"This is a constructive response to the recent radioisotope
crisis. We encourage all parties to support this proposal to
transfer responsibility for the CNSC from the Minister of Natural
Resources to the Minister of the Environment," said Theresa A.
McClenaghan, Executive Director of CELA.
After the Harper government fired CNSC president Linda Keen in
January, the environmental groups called on the minority parliament
to pass legislation to move the CNSC from Natural Resources Canada,
which has a mandate to promote nuclear power and support Atomic
Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), to a department more in line with
the CNSC's responsibility to protect human health and the
environment.
"The Minister of Natural Resources is in an inherent conflict of
interest. He is currently responsible both for promoting the
nuclear industry, and for regulating nuclear safety. This
legislation would end that conflict of interest," Dave Martin,
Climate and Energy co-ordinator with Greenpeace Canada.
"It is critical that the CNSC is able to maintain its
independence from political interference and fulfill its mandate to
prevent unreasonable risk to human health and the environment.
Moving responsibility for the CNSC to the Minister of Environment
should help to do this", says Hugh Wilkins, staff lawyer at
Ecojustice Canada.
The groups called on Parliament to keep a close eye on the CNSC
to ensure that the nuclear lobby doesn't use the firing of Linda
Keen to water down safety standards and undermine transparency at
the regulator.
Under Linda Keen's presidency, the CNSC imposed the use of
international standards for any new reactor built in Canada,
preventing AECL from selling its CANDU-6 reactors for electricity
supply in Ontario. Shortly after Keen's firing, Saskatchewan
Premier Brad Wall called for a "new national approach" to approving
the new nuclear reactors in Canada to speed up construction.
Environmental groups argue that safety standards for reactors
should not be watered down in order to speed up reactor
construction. There are clean energy options that are quicker to
deploy, such as conservation, renewables and decentralized supply,
that could be developed instead to meet supply and climate change
objectives without compromising nuclear safety.
Information:
Dave Martin, Greenpeace, cell (416) 627-5004
Theresa McClenaghan, Executive Director and Counsel, CELA (416)
662 8341
Hugh Wilkins, Ecojustice (416) 368 7533 ext 34