Support for May not revenge, former watchdog says

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Linda Keen, the former head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, is endorsing Elizabeth May in her race to unseat former Minister of Natural Resources Gary Lunn.

Keen was ousted from her job by Lunn in 2008 after she ordered the National Research Universal reactor in Chalk River, Ont., shut down over safety concerns, sparking a major disruption in the world's supply of medical isotopes.

"My endorsement of Elizabeth May is because I really believe that she can represent new ideas, new ways of doing things in Parliament," said Keen.

Keen said her endorsement of May over Lunn was not about revenge. Keen said Friday that at the time of the Chalk River episode she felt sorry for Lunn.

"I really actually felt he was well over his head in that job (Minister of Natural Resources)," added Keen.

May is running against Lunn in the Saanich-Gulf Islands riding just outside Victoria, B.C.

Lunn said Keen's statements are false and the fact the House of Commons voted to reopen the reactor shows he was right all along.

"Just look at how Parliament voted ... the House of Commons overruled Linda Keen," Lunn said Friday. "I was on top of it and went to great lengths to act in the public interest."

He said he was also very "much engaged" in the nuclear issue and in his department.

As for Keen's endorsement of May, Lunn said "I'm just focussed on my own campaign."

May's campaign strategy in this election is to focus on getting herself a seat in the House of Commons and a voice in Parliament for the Green Party of Canada.

"I guess what it (Keen's endorsement) means for the Green Party is that someone who is widely respected, who has given her life to public service and who clearly doesn't agree with every element of the Green Party platform, is willing to say out loud what I think a lot of Canadians know. The House of Commons and democracy in Canada needs help," May said.

Public battle

Lunn and the former CNSC president fought a very public battle in late 2007 and early 2008. Keen believed back-up generators that would keep the Chalk River nuclear reactor's cooling system running in the event of an emergency were not in proper working order. As a result, she ordered the Chalk River facility to extend a planned shut-down until they were overhauled.

Chalk River supplied 60 per cent of the world's supply of medical isotopes. Keen's decision sent the nuclear medicine community scrambling for alternate supplies.

The government said they worried patients' health might be put in jeopardy. Lunn's former ministry is responsible for the CNSC. Because Keen was the head of an arms-length organization, a special meeting of the House of Commons — called a committee of the whole — had to be convened to overrule her decision to shut down the NRU.

In a letter to Keen before the unusual parliamentary session, Lunn informed her that he wished her removed from her position as chair of the CNSC. She was eventually fired in January of 2008 but continued to sit on the board until the end of her term.

Lunn was first elected in 1997.

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