Mr. Speaker, I am pleased on behalf of the New Democratic Party caucus to rise and give our position with respect to Bill C-23, an act to establish the Canadian nuclear safety commission and to make consequential amendments to other acts and, in particular, motion No. 4 and motion No. 5.
Motion No. 4 basically calls for the deletion of clause 6, which exempts nuclear submarines. We feel that any vessel, whether it is fixed or moving in the water, should be very stringently subjected to regulations under the Canadian nuclear safety commission and that is what motion No. 4 calls for.
Motion No. 5 would in effect delete clause 7. Clause 7 gives the commission the power to exempt certain nuclear substances. It is our view that no nuclear substances should be exempt under the provisions of this act, the Canadian nuclear safety and control act.
This bill is an update and replacement of the Atomic Energy Control Act. It is supposed to modernize the statute to provide for more explicit and effective regulation of nuclear energy. It deals with regulatory and development aspects of nuclear safety. It establishes a basis for implementing Canadian policy and for fulfilling Canada's obligations with respect to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. It increases the number of members of the commission from five to seven. The commission is more powerful, with the ability to hear witnesses, to gather evidence and to control its proceedings as well as to call witnesses to hearings.
We are very concerned, since we have an obligation as a country with respect to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, that submarines are included, that they are not exempt under this bill, and we are asking for support from other members with respect to that.
We are concerned about the harmonizing of the federal and provincial regulations in the private sector. The bill decentralizes nuclear regulations and in some cases provides more powers to the provinces, which in the case of the major uranium mining province of Saskatchewan is probably good news. This bill provides minimum levels of protection for workers and minimum requirements
with respect to how nuclear fuels and uranium are handled. In Saskatchewan's view, we have always maintained that uranium mining is a beneficial livelihood. It is beneficial to those who work in the industry, but only if there are very stringent, high level health and worker protection laws, which we have in Saskatchewan. Ours are very stringent. We hope that a bill like this will raise the level of health and worker safety. However, Saskatchewan has a higher level than this bill calls for.
We are also very concerned about the impact on the environment with respect to uranium mining. Saskatchewan has been able to establish and prove over the long haul that its environmental regulations with respect to uranium mining are the toughest anywhere in the world. We are very proud of that.
This bill provides the province of Saskatchewan with the flexibility to continue to lead with respect to worker and health safety in this country and also in the world. It provides us with the flexibility and the opportunity to continue to have the highest environmental standards with respect to the mining of uranium.
I would ask all members of the House to consider these two very important amendments, not exempting nuclear submarines from the provisions of this bill and not providing any exemptions of any nuclear substances which the bill, without amendment, is suggesting.