Friday, April 12, 2013

And Now, A Word About Kellie Leitch From The Salamander

The question of personal integrity is one that is very near and dear to my heart. Since literature at its best is a reflection of some of the deepest truths about human nature, during my teaching career, it was a topic I explored with relish every time the curriculum permitted it. In so-called real life, questions of personal honour and adherence to principle become central to the conduct of our society, especially because of its presence or absence (the latter all too often the case), in public life.

Yesterday I posted a video from Evan Solomon's Power and Politics featuring the comments of Kellie Leitch, a physician before she embraced the Conservative banner, and now a Conservative M.P. and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour. Like a good and faithful servant of Harper, Leitch, in response to Solomon's questions, was content to parrot the party lines about the Temporary Foreign Workers Program that has been so much in the news of late. This is the same Dr. Leitch who, after her election, staunchly defended the government's position that exporting asbestos to the developing world was just fine, much to the consternation of her former medical colleagues and millions of Canadians.

So the surrendering of principle for political expedience and power both fascinates and appalls me. In this vein, I am, with permission and thanks, reproducing an analysis of Leitch that The Salamander offered on yesterday's post:

Kellie Leitch is a dead end .. Her political psychosis is likely identical to that of Stephen Harper. She is a classic over achiever, with salt of the earth roots, in Manitoba and Alberta.. Fort McMurray fer gawds sake ! A medical and clinical exemplar, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon who fixes little kids injuries and broken bones. Probably a Mensa level brain or higher.

There's a huge lesson to be learned by looking at this woman's professional arc. But then there's huge lessons to learn examining other Conservative arcs.

At the risk of being extremely blunt.. she may be no different than ethical and moral losers such as Harper, Oliver, Flaherty, Kent, Clement, Ashfield, Baird etc ad infinitum. After all, she defended asbestos exports to construct third world schools, even when 300 fellow clinicians requested that she honor her Hippocratic medical oath to do no harm.

She comes across robotically on TV/Web like a female version of Pierre Poiievre but without the smug conceited sneer. But her pedantic defense and sidetracking evasions of un-defendable ethics and twisted policies is certainly common to all the anointed Harper spokespersons.

Do you want her in the emergency room when your child has a severe fracture or worse? Yes. Do you trust her to do what's right for Canada ? No .. There's that Conservative Conundrum .. the nasty aspect that makes any sane person question how these people get elected.

Ms Leitch is OK with asbestos, Grassy Narrows mercury poisoning, denying Fort Chipewayn's poisoned fish and water, good with exterminating boreal caribou, fine with electoral fraud, mingling with Rob Anders & defending Peter Peneshue or Dean Del Mastro, closing the Experimental Lakes Area, comfortable with gutting environmental laws .. Does she have an ethical or moral line in the sand ?? If so.. what is it ?

Does anyone in the Harper Government or Conservative Party have such a line in the sand ?

Apparently not ...

20 comments:

  1. I'm glad you and The Salamander have started this discussion. For some time now, I've not been able to get my head around how an obviously intelligent person like Ms. Leitch could simply become another Harperbot. Wonder what makes her tick?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have had the same question, double nickel. I especially wonder how people who abandon principled representation of the people justify/rationalize it in their own minds.

      Delete
    2. Dr. Joseph Mengele was also a highly intelligent physician. "Nuff said.

      Delete
    3. What makes her tick? How about solid Common sense for a start?

      Delete
    4. Wow, Whoever wrote this article comes off sounding like a Hate Monger!

      Delete
  2. Kellie Leitch can make my blood boil when I watch her endless talking points with no real substance.

    I can't respect a lesbian who joins sides with the people who spent her entire lifetime subjugating and disparaging her.

    As MP Dr Bennett said on TVO this week, (my best paraphrase) "I don't know how these MPs can look themselves in the mirror the next day after ranting talking points on 5pm CBC shows."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have to wonder, Anon, if the allure of power is what is responsible for her betrayal. Although it seems too obvious and facile an explanation, I really can think of no credible alternative.

      Delete
    2. Maybe she's a lousy doctor.

      Delete
  3. Richard Nixon was a very bright fellow, Lorne. But, like Conrad's Mr. Kurtz, he was hollow at his core. Intelligence does not guarantee moral integrity.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Indeed, how many people in history have been brought down for that very failing, Owen.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Actually, I disagree. Would I trust her in the emergency room if my child has a fracture or worse? No, I would not because if she could not be trusted to do what was regarded by hundreds of her medical colleagues as the right thing to do for the health of thousands of the world's poor and suffering, why would I believe that she would do the right thing for one child?

    And that I think is the conundrum she will face if ever she decides to return to medicine. She will always face questions about her ethics not only from her patients but also from colleagues who are aware of her role as one of Harper's robots, and specifically, for her lack of stand on the asbestos issue.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Physicians must face ethical questions on a regular basis, in balancing standards of care with costs, demand upon resources, and the like.

    Would i want to put the life of my daughter in the hands of a doctor who goes on the 6 o'clock news and tells the world that exporting asbestos to the third world is fine?

    No, i would not.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Leitch's position on the export of asbestos is probably the most troubling aspect of her embrace of the Harper agenda, Anon.

      Delete
  7. Leitch proves you can have a degree, even a medical degree and be still be an amoral clown who does whatever Dear Leader tells her to do and say. She's unfit to be a doctor in this country and she's certainly unfit to be a Health Minister.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She does seem to be the perfect soldier, doesn't she, Anon?

      Delete
  8. re Tory In-Out scheme

    I think I see another reason why Helena was dumped by Harper:

    snip snip: The official agent for Helena Guergis, the Ontario MP and ousted Conservative cabinet minister, also said last week..

    … Guergis's campaign refused HarperCON in the Reform Party’s (new Conservatives) election money “transfer” - aka the In-Out scheme.

    http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/election-financing-scheme-smelled-former-tory-mp-117457603.html


    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow this is supposed to be a doctor, and have no morals?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Conservative Party seems to be a magnet for such types, Anon.

      Delete
  10. No, I understand personally that she was a very good doctor. Difficult to understand why she now lacks ethics as a CPC MP!

    ReplyDelete