Sent to you by nigel via Google Reader:
I have lots of rules in life, and one of them is to not give media interviews about politicals stars that I've worked with over the years. Will all the attention that Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt has received over the past few months, that rule has had to be invoked more than a few times.
However, that rule doesn't prevent me from sharing a necessary backstory about her family background. When she's being accused of saying something about cancer that she didn't actually say, it is time to let the rest of the world know what many "back home" already do about her background.
Minister Raitt is a political star, having earned a thick skin during her years at the Toronto Port Authority (where we crossed paths). Having worked as a Special Assistant for cabinet ministers Pat Carney and Mary Collins (1988-91), I can tell you how rare it is to get a woman in her early 40s, who is a chemist, lawyer, CEO and mother of two to run for office.
As Christie Blatchford and Chantal Hebert have both pointed out this morning in their supportive columns, is it any wonder that most sane women with this pegidree would rather eat worms then run for federal office.
Here is the piece about Minister Raitt's history that the folks in Cape Breton already know, and will matter a great deal to the good people of Halton:
Minister Raitt's father was a municipal politician and her hero, and she is interested in politics because of him. She watched him die of colon cancer over an 18 month period. First he had a stroke and was paralyzed on his right side and lost the ability to speak. They couldn't afford a hospice so her mother and she (at the age of 10) converted their sitting room into his hospital ward. He slept on a couch and they did the things that families do: change his colostomy bag, feed and wash him.
Not something you ever forget, and it sure isn't "sexy".
Twenty years ago she was in the room as her brother died from lung cancer after suffering for 16 months. The day of his funeral Minister Raitt left for the Province of Ontario to ask a Professor who studied dioxins and PCBs (what killed her brother) if she could study with him. She earned her Masters degree and actually studied radioisotopes at a graduate level course in radioisotopes.
The fact that Minister Raitt has a burning desire to "fix the medical isotopes issue" is understandably a personal goal of hers. Why do people run for office in the first place? Hopefully to be able to make a personal difference. Is that "glory"? I doubt it. Who doesn't want kudos for doing a good job in the healthcare business?
There are two types of families in Canada. Those who have been touched by Cancer and those who haven't. Some of us get involved in hospital fundraising in an effort to make a small difference in the world. Others, like Minister Raitt, are in a cabinet role.
Based on her personal history, brains and devotion, Canadians are lucky she's prepared to put up with the cut and thrust of politics to be able to actually make a difference.
Few of us would. And no one is as well prepared as this woman to give it her all.
MRM
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