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The article profiles Lisa Raitt, the Canadian minister of natural resources, and discusses the political difficulties she faced in June 2009. Under examination is a recording of Raitt made by an aide, that captured the minister commenting on a shortage of cancer-curing isotopes as an issue that could possibly advance her career.

The article focuses on the clash between the Canadian Nuclear Safety commission and the Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL). Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper lashed out at the commission, calling their judgment appalling after it decided to shutdown the AECL’s Ontario reactor. The reactor supplies vital medical isotopes that are produced at the facility. The commission shut down the plant after it was informed that the work the AECL had reported finished in 2005 hadn't been done.