Canadian transport minister says having surgery, taking time off

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Transport Minister Lisa Raitt will have surgery this week to remove a growth from her ovaries and will take an indefinite amount of time off from her duties to recover, she said on Sunday. Raitt, one of the higher-profile ministers in the cabinet of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, told Global Television's "The West Block" that tests suggest the growth is not cancerous, but that doctors won't know until it is removed. She said she is also uncertain how much time she will take off after the surgery. "It depends upon how invasive the surgery is and whether or not it is cancer, but I am prepared to recover and make sure that I get better," she said. Raitt has been in Harper's cabinet since 2008 and became minister of transport in July of last year. Issues she has dealt with recently include changes to rail safety rules following last year's deadly oil-by-rail crash in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. (Reporting by Jeffrey Hodgson; Editing by Eric Walsh)