SNC-Lavalin controversy reaches into Manitoba

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/03/2019 (2563 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The testimony of Jody Wilson-Raybould before the House of Commons justice committee suggests Liberal government officials will go to great lengths to influence our judicial system. According to the former justice minister, veiled threats were made in an effort to rescue SNC-Lavalin from facing a trial for bribery and fraud and, if convicted, a 10-year ban on seeking Canadian government contracts.

The Quebec engineering giant’s lobbying efforts put pressure on key bureaucrats to counter prosecution so they could stay in the government contracts game. This type of misconduct is not uncommon for this corporation, as they have been banned from World Bank projects for 10 years. Canadians should watch with great trepidation as SNC-Lavalin and partners make plans for the operation and decommissioning of Canada’s nuclear labs.

SNC-Lavalin is one of four partners in the Canadian National Energy Alliance, which operates the Pinawa site and is intent on filling the defunct radioactive reactor’s remains with concrete. The alliance intends to monitor the sarcophagus for a mere 100 years and leave future generations to clean up the mess that will eventually occur when the radioactivity leaches into the Winnipeg River.

It has altered the original decommissioning plan significantly, cutting corners to save money. Deteriorating concrete canisters next to the Winnipeg River will be emptied, and these 46 truckloads of high-level radioactive waste will accompany another 2,000 shipments of low- and intermediate-level waste through the Whiteshell and Kenora. The ultimate destination is a poorly designed near-surface disposal facility in Chalk River, Ont.

Even before the old reactor has been filled, the same alliance wants the federal government to finance yet another prototype, a small modular reactor (SMR). Someone should remind them that the last prototype reactor, called the Slowpoke, has long since died and its radioactive carcass remains on site. Contact has been made between Pinawa’s mayor and provincial representatives, with the goal of hosting the reactor at the Whiteshell labs.

Ontario First Nations chiefs have recognized this folly and have passed a resolution calling on the government of Canada to cease funding and support for this SMR program, but Starcore Nuclear Ltd. of Maryland has submitted a $150-million proposal. It will go nowhere unless SNC-Lavalin and friends convince the federal government to throw tax dollars at it.

These reactors are a money pit that takes away valuable investment in sustainable technology that can address climate change.

The alliance dreams of a non-existent market that will take up to 20 years to develop when action needs to be taken now. SMRs also suffer from the nuclear industry’s Achilles heel, radioactive waste, for which there is no solution in Canada.

SNC-Lavalin’s lobbyists met with Manitoba MP Jim Carr twice last year, according to the Office of the Commissioner for Lobbying, and put forth “recommendations on federal policy re: nuclear power development in Ontario.”

Considering the pressure felt by the former justice minster and the extent of SNC-Lavalin’s influence, the public should be very concerned about these meetings, especially when the government is being urged not to subject these reactors to a full environmental assessment review.

In the event the SNC-Lavalin bribery case goes to trial and the company is convicted, it will be interesting to see just what happens to these poorly laid plans for new reactors and the decommissioning of nuclear sites.

Considering the extent of the company’s misconduct in other areas, closer scrutiny by Manitobans on the Pinawa file would seem prudent.

Dave Taylor teaches at the University of Winnipeg and has been a watchdog of the nuclear industry in Manitoba for more than 40 years.