Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Madam Minister, government officials, thank you for being here with us this afternoon.
In your presentation, Madam Minister, you referred to the isotope crisis, a crisis—we need to remember—that was caused by the closure of a reactor under the responsibility of an organization directly under the federal government's responsibility. This closure was the result of a lack of concrete action and vision by the previous Liberal government, as by yours. In fact, you were unable to ensure a supply of radioactive isotopes not only for Quebec and Canada, but also for the entire world.
In your presentation, Madam Minister, you also referred to the extraordinary work that doctors and all medical staff in the area of nuclear medicine have done. They have faced the challenge and ensured that for patients, who are the primary stakeholders, the damage is limited. This has, however, created extraordinary pressure on the Quebec and provincial health care systems, and so this has led to additional costs.
Last August, you will recall that the Standing Committee on Health held an extraordinary meeting to talk about this issue. Ontario and Quebec had then assessed the additional costs related to the isotope crisis. Minister Bolduc from Quebec talked at that time about costs of approximately an additional $10 million. What you told me then did not satisfy me, because you told me that we would have to wait for a request to be made.
At that time, I had asked you to be more proactive, to anticipate the additional costs that would need to be compensated. In that regard I asked Dr. McEwan this question once again; he is your special advisor, the special advisor you had appointed to resolve the crisis. He told me that the government was assessing the additional costs to the provinces to resolve the crisis. He even told me that this issue had been addressed during the last federal-provincial-territorial meeting and that it would be on the agenda for other similar meetings.
Unfortunately, Dr. McEwan was not able to tell me—since he told me that this was not part of his duties—if, Madam Minister, you had made the commitment with your provincial counterparts to do everything in your power to ensure that the provinces would be compensated in light of the crisis caused by the closure of the Chalk River reactor.
So, do you have an answer to give me in this respect today?