This is from the Victoria Times.
There is little likelihood of Lunn calling an inquiry since it might very well put his own behavior before the spotlight. Keen will be giving testimony on Tuesday before a Commons Committee. As far as I can see the Liberals are correct in saying that she did nothing wrong except for not doing what the Conservatives wanted done.
Sunday » January 27 » 2008
Lunn spurns demands for independent look at crisis
Political foes seek answers to firing of nuclear watchdog, handling of reactor
Cindy E. Harnett
Times Colonist
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn rejects calls for an independent review of a crisis that forced Parliament to restart a nuclear reactor and the federal government to fire its nuclear watchdog.
"There's absolutely no need for a review and there will not be one," the Saanich-Gulf Islands MP said in an interview.
Every document was tabled and every aspect of the crisis was explained before Parliament and before the House of Commons, Lunn said.
A government review into the future of all aspects of the Crown-owned Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., which operates the Chalk River nuclear reactor in Ontario, was initiated in September and announced in November.
It is moving ahead and is the only review needed, Lunn said.
"I've launched a review. We're engaging the best experts in the country," he said.
"These issues have been ignored for well over a decade and we're dealing with them." Opposition parties disagree. The federal Liberals demanded an independent review into the Jan. 15 firing of Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission president Linda Keen. They're concerned about the precedent set by the firing of an independent watchdog.
The Liberals maintain there's no evidence she was incompetent or was responsible for a worldwide shortage of radioactive medical isotopes -- used to treat cancer and diagnose heart disease -- when she extended a Nov. 18 shutdown of the nuclear plant because safety upgrades of the reactor, ordered in 2006, had not been done.
Liberal MP Omar Alghabra said that if Keen were incompetent, she wouldn't have been left on the commission's board. Alghabra also said that if Keen were responsible for isotope supplies, Lunn wouldn't have to make that clear in a mandate letter to the new president, as he told reporters in Victoria he will.
Also calling for answers is MP Catherine Bell, the NDP's natural resources critic.
She put forward a now-tabled motion asking for a "full independent investigation by an eminent person" to prevent the same crisis or a nuclear disaster in the future.
The NDP wants an investigation of what it says are long-time problems at AECL, the CNSC and the Natural Resources Ministry, which oversees both.
"Canadians need to be confident that the government is taking this seriously, that nuclear safety is a huge issue," Bell said.
"This government wants to expand nuclear energy in this country, and Canadians are wary of where we're going." Neither the Liberals nor Conservatives want to look at their "political decisions and mismanagement" concerning the reactor over the last decade, Bell said.
"There's a whole lot of questions about how we got to this point." The Chalk River reactor was originally scheduled to be decommissioned in 2005 and replaced by two new reactors, called Maple 1 and Maple 2. They are behind schedule.
Auditor-general reports over the years have found problems at the reactor and between the commission and AECL.
Lunn said the extended shutdown became a "licence dispute, not a safety issue" and if Keen was doing her job, Parliament wouldn't have unanimously overruled her.
Keen will have her say Tuesday before the House of Commons natural resources committee.
ceharnett@tc.canwest.com
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008
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