Thank you, Mr. Chair.
We're moving to a different set of concerns.
I think a number of witnesses appeared before the committee who spoke to the fact that the $1-billion cap on absolute liability is too low, that we can look at a number of recent disasters in the oil and gas sector with such things as Deepwater Horizon and its catastrophic costs to the U.S. economy, what it cost them to pay for the cleanup. It was far above $1 billion.
In terms of nuclear liability and nuclear accidents, we know that $1 billion wouldn't begin to cover the Canadian equivalent of something like Fukushima, should we ever have the misfortune of having it occur here. With the principle of polluter pays, which is stronger in this bill on the oil and gas side than it is on the nuclear side, what we're attempting to do in amendment PV-6 through replacing the lines as outlined in the amendment is to remove the $1-billion cap on absolute liability so the polluter will be dealing with what the costs really are, and not putting the costs of cleanup from these accidents onto the general revenues of the Government of Canada, and therefore the taxpayer. The industry itself would bear the cost of an accident.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.