That's close enough. Thanks very much for having me. By way of introduction, my name is James Scongack. I'm vice-president of corporate affairs and environment for Bruce Power.
I'll tell you a little about Bruce Power, even though it's in the pre-budget submission we made in August. Bruce Power operates the largest operating nuclear facility in the world. It's located in rural southwestern Ontario. We're a private sector operator, owned by OMERS pension plan and TransCanada Corporation. There are two unions on site, which represent 90% of our employees: the Power Workers' Union, and the Society of Energy Professionals.
A majority of our employees are individual owners in the business. We are a unique public-private partnership. The assets we operate are owned by the Province of Ontario. As a company, we're responsible for all investment in those assets. We're responsible for all long-term liabilities related to those assets. We sell the electricity that we generate over a controlled contract with Ontario's independent electricity system operator.
The reasons we're presenting before you today is that, for our energy sector to continue to be world leading, it is very important to recognize the environment we continue to operate in. In Canada, the jurisdiction of nuclear power is split between the federal and provincial governments.
The federal government is responsible for three key elements as it relates to Canada's nuclear industry. The first is the independent regulatory oversight of the industry from a safety, environmental, and public health perspective. The second is related to Canada's international obligations. The third is the tremendous amount of work the Government of Canada does with the International Atomic Energy Agency, where nuclear plants from across the world share expertise and knowledge. Then the policy as to the role of nuclear and the economics of it are at the provincial level. Maintaining strength at both the provincial and federal levels around those key responsibilities is very important for our industry.
If we look at Canada's energy sector from an electricity generation perspective, we see that we have two or three fundamental building blocks that drive our electricity sector in Canada. In western Canada and in some provinces in eastern Canada, there is a very significant oil and gas sector. A number of provinces—British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec, and Newfoundland—have major hydroelectric resources. Provinces such as Ontario and New Brunswick have a heavy reliance on nuclear power. In fact, today, nuclear power is generating 65% of our electricity in Ontario and doing it at a cost well below the average cost of electricity in the province.
Our organization is a key driver of economic growth in Ontario, supporting middle-class jobs and families across the province. Our operation, directly and indirectly, employs 22,000 people in Ontario, not only at our site in rural southwestern Ontario but also in communities throughout the province. This represents about $4 billion in annual economic activity. We are planning a $13-billion investment program over the course of the next 20 years that will take the life of our site to 2064. It is one of the largest single infrastructure projects in Canada. That is important because we are investing now in what the future of Canada's nuclear industry is going to look like by establishing power reactors that are going to be there for many decades to come.
Canada has a very strong tradition of leading the world when it comes to safe, reliable electricity generated from nuclear power. More important, one of the new streams of effort that is being opened up by our nuclear industry in Ontario—and it ties to our national profile and international stature—is our heavy investment in medical isotope production. Bruce Power is one of the world's largest suppliers of cobalt-60. Cobalt-60 is a type of isotope exported through Nordion, an Ottawa-based company, all over the world. If you've ever gone into a doctor's office, you expect swabs, needles, and everything to be absolutely sterilized. All of that is sterilized with cobalt-60 generated right here in Ontario.
More recently, you'll be aware that the Chalk River facility will be closing its research reactor on March 31, 2018. That will cease the production of what we call “high specific activity cobalt”. I hope none of you have had the unfortunate experience of having a family member challenged with a brain tumour, but there is new technology to tackle brain tumours around the world called “gamma knife”. Essentially, it prevents a surgical procedure because you can use radiological beams to shrink a tumour. We're going to now be the world's largest producer of that HSA cobalt from our site.
I'm probably over my three-minute limit, Mr. Chair, but you have our submission.
The one final thing I would leave you with is that for us to be successful as a business, it's really important that there be an independent regulator that is very well respected, not only in the international community but here domestically.
I can tell you, having travelled throughout the world representing our industry, that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has one of the best reputations you'll see out there in the international regime, and that provides us regulatory certainty and stability. That's very important for our investments. That's something that spans across party lines, and spans across governments. Whether under the Liberal government of 20 years ago, the Harper government, or now the Trudeau government, the strength of Canada's regulatory regime is something we should all be very proud of.
I'll leave my comments there, Mr. Chair, and I'd be delighted to take any questions you may have.