December 15, 2010Liberals have "will" to keep AECL strongby Terry MyersThe Liberal Party is the only national political party that has “the will” to chart a future for Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd that will serve the interests of all Canadians. That was the message senior Liberal Senator David Smith brought to Deep River last Thursday. Smith was the guest speaker at a fundraising reception for local Liberal candidate Christine Tabbert. Tabbert won the Liberal nomination 15 months ago and will represent the party in the next federal election, going head to head with Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant. Smith said when it comes to the future of AECL and the Chalk River Laboratories, he had read the report by the Chalk River Employees Ad hoc Task ForcE (CREATE) and is “trying to understand it” - “this is complex stuff.” But while he was short on specifics, he said it came down to a question of values. “The values we (Liberals) stand for are the values people here care about,” he said. The Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper is “philosophically very right wing.” “He wants to get out of things.” The Liberal Party, by contrast, wants to use the levers of government to build for a better Canada. Take health care, for example. “Who was the party that made it happen?” Smith said. Yes, Tommy Douglas was a “very fine fellow,” but it was the government of Liberal prime minister Lester B. Pearson that made health care a national cornerstone. “It's not perfect, it could be better, but would the Conservatives ever have made it happen? You know they wouldn't,” Smith said. Same thing with AECL, he said. “When you have the wealth of intellect and scientific understanding of this whole nuclear world - when you have that crumble a little bit, that shouldn't happen,” he said. Smith, who worked with Liberal prime ministers from Pearson to Trudeau before being appointed to the Senate by Jean Chretien, said there are “things that kind of define what a party is all about.” In the current government's case, those include the prorogation scandal, its attitude to the long-form census, and even the Senate itself. Harper had vowed not to name anyone to the Senate unless they had been elected first, but has now appointed “more Senators than any other prime minister,” Smith said. “There was an old preacher down south who said, you can't talk the talk unless you walk the walk,” he said. So when it comes to AECL, “where there's a will, there's a way.” “The people in our caucus have the will to come up with a solution that's best for Canada - that's it,” Smith said. For her part, Tabbert said she wanted to thank the Deep River community for “all of the knowledge you have imparted to me.” “I'm trying to learn and I'm eager to learn,” she said. Tabbert said the government has been keeping its cards too close to its vest when it comes to restructuring AECL. “People in this area deserve some answers about what the future holds,” she said. “Canada is a nuclear giant. We need to be very mindful not to squander the skills and expertise that has been built up over 60 years.” |
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