Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It's a pleasure to be here today. For the committee's edification, I'm probably the only member of Parliament who has actually worked at a nuclear plant. My sister works at a nuclear plant. My brother-in-law works in a nuclear plant. My father spent his whole career at a nuclear plant. I've also worked on a dairy farm, and I can tell you, Mr. Minister, it's safer to work at a nuclear plant than on a dairy farm.
I appreciate the work you and your department are doing in terms of protection, as my family still lives a 15-minute drive away from Bruce nuclear power stations.
I actually have seen the pool where they store the spent fuel, and it's a beautiful blue colour, by the way, not that I'm pro-nuclear at all
It is a provincial decision—I agree 100%—as to what the mix should be, and I look forward to the province closing some of their coal plants in Ontario and going nuclear. But we'll see what they do with that.
I am here to talk about estimates. I am also on the finance committee, and I've also been around to a number of other committees to talk about estimates because I love to talk about them. What I have are really just technical questions.
My first question is on the National Energy Board. Maybe Mr. Tobin can provide the explanations. They're asking for an increase, and the explanation we have here is “to fund existing demands and forecast increases”. To be frank with you, I've seen other amounts that are much larger than $8 million.
My question is twofold: one, were these forecasts unforeseen at the time the original main estimates were submitted, and two, what are those unforeseen forecasts for which they need the extra $8 million?