Mr. Speaker, I thought I was very kind because I have heard them called worse.
I want to remind the hon. member that Ontario Premier Bob Ray stood with the Prime Minister of Canada when we sold two reactors to China. He was so proud of our Canadian technology. I know he got into a bit of criticism over that, but he understands what research and development means and we respect him for that.
This bill will prevent the federal government from giving any financial assistance or technical support to nuclear reactor projects, except those making isotopes for medical use.
The hon. member made a great deal out of wasting money. Let me state one important point right off the bat, and this is for Canadian consumption in view of what the hon. member has said. From 1952 to 1992 the Canadian government invested $4.7 billion in Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. During the 30 year period from 1962 until 1992 the nuclear industry in Canada had a return for Canadians of $23 billion. Now, if we are going to get a return of $5 for every dollar invested, I do not think that is a bad investment.
NDP members have learned one thing. It took them some time to learn it, but they learned that isotopes are useful in medicine. Radioisotopes have various applications. One use is for sterilizing medical instruments. The hon. member does not seem to understand that cobalt 60 which is a byproduct from Ontario Hydro's power reactors is an isotope product. He wants to
destroy the reactors that produce it, yet he wants isotopes saved for medical purposes.
Come on, do your homework here. In their press conference material the hon. member and his colleagues do not want the production of isotopes for medical use interfered with, but in this bill they are proposing to cripple hydro power reactors which produce isotopes. What a contradiction.
Molly 99 which is a shortened version of Molybdenum 99 is produced at the NRU research reactor at Chalk River. This is a radioisotope product which is supplied to Nordion International Incorporated so that Canada can continue to control the 88 to 90 per cent of the world market we control today in isotopes. However, the NDP today wants to cripple some of the production facilities of isotopes while at the same time wanting to maintain isotope production. That sounds like the modern day rhetoric of the NDP.
I want to get on to some other very interesting things in reply to what the hon. member has said. Those are items about the economic factors.
In 1993, 50 per cent of Ontario's electricity came from nuclear generators and in New Brunswick, 35 per cent came from nuclear generators. In 1993, Ontario Hydro's published generating costs were 6.8 cents per kilowatt hour for fossil fuel and 5.4 cents per kilowatt hour for nuclear power. This is a 20 per cent advantage for nuclear power, yet the NDP calls that waste. We can understand that.
In terms of lifetime performance, five in the top 20 reactors in the entire world were Candu reactors made in Canada by Canadians. Canada's Pointe Lepreau reactor was the number two reactor in the entire world.
The automobile industry uses nuclear technology to test steel quality in cars. The paper industry uses it in the production of coded stock. Manufacturers use it to check for flaws in jet engines. Construction crews gauge the density of road surfaces and subsurfaces with it. Pipeline companies test the strength of welds, and oil and gas mining companies map the contours of test wells and mine bores with it. But NDP members want to do away with all this. They are very progressive in their thinking. It is no wonder they are sitting where they are today.
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited engineers developed the first commercial sterilizers in 1964. There are roughly 170 such units currently in use in 46 countries and 90 of them are Canadian designs.
Radioisotopes are used extensively by industry in quality control and process management. The petroleum industry uses them to test pipeline welds. The pulp and paper industry uses them to measure the thickness of paper. Many industries use them to trace the flows of material through process systems.
Imagine what would happen to our modern day industry if we destroyed the basis of all this. In environmental matters, the worldwide use of nuclear power plants results in lowered CO2 emissions globally by 1.5 billion tonnes a year.