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Nuclear watchdog head blasts Lunn over letter
TERRY PEDWELL
Canadian Press
January 8, 2008 at 2:48 PM EST
OTTAWA — 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.
The Harper government and the nuclear safety commission have been at odds since the fall, when the commission ordered the 50-year-old nuclear reactor at Chalk River, Ont., closed for safety upgrades.
Mr. Lunn, and the Prime Minister, publicly criticized Ms. Keen after she insisted the reactor remain closed until a backup safety system was installed. The shutdown cut off the bulk of the world's supply of medical isotopes, stalling critical diagnoses and treatments.
Mr. Lunn wrote to Ms. Keen in a letter dated Dec. 27, questioning her judgment and her abilities to continue as president of the agency. He told her he was considering recommending her dismissal to cabinet.
That letter will have a negative effect on other quasi-judicial agencies that are supposed to be at arm's-length from government, Ms. Keen predicted.
“I would therefore ask you to carefully consider the significant chilling effect your recent actions could have on the practices and decisions of other tribunals who are responsible for important work on behalf of Canadians,” Ms. Keen wrote.
Before the government forced a restart of the Chalk River reactor, the nuclear watchdog was insistent that a backup safety system be installed first to prevent the remote risk of a core meltdown during an earthquake or other disaster.
The reactor's medical isotopes are needed for numerous medical procedures, including cancer therapies.
Ms. Keen has asked the privacy commissioner and the RCMP to investigate how Mr. Lunn's letter came to be leaked to the media.
Ms. Keen was appointed to her current position in 2001 and is in her second five-year term. She had previously worked at other provincial government agencies and with the federal Agriculture Department.
In light of Mr. Lunn's letter, the Sierra Club of Canada has called on Parliament to protect the Nuclear Safety Commission from political interference. It insists the watchdog be granted powers of independence similar to those given superior court judges and the auditor general.
“The safety of Canadians is threatened when our Nuclear Safety Commission is subject to the kind of bullying the minister has demonstrated,” said Stephen Hazell, the Sierra Club's executive director.
Link
Lunn's Offending Letter(pdf)
Keen's Rebuttal (pdf)
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