Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would like us to take note of the fact that my colleague asked you to provide the names of the senior officials with whom you had contact on November 21, when you were notified, and on November 22, when you had a meeting. I would like you to forward that to the committee.
What interests us are the isotopes that could save the people who need them in Canada, not your market, which corresponds to 50% of the world market. We're talking about Canada. You're always go back to the fact that the quantity you sell could not be produced elsewhere. We don't question that. We want to know whether it was possible to order the isotopes necessary in Canada elsewhere.
A teleconference was organized on December 10. It was the first and the last, the only teleconference that was held between the Canadian government, that is the Department of Natural Resources, and the European isotope producers. Mr. Bernard Ponsard is the physicist responsible for isotope production at the BR-2 reactor. Following that call, he said, and I quote: “The radioisotopes produced by the BR-2 reactor can supply the Canadian market.” He also said: “Canadian authorities said at the time that the crisis would be very short and there wouldn't be any long-term shortage.” The day after the call, on December 11, the government tabled an emergency bill requiring the reactor to be restarted.
I simply wanted to remind you that the Belgian reactor was on a routine shutdown at the time of the Canadian crisis. It would have been enough to reprogram it to increase its production starting December 18. The Conservatives' emergency bill gained only two days on that schedule, since Chalk River restarted on December 16.
Were you aware that Belgium and the Netherlands could meet Canada's needs?