? If we hear a strange noise in Ottawa...it's Harper doing the flip flop down the corridors of the House of Commons. FLIP FLOP...

SunCoaster
What were her aides doing at CTV with secrect documents? Do they ususally pack these things around? It's a good thing we don't have any real national secrects to hide. We must be the laughing stock of the secret service organiztions around the world.

Tired of the gotcha game from media / politicians
Only those with a different agenda will cry foul over this oversight no doubt... same old BS politics coming out of the halls of Parliament.

It would sure be nice for a change to see some mature politicians step forth.

Rick
I truly feel that this incident says more about ctv news, than it does about minister/staff. I believe the right thing to have done
(ctv)was to security seal the binder and have it returned to it's writeful owner.She was in your studios doing interviews on your programs. Long gone are the days when we used to look after one another.I got you politics, has become i got you news reporting. Are we creating news or reporting on the news. The lines are know blurred!!!!

Father Lawrence Winslow
What concerns me is how and why the "honorable" people at CTV know what is in documents marked "SECRET" even though they were inadvertently left on their premises. This to me is a greater affront to the government and the Canadian people than the honest error in leaving them lying around. Shame on CTV!!!

J in NB
First let me state for all to see that I am a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. Now you can judge my comments accordingly.

If a Liberal MP had done the same thing the Conservatives would be hollering just as much as the Opp is right now. However, if the Minister was not directly responsible, then it is not her fault. Someone has taken responsibility let's leave it at that.

So here's a Liberal not hollering for blood, demanding an election over a mistake that I myself may have made, nor bashing any party leader. There will be an election soon enough and we can all have our say then. Let's all just play nice in the meantime.

PS just for fun (I can't resist myself) I'm not a regular on these boards, "I'M JUST VISITING"

Doug London
What has happened more than anything calls into question CTVs credibility in releasing the information. As for the minister she should fall on her sword if she was infact responsible. The person whom did resign her position did the right thing and her age had nothing to do with it last time I looked a Canadian is considered an adult at 26 yrs.

As well Robert Fife should resign his job for the sake of national security who knows the damage he has done in dollars.

Ron in the West
Hey Paul from Orillia...the problem is that the other options available to Canadians are even greater fools!!!

Ron in the West
To Peter in Kingsburg...the media NEVER act in an ethical manner!!!

Wally (Toronto)
To Still a Harper Supporter:
You have been cleverly deceived (as many) and are continously being uninformed by Mr.Harper's MINORITY no speak "Reformed,Deformed" Clingon-Cloathed Neo-Conservative Party of today. I've been around since the 1950's and if you know anything or something about the political history of Canada's past you have obviously missed the track record of previous Conservative Governments and what we are facing now under Mr. Harper's power hungry grasp. Where's the Accountability Act that Steve put in place... is he following it? All these breaches? Economic disaster is awaiting which will take at least than more a decades to correct. Try using using Google to inform yourself better about history! Before Google,I had to go to a Public Library to find out what was historically happening politically and also relied on the media. I walked to the Library not like many out of shape current day Canadians who complain about everything and offer no viable solutions and sit on their ipods driving foreign made cars. My 91 Caddy is still running after all these years and I still get at least 100km/9.0 litres for it's size. I'm not riding in a small suicide compact off shore produced sardine can... God save Canada and our domestic industry. We should all strive to support locally produced goods... the hell with 5 cent plastic bags as well!

Scott
Why was it marked secret anyway?!?!....The goverment doesn't know that we know they waste our tax dollars!...Harpy and clowns uh I mean Harper and his cronies are still learning how to use the smoke and mirrors!

A Koster - BC
As if the federal government not being open and accountable for every penny that it spends, the fact that they are trying to sell new Candu reactors to Ontario with a history of undisclosed and massive cost overruns, the fact that indeed the minister is the one responsible for her own briefing papers, the fact that this is the third time that Chalk River has been down in the last couple of years.. with the last time it being ordered to be reopened by the feds before it was ready, with intentions to privatize Chalk River with all its problems and sell to who?.. now that's scary.. perhaps we could have another 3 mile island in northern ontario.
And in spite of all of the above, I can't shake the feeling that there is something that we're all still missing.

Geoff
Shame on CTV. You found a government document marked Top Secret. You and all responsible Canadians should have turned it over immediately without reading it.

Just because someone made a stupid mistake doesn't allow you to make a second one.

curious in Calgary
Her aide sure was preety tho. I guess she is now unemployed, I will give her a job no problem!