Thank you for the opportunity.
From the nuclear perspective, obviously we often have different technologies at play, but in some of these spaces—for example in the small modular reactor space—we are actually finding there's an evolution of a new continental approach to some of these technological supply chains so that they are actually finding themselves working closer together, or will be, not only in the Canada-U.S. dimension but also in third markets.
I used the example of OPG's work that involves the Tennessee Valley Authority and that also links Poland. There's the creation of a new market around small modular reactors, and the government has done quite a bit in supporting that effort overall.
At the same time, there is competition—on large reactors for example. We have a CANDU-based technology here in Canada and the U.S. has its own, but because of the climate crisis and energy security concerns, Canada, the U.S. and other like-minded countries are increasingly looking at working together.
I just attended a meeting at the Nuclear Energy Agency of the OECD in Paris where Minister Wilkinson and his colleagues declared that there's going to be a need for more nuclear. There's going to be a bit of a competition—the French have their technologies, the Americans have their technologies and the Canadians have their technologies—but ultimately you're going to need more clean energy to attain those kinds of goals. Nuclear, large and small, will be part of that.
There is a geopolitical dimension. The geopolitical dimension here in Canada is sometimes misunderstood—not necessarily in this room but in the public—because thankfully the war is very far away. When you go to those spaces, you realize that energy security is fundamentally the driver—along with the climate—in making these decisions happen. Canada, the U.S. and other like-minded countries have to work together.
I want to add a supplementary example of that. We were in Sapporo at the G7 meeting, again with Minister Wilkinson, and G5 countries signed an agreement looking at developing the Canadian nuclear option in terms of technologies and uranium and nuclear fuel to delink from Russia.
Therefore, we as Canadians have a choice to make. Is there a climate crisis, yes or no? Nuclear has a role. Is there an energy security issue at play, yes or no? Nuclear has a role. That's the dimension and there is a competitive notion because there are different technologies at play.