Oversensitive?

I read this op-ed in the Toronto Star yesterday, and our MP Mark Warawa was getting beat up by an opponent of the Alberta oil sands:

Earlier this month, Dr. John O'Connor, a dedicated family physician, and I got badly tarred by another one of Ottawa's disturbing political gangs.

The ambush happened June 11 before the House standing committee on environment and sustainable development, which is studying oil sands and water. We testified not as experts but as concerned citizens. We didn't ask to appear; the committee invited us. (clipped)

The MPs representing the Liberal, NDP and Bloc Quebecois asked many civil questions but showed an uneven grasp of tar sands operations. But the four Conservative MPs on the committee, Peter Braid, Mark Warawa, Blaine Calkins and Jeff Watson, spent most of their time attacking our credibility. They didn't want to talk about water.

Like members of some strange Communist gang, they assumed that Dr. O'Connor was a natural born liar. They insinuated that he had no credibility because he wasn't an industry cancer professional or a highly degreed expert. What, after all, would a family physician know about rare bile-duct cancers, even though his father died of one? They suggested that a 30 per cent higher-than-expected rate for cancers in the community must be a lifestyle issue. In other words, the people living downstream of the tar sands had simply chosen to make themselves cancerous.

Then they questioned O'Connor's patriotism. In May, both O'Connor and I accepted an invitation by Greenpeace to speak in Norway. O'Connor courageously told Norwegians, public investors in the tar sands via their state-owned company Statoilhydro, that unfettered tar-sands development was creating a real public health problem in Fort Chipewyan. The Tories ever so slyly accused O'Connor of taking part in unCanadian activities.

Wow. Sounds rough, I thought to myself. But I was left with a nagging doubt about the whole thing. I mean, you can criticize Warawa for a lot of things, but he's not a nasty guy. So I searched and found the transcript of the actual meeting.

Warawa got two opportunities to ask questions. The first time, he asked about the doctor's professional qualifications (fair question, I think) and asked why the doctor's count of people with cancer differed from the official count provided by an Albertan health authority (another fair question, and neither was asked with any malice that I could diagnose). Then Warawa tried to dig into the doctor's involvement with the Norwegian branch of Grrenpeace. Again, it didn't seem malicious.

Near the end of the meeting, Warawa got another chance to ask questions. Here's what he said:

Dr. O'Connor, so I don't forget, I'll begin by saying that during our trip to Fort Chipewyan, we sensed a great respect in the community for you and the work you've done in that community. I think it's reciprocal. I sense a real love for that community from you.

Hardly a smack in the face! Then Warawa asked the doctor about a deformed fish (and I had flashbacks to that Simpsons episode with the fish with three eyes), and whether it was pollution that caused the deformity or a genetic issue.

This was as tough as it got:

Warawa: Were you aware when you went with Greenpeace that you were part of a 10-day delegation and that their purpose was to pressure the Norwegian government to not have participation in the oil sands?

Dr. John O'Connor: I believe that was Greenpeace's intent in going to Scandinavia. My purpose in going there was to highlight the concerns that have arisen as a result of the findings downstream, the concern of the peoples across northern Canada. Also, and I've said this very clearly to them, there have been silver linings to this cloud of the tar sand development. A lot of members of the communities would not have had the ability to earn the types of incomes they have had. That is a kind of good—

Warawa: I'm sorry to interrupt, Doctor, but my time is limited. When you were in Scandinavia, in the message they heard, did you bring up pulp mills and industry along the river, or was it mainly focused at the tar sands?

O'Connor: I just told my story.

And the meeting ended.

So there you have it. You tell me: Did Warawa ambush this guy? Did he attack his credibility or patriotism? Because I don't see it.