Globe editorial
Mr. Lunn kicks the watchdog
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
January 17, 2008 at 7:36 AM EST
After the farce that has unfolded over the past six weeks, even the most fervent supporters of nuclear power must be shaking their heads at Canada's Mickey Mouse approach to nuclear safety. The fallout from the shutdown of Ontario's Chalk River nuclear reactor, which produces half the world's supply of medical isotopes, has demonstrated that the federal government and its agencies are failing woefully to protect the safety of Canadians.
That Canada should have a strong, independent regulator to uphold standards at nuclear facilities seems so obvious that it should not even be a point of discussion. But what the federal Conservatives - in particular Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn - have achieved instead is to reveal that our regulator is neither strong nor independent.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) seemed to be operating with relative autonomy until Mr. Lunn stomped all over its erstwhile president. He ordered Linda Keen to reopen the Chalk River reactor despite her concerns that it did not meet safety requirements; he introduced legislation to overrule the CNSC when she refused; he questioned her credibility and job performance in a letter leaked last week; and ultimately he fired her on Tuesday night. When he finally emerged in public yesterday, appearing before Parliament's natural resources committee after disappearing underground for a month,
the spectral minister failed - as he did in his letter - to present any evidence that Ms. Keen had violated or exceeded her mandate. Instead, he argued that she had failed to "consider fully, in a timely fashion, the serious consequences of the growing shortage of medical isotopes." But whereas Ms. Keen's mandate explicitly instructs her to ensure that Canadians do not suffer radioactive exposure - presumably her intention in refusing to allow the reactor to come back on line -
it in no way requires that she take into account medical concerns such as the supply of isotopes.
While there is no evidence that Ms. Keen was a rogue regulator, there is a much stronger suggestion that Mr. Lunn was a rogue minister. As opposition MPs alleged yesterday, he may well have violated cabinet rules by interfering with a quasi-judicial agency.
Regardless, what is now frighteningly obvious is that the CNSC lacks the independence required to protect Canadians' nuclear safety. Mr. Lunn was able to cast Ms. Keen aside in part because of the maddening vagueness surrounding the relationship between ministry and agency. In her written response to Mr. Lunn's letter, Ms. Keen was reduced to citing the Privy Council Office's Guide Book for Heads of Agencies. That guide states that "the degree of independence from government varies with the type of organization in question," and that it is to be "defined by the relevant legislation." But the "relevant legislation" in this case, the Nuclear Safety and Control Act, is not specific either on her job requirements or on the acceptable degree of ministerial interference. Each member of the commission, it says, holds office "during good behaviour" and may be removed at any time "for cause" - but what constitutes either is not spelled out. Meanwhile, it allows for the minister to "issue to the Commission directives of general application on broad policy matters" - another vague definition exploited by Mr. Lunn.
In other words, it is unclear whether our nuclear watchdog has always been toothless or whether the Tories simply defanged it. Nor do we know just how ably Ms. Keen performed her job, especially since she cancelled her scheduled appearance before the natural resources committee yesterday after her demotion. But ultimately, it does not much matter. After watching the ease with which Mr. Lunn trampled her, her successor - whether it is interim replacement Michael Binder or someone else -
can be under no illusion that he or she has the authority to stand up to the government on matters of nuclear safety.
This cannot be allowed to stand. For much of Canada, nuclear power is almost certainly our future - the most practical and environmentally responsible means by which to avoid energy shortages. Yet there is no denying that it often evokes images of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, and not without reason. Without proper safeguards in place, one mistake can have horrific consequences. And those safeguards can be provided only by an independent watchdog able to stand up to private and public interests alike.
The Tories have shown that, in its present incarnation, the CNSC is not that watchdog - not when Mr. Lunn was able so swiftly and with such minimal demonstrable cause to remove a regulator who crossed him. With public confidence in nuclear power undermined by their own actions, the Conservatives owe it to Canadians to overlook their own differences with the CNSC and to implement new rules that put the commission far from the reaches of politicians unqualified to pronounce on matters of nuclear safety.
