National Bank to advise on possible sale of AECL

[CHIMO]

Ottawa is paying $1.46 million to National Bank Financial Inc. to get advice on whether to privatize all or only part of nuclear-reactor designer Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., the Crown corporation at the centre of the recent medical-isotope crisis.

The "status quo" is also a possible outcome of the corporate review, according to a statement from Natural Resources Canada, which said the process could take "some months" to complete and that AECL's future direction would not be decided until that time.

The Toronto Star first reported last October that senior federal bureaucrats had started spreading word on Bay Street of plans to restructure AECL. In late November, the government announced it would launch a review.

The National Bank was chosen as outside expert from a list of the 25 top-ranked investment bankers through a "limited tendering" process, said the natural resources department. But one banking source said the process was limited because most banks didn't want to participate.

http://www.thestar.com/article/301267

[daleo]

1. Conflict of interest?

So the government shops the nuclear reactor company to the private sector, shortly after it fired the nuclear regulator who said the company was reckless about safety.