Good afternoon, Minister.
You claim to have acted out of a sense of duty, a desire to protect the welfare of patients and of Canadians in general. You said that you did not have a response protocol. That is what you seem to be trying to tell us. However, in light of certain information, Minister, I have to question your candour. We have found out, for example, that you did not contact European producers for help until December 10. You did not do all that you could to find another solution.
Having listened to your testimony, we can conclude that this was not your primary objective. Indeed, you perceive Canada as being in competition with other producers. Market share was at stake and you did not want to lose face. You claim that other producers were unable to provide isotopes to those who are usually served by the Chalk River reactor. Minister, I question your candour. Your actual objective was probably to keep Canada's market share, and to do so—as you said on many occasions—the reactor had to be restarted as soon as was possible. It seems to me that your strategy was to restart the reactor and not to seek help from other countries for Canada's hospitals.