Media Centre Press Releases: For Immediate Release January 11, 2008 Prime Minister's Defence of Minister Lunn 'Ludicrous': Alghabra OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper's contention that his Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn acted "beyond the call of duty" in dealing with the isotope crisis is ludicrous given the mounting evidence to the contrary, said Liberal Natural Resources Critic Omar Alghabra. "Mr. Lunn ought to have known as far back as last September that the problems at the Chalk River nuclear facility were serious enough that precautions were needed to mitigate the isotope crisis, and yet he did nothing until media caught on to the story," said Mr. Alghabra. "For the Prime Minister to praise a minister who should be fired - while still continuing to scapegoat the nuclear regulator - is beyond the pale. It's Minister Lunn's inaction that led to the isotope crisis," he said. This week it was learned that last August, Auditor General Sheila Fraser reported on the urgent licensing, health, safety, security and environmental problems at the facility to the Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) board. Her office then specified in a letter that the matter was serious enough for them to forward the report directly to the minister in early September. "This is on top of AECL Chairman Michael Burns' statement that he repeatedly briefed Minister Lunn on the isotope situation at that time, and the minister's testimony at committee on November 22. This is more than enough to conclude that Mr. Lunn misled the House of Commons when he expressed ignorance in early December at the nuclear reactor's problems when the isotope crisis hit. "Clearly, this is a minister who is either incompetent or negligent. Either way, he has got to go," Mr. Alghabra said. He pointed out how the government never once mentioned Ms. Fraser's report during countless debates of the isotope crisis in the House. It only came to light in a December letter from the auditor general to Mr. Alghabra in response to his request for a special examination of AECL. Mr. Alghabra said the government needs to explain whether it simply didn't know about the report or it deliberately tried to cover it up. The Conservatives are also trying to scapegoat Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission President Linda Keen by blaming her for the matter. Mr. Lunn sent a scathing letter to Ms. Keen recently threatening to have her fired. "Mr. Lunn was incompetent and then acted inappropriately by interfering in the work of an independent tribunal to try and cover up for his incompetence," said Mr. Alghabra.