Media Centre Press Releases: For Immediate Release December 17, 2007 Conservatives Prefer Smear over Nuclear Facts OTTAWA - Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn should have known by October at the latest that problems loomed at the Chalk River nuclear facility and not three weeks ago as he claimed in the House of Commons last week, Liberal Natural Resources Critic Omar Alghabra said today. "In fact, if Mr. Lunn knew anything about his department, he should have known about needed upgrades even before October 31 when supplementary estimates were tabled in Parliament," said Mr. Alghabra. "For him to say he first became aware of problems at the facility on December 3 is ridiculous." Scrambling to defend themselves last week against charges of mismanagement of Canada's isotope-producing nuclear reactor at Chalk River, Conservative Ministers Gary Lunn and Tony Clement claimed they were only informed of the reactor's maintenance problems in early December.  Mr. Clement said he only became aware of problems on December 5, two days after Mr. Lunn. However, the government's own public estimates, tabled October 31, 2007, show that Mr. Lunn had requested $71 million in new funding for the Chalk River Laboratories to address regulatory, health, safety, security and environmental requirements at the facility operated by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL). Mr. Alghabra pointed out that Mr. Lunn must have been aware of this request, since he defended the need for funding at the Standing Committee on Natural Resources on November 22. Referring to the Chalk River facility in his testimony, Mr. Lunn explained: "There are some health and safety issues there that have been overlooked for some time. They require some funds to meet those regulations." "The government's timeline simply doesn't stand up to scrutiny," said Mr. Alghabra.  "This government knew there were problems at Chalk River and dropped the ball.  Then, shamefully, they tried to cover it up by insulting the integrity of a public servant." Last week, Prime Minister Harper and other Conservative Members of Parliament attempted to smear the head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), Linda Keen, accusing her of having Liberal partisan leanings.  Yesterday, speaking on CTV's Question Period, Mr. Clement defended the smear tactics, saying, ".in politics.sometimes you've got to fire a couple shots across the bow to make sure the opposition knows that you're serious about the issue." What Mr. Clement failed to mention was that a long-time Conservative party fundraiser was the first casualty of the Conservative mismanagement of the medical isotope file at Chalk River. While the Harper-led Conservatives were attacking the reputation of Ms. Keen, a career civil servant with no political affiliations, Michael Burns, a Harper government appointee, resigned as chairman of AECL after only having been on the job for a year. And while Mr. Harper was taking partisan swipes at the CNSC, he forgot to mention in the Commons that earlier this month the Conservatives appointed Dr. Ronald Barriault, a former New Brunswick Conservative candidate, to the commission.