Natural Resources Committee on Jan. 15th, 2008

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to start by wishing each member of the committee a happy new year. May 2008 be a very productive year indeed. And most of all I wish Canadians across the country a happy new year.

We're here today at a specially scheduled meeting resulting from four members of the Liberal Party calling for a meeting under Standing Order 106(4). I'll read the letter they sent:

We the undersigned members of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources request that a meeting of our Standing Committee be convened, pursuant to Standing Order 106(4), in order to hear from the Minister of Natural Resources and, separately, the President of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission concerning nuclear safety issues, including safety issues at the Chalk River nuclear reactor.

This is in order.

We're here today to deal with this issue. I do want to say from the start that Ms. Bell has indicated that she will move a motion later, which has been given proper notice and is in order. We'll deal with that after we're finished with this issue.

I'd like to start by going directly to the members who have called for this meeting. If you could, please tell us what you have in mind and move a motion so we can start discussing the issue.

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and happy new year to you and to the committee staff and everybody here.

It's not a secret why we requested this emergency meeting. It started off with the crisis at Chalk River and the shortage in the supply of isotopes. It escalated when the minister fired off a letter to the regulator threatening to fire her, and the regulator responded with another letter, responding to the accusation of the minister.

I think what we're witnessing is an unprecedented and unusual tension between the minister and the regulator, and I think it's our duty as parliamentarians, as a committee that represents Parliament, to get to the bottom of this and to hear from the minister. He has an obligation and a ministerial duty to be accountable to Parliament through this committee. We also have the opportunity to hear from Ms. Keen, who is also accountable to Parliament. There are a lot of pending questions, unanswered questions. The minister has not been seen for a while. Ms. Keen, I'm sure, also has opinions and questions that she wants answered.

We would like to give this committee an opportunity to hear from both individuals as quickly as possible, so I'm asking committee members to support this motion. Perhaps we can agree on a time that is agreeable to everybody, within this week or as quickly as possible.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

I'd have to hear your motion so we can start the discussion on it. If you have a suggestion on time, certainly I'd like to hear that too.

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

The motion is to invite the Minister of Natural Resources, Gary Lunn, and the president of the Nuclear Safety Commission to be present in front of this committee and to address this committee concerning nuclear safety issues, including safety issues at the Chalk River nuclear reactor. The timeframe is within the next two days, either tomorrow or Thursday.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Thank you.

We have heard the motion. We know what we're here for. I'm open for discussion on the motion.

Mr. Anderson.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I wish everyone a happy new year as well. The good feelings are all around here.

We want to show our cooperation with the opposition. As Mr. Alghabra has asked for a meeting, we would also like to have one as soon as possible, so we're going to suggest that we actually have a meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, if the opposition is agreeable to that. I understand that the opposition may be interested in a meeting longer than two hours. If they're interested in a two-hour meeting, we would certainly be willing to schedule that from ten to twelve tomorrow. If they want to double the length of that meeting, we would be more than willing to meet from ten to twelve and from one to three, and allow the clerk and the chair to set the schedule of witnesses as they find the opportunity to do that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Thank you, Mr. Anderson.

Mr. Trost.

[Bradley Trost, Conservative, Saskatoon—Humboldt, SK]

I don't see anyone really debating this thing, so we may as well call the question. We are not arguing in opposition to Mr. Alghabra's motion, so let's call the question, and then we can move on to decide the times and so on.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

We have two other members on the list, starting with Ms. Bell and then Madame DeBellefeuille.

Ms. Bell.

[Catherine Bell, NDP, Vancouver Island North, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would also like to wish everyone a happy new year and say welcome back.

We also agree this is a very serious issue and one that needs to be investigated thoroughly. I am quite happy to support the motion today to invite the Minister of Natural Resources and the president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to be before us. I would be happy to meet tomorrow. That would be great.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Is there any further discussion? Have we reached agreement already?

Madame DeBellefeuille.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First, I would like to wish everyone a happy New Year.

I support the proposal that we schedule the minister from 10:00 a.m. to noon, as the parliamentary secretary has suggested, and Ms. Keen from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

If it is necessary to hear from other witnesses, would members of the committee be open to calling representatives of Atomic Energy of Canada or a staff member from the office of the Auditor General, for example? At the end of the day tomorrow, could we as a group decide whether we need to hear from other important witnesses in order to deal with any outstanding questions?

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Mr. Alghabra.

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First, let me clarify that we are saying we would have the minister from ten to twelve and Ms. Keen.... We now know that the minister is available tomorrow, which is good. I just want to make sure we allow flexibility. I am hopeful that Ms. Keen will also be available tomorrow or Thursday.

I want to respond to Ms. DeBellefeuille's request as well. We will be happy to consider other witnesses after we hear from the two primary witnesses, and then we will decide, based on the responses we get and the questions that may linger, who else we may want to invite.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Mr. Anderson.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

I wasn't suggesting a specific order. I think it would probably be reasonable to hear the minister last. My suggestion was that we turn it over to you and the clerk to determine the schedule of the witnesses so we can best accommodate them.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Mr. Proulx.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The proposal is quite acceptable, in my view. The minister's appearance will start things off. From what his parliamentary secretary has just told us, the minister is available tomorrow morning. The clerk can also check if the president is available tomorrow afternoon. If she is not, we could hear from her the following day.

As Mrs. DeBellefeuille mentioned, once we have heard from the minister and Ms. Keen, we can decide which other witness we might be interested in hearing from.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

I am not certain about the minister's availability and what time he is available tomorrow. Maybe Mr. Anderson knows or we can check that out.

The clerk is checking to see whether Ms. Keen will be available some time tomorrow.

Mr. Trost.

[Bradley Trost, Conservative, Saskatoon—Humboldt, SK]

There are two points. I don't want to get tied down on the logistics of who goes first and who doesn't. Our clerks and our staff are very good people. Let's let them sort it out. There are different schedules for different people, so let's not go in endless circles on that.

Omar had said in his little presentation that he thinks Ms. Keen has questions for Minister Lunn. The one thing I will note is that if Ms. Keen wants to ask Minister Lunn questions, the only way he can answer them is to hear them first. That's just a general point that I think needs to be made. Whatever happens, we don't need to go in circles about small procedural matters. Chad will work it out very well in a fair manner for everyone.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Okay.

Mr. Alghabra.

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Ultimately, the committee is asking the questions, and both witnesses will be answering the committee's questions. I may have misspoken when I said the commissioner has questions; I meant the commissioner has questions to answer. It's our questions she'll be answering.

Thanks.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

I think we've reached agreement that we will hold a meeting tomorrow, starting at ten in the morning, subject to availability of witnesses. Is there anything to add to that?

Is it also agreed, by the way, that we hold two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon? Is that agreed as well?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Okay, so we've got agreement on that.

The next step is to find out when the witnesses are actually available. What's the will of the committee on that? Do you want to leave it with the clerk and myself, as chair, to deal with that?

Mr. Alghabra, did you have another point to make?