June 7, 2010

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Whole Show Blow-by-Blow

It's Monday, June 7th.

The CEO of BP says the company will be able to pay the costs to clean-up the oil spill, and still deliver billions of dollars worth of dividends for this quarter.

Currently, BP would like to thank your car for getting it through this tough time.

This is The Current.

Abousfian Abdelrazik

Abousfian Abdelrazik is, you'll remember, the Canadian who was stranded in his native Sudan for six years - first in a Sudanese prison and later in limbo at the Canadian embassy in Khartoum.

He was imprisoned without charge by Sudanese authorities and held on suspected links to terrorism. CSIS documents show he was detained at Canada's request. They also show CSIS later made clear it had no substantive information linking him to terror. A Canadian federal court ruling forced our government to bring Mr. Abdelrazik back to Canada last June.

But a year later, he is still on the UN Security Council list of suspected terrorists - the 1267 List or No-Fly List. Because of that, he cannot work, he cannot travel abroad and his assets remain frozen.

Since he returned to Canada, Abousfian Abdelrazik has rarely granted interviews. But he agreed to join us this morning because later today, his lawyer will launch a federal court challenge of the Canadian regulations that comply with that UN act. Abousfian Abdelrazik was in Ottawa, along with his lawyer, Paul Champ.

PART TWO

Liberal-NDP Merger? - Music

We began this clip with part of a song by Raffi, called "The More We Get Together."

Artist: Raffi

Cut: 15, The More We get Together

Album: Raffi in Concert with the Rise and Shine Band

Label: MCA Records

Liberal-NDP Merger? - Marlene Jennings

A once unthinkable idea is generating an awful lot of buzz on Parliament Hill these days. The idea is that the Liberal Party and the NDP should put aside their differences and get together.

Some are calling for a partnership. Others want an official coalition. A few are even calling for a formal merger. The idea has yet to be embraced by either party's leadership. But after four years of minority Conservative rule, more than a few Liberals and New Democrats -- including past heavyweights Jean Chretien and Roy Romanow -- are at least entertaining the idea.

And according to a poll released last week by Angus-Reid, there's evidence to suggest a merger might work, at least under the right circumstances. We heard a clip from Jodi Shanoff, the Senior Vice President of Public Affairs with Angus Reid.

For an informal focus group on those numbers, The Current's Katie Hyslop headed out for a walk in downtown Toronto.

For a sense of how some MPs are feeling about all this, we spoke first with Marlene Jennings. She's the Liberal MP for Notre-Dame de Grace-Lachine. She's also the party's democratic reform critic. She was in Montreal.

Liberal-NDP Merger? - Alex Atamenenko

Alex Atamanenko is the NDP MP for British Columbia Southern Interior. The Current spoke with him next.

Liberal-NDP Merger? - Panel

For their thoughts on the prospect of a Liberal-NDP partnership, we spoke to Scott Reid. He was Paul Martin's Director of Communications and he's now the principal of Feschuk Reid. Alice Klein is the Editor and co-founder of Now Magazine, an independent weekly newspaper in Toronto. And Tim Powers is a Conservative Party strategist and the Vice-President of Summa Communications.

PART THREE

Oil Spill Company Bio - Steve Levine

We began this segment by airing a clip from Tony Hayward, BP's Chief Executive Officer. He was speaking on May 4th, almost two weeks after oil from the Deepwater Horizon rig began leaking into the Gulf of Mexico. He drew a clear line between taking responsibility and accepting blame for what is now being called the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

But according to Steve Levine, it's not quite that simple. He's been keeping tabs on BP for quite some time. Steve Levine is a contributing editor to Foreign Policy magazine. He's also the author of "The Oil and The Glory." He was in Washington.

Article of Interest: Safety Violations

Oil Spill Company Bio - Stephen Kinzer

We began this section with a bit of newsreel from 1951, the year Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh nationalized the Anglo Iranian Oil Company.

Today, that company is known as BP. And its relationship with Iran dates back to the early 1900s. Stephen Kinzer charts that history in his book, "All The Shah's Men." His new book is "Reset: Iran, Turkey and America's Future." And he was in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.