This just keeps getting better and better. In a week that the Environment Minister confirmed his depth of understanding with the line "we think a new tax sounds like a Liberal idea" - keeping in mind that the Conservatives have essentially adopted the Liberal fiscal handbook, volumes 1993 to 2006 - their passion for amateur nuclear meddling is back:

The head of Canada's Nuclear Safety Commission is accusing Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn of improper interference with the agency. And in a letter to Mr. Lunn, Linda Keen warns that she'll take to court any attempt by the minister to have her fired. Ms. Keen issued a caustic reply Tuesday to a letter Mr. Lunn sent her late last month, in which he threatened her termination for refusing to follow a ministerial directive. "Any objective assessment of the facts will reveal that the allegations contained in your letter are entirely without merit," Ms. Keen wrote in her eight-page letter, posted on the commission website. Mr. Lunn's letter, and comments made by the minister during a Dec. 8 telephone conversation "are examples of improper interference with both the institutional independence of the CNSC and with the administration of justice," said Ms. Keen.

Institutional independence? We don't need no stinking independence of elements of government one from another. This is great stuff. Who would have ever thought our western rural overlords would have decided to recreate the Family Compact in the name of greater democratic rule?