Mr. Speaker, the purpose of this bill is to create the new Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. As my colleague has just pointed out, the old legislation dates back to 1946, so it can certainly be described as outmoded.
This commission is primarily a monitoring body, and whenever I hear monitoring, I wonder who will do this. Will the number of monitors be increased? What will their qualifications be? What will this all cost?
The commission's mandate is also to monitor the impact of nuclear activities on health. This is very important. In my riding I see people from Russia who have been the victims of nuclear
accidents. They take years to recover. They need fresh air and good food as well. It is obvious that there can never be too many protective precautions taken.
The commission will also be responsible for safety, which is all very well and good. The environment needs more looking after, as we are told, and I feel that the commission will be better able to protect our environment. Very often the opposition is criticized for doing nothing but finding fault, but I think that, when a bill is worthwhile, that must be acknowledged. The Bloc acknowledges the definite quality of this bill.
The commission may also set national standards. I believe that it is important, yet my colleague was saying earlier that ertain powers can be turned over to the provinces. Here again-alas, too often-that can lead to quarrelling. I wonder why more powers are not turned over to the provinces.
The commission will also play a role in implementing policy and international commitments concerning the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. Finally, it has a major role to play in co-ordinating emergency measures, for instance in the event of a leak at a nuclear plant.
Where nuclear energy and radioactive emissions are concerned, it is essential that safety be a government priority. Clearly, the old Atomic Energy Control Act which, as I have said, dates back to 1946, was essentially focussed on national security.
Today, as everyone knows, there is a far wider use of sources of radiation. The legislation must, therefore, be brought up to date. The new bill is an improvement over the old. Still, Quebec has voiced certain concerns relating to workers in the nuclear industry who were not covered by either the Canada Labour Code or any provincial legislation.
This legal vacuum posed certain safety problems, in nuclear plants for instance. The Act to amend the Canada Labour Code, passed this March 26, filled the need. It also contains the concept that a person may not be held responsible for an incident if he or she has taken all reasonable steps.
But here again, we must agree on the meaning of the word reasonable. Who is going to define it? I do not think we can be half reasonable. There are however a number of questions to be answered when we look to the courts of law for an exact definition of the criteria of the word reasonable. As for the expression "exercise diligence", "diligence" is a big word, but it must be clarified in this legislation, in the application of the standards in effect, to prevent an error occurring.
The Bloc Quebecois would like this to be included in Bill C-23, as it is in the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
The Canadian commission would also monitor the use of instruments with a radioactive component. Hospitals also use radioactive equipment in certain treatments and diagnoses. The commission would inspect this equipment and ensure it meets safety standards. Business does its own inspections and sends samples to the experts on the commission. Both large and small and medium size business do so.
The commission claims to charge companies using its radioactive source services the actual cost of the inspection. However, certain companies claim that the federal government is not doing everything in its power and that, very often, it is too expensive. Therefore, business has a different story.
The big power companies argue that it is the consumers who end up paying for the ever-increasing fees set by the commission.
We are also in favour of cost recovery so that a balance can be struck. Annual fee increases would, I feel, be improper. A commission like this one is sometimes used to generate profits, even when the fees are said to serve other purposes.
This bill should require the commission to consult with licensees and consider their views before imposing or raising user fees.
This, of course, is a sensitive issue. Some argue that the safety benefits are priceless, that safety standards could always be more rigorous, regardless of the implementation costs. But there is a limit. Few people feel that a regulation's advantages and disadvantages should be assessed before it is imposed on governments, businesses and individuals.
The Bloc Quebecois recognizes the need to act very carefully in this regard, as well as the risk of giving too much weight to economic interests compared to the significant safety needs. Let me give you an example. I was in committee earlier and mention was made of imposing a tax to register small boats such as pedal boats. This shows how a government can take advantage of the people at any time. A supposedly noble motive turns into a money grab. The initially noble motive becomes perverted.
It is, however, necessary to consider the possibility that the commission may have the mandate to conduct its own cost-benefit analysis of the regulations and standards it applies and intends to apply in the future. This would better protect the interests of businesses and their customers.
A number of conclusions can be drawn from the many nuclear disasters that have occurred around the world. It can be said that we all played sorcerer's apprentice with nuclear energy.
In certain respects, we went much too fast. We did not have the expertise, but we thought it would be the best form of energy in the world. We are paying the price today.
Man has played sorcerer's apprentice with some extremely dangerous products. We became involved in the production of nuclear energy without being able to effectively deal with the consequences. We became involved in the development and production of nuclear energy without really knowing all the facts. We generated tons of nuclear waste without being able to process them effectively, and that is a tragedy.
Our governments have failed to effectively manage health and environmental hazards. Our governments also proved to be incapable of exercising effective control. It is no wonder that, every time an attempt is made to develop or use new nuclear technologies, environmental organizations cry out against the idea and the public itself is wary, and rightly so.
We must not overlook the fact that the nuclear arsenal currently available worldwide could totally destruct humanity and the public is perfectly aware of this. I would not take much to blow up the planet, just one madman, and in this world of ours there is no lack of madmen.
We all know that there are huge stocks of nuclear weapons, plutonium and heavy water in Russia, and that our governments are afraid a black market might develop. Non democratic countries and terrorist groups could then have access to atomic weapons or anything they need to build such weapons.
How can we expect those who develop and sell new technologies to be able to exercise control? In a great many cases, they should exercise control but do not even have this control they should be exercising.
It took the federal government 50 years to come to the realization that this ill-conceived legislation does not adequately protect the people of Quebec and Canada. How do you expect nuclear wary people to trust this government and the new commission after that? Even with the right tools, will the commission be able to ensure adequate monitoring?
It will also be difficult to restore public confidence. I just cannot believe that passing this bill will solve all our problems. Prudence dictates we must give ourselves monitoring standards. In fact I suspect this government is trying to make us forget about the Prime Minister's last visit to Russia, when the purchase of nuclear waste to be processed in Canada was discussed. Members will recall that there had been an outcry over this decision. And for a very good reason.
The government could probably have resolved another problem by dealing with the nuclear energy issue and introducing a bill on this subject. It is clear from analyzing nuclear energy research and development investments made in Canada that almost all the economic benefits in that area go to the same province, and this province, as you know, is Ontario.
In Quebec, we inherited the unemployment insurance-which I call and will always call poverty insurance-while Ontario gets money for research and development. We are still, unfortunately, the forgotten ones.
Who, in this federation, benefits as much from the federal government's generosity? Who else in this federation has such an interest in seeing Atomic Energy of Canada maintained? Who else in this federation benefits as much from the spinoffs of this industry? No one else. Ontario is the only one.
Had this government been serious in its approach, it would have seized the opportunity to look at this issue. The government greatly favours the development of nuclear energy, but does so only as a service to the Ontario industry.
While amending the current act, the government should make a formal commitment to better distribute its R and D money between the provinces, particularly those which receive the least, such as Quebec.
But the government did just the opposite when it recently announced the closing of EACL regional offices in Montreal. Montreal was hit again, not to mention the decision affecting Varennes and before that, the Maurice-Lamontagne Institute.
I would also have liked to see the government clearly affirm its will to promote R and D for peaceful uses of nuclear energy. As we know, nuclear energy can be used for the best and for the worst purposes. It can be useful and it can kill. It can save lives and it can eliminate thousands.
The public will only accept atomic energy when it will see its peaceful applications and its usefulness in everyday life.
It will only accept atomic energy when it will see that the government gave itself the means to control almost perfectly-I am tempted to leave out the word almost, but let us keep a margin for human error-all the risks related to its use and its development.
Another important problem we should have been able to tackle openly in considering this bill in the House is the financing of Atomic Energy of Canada, the financing of CANDU reactors throughout the world. Financially, Atomic Energy of Canada is just as much of a bottomless pit as the Hibernia project off Newfoundland may turn out to be.
Since this agency was created, billions of dollars have been sunk into it, and the government is only able to sell CANDU reactors by
financing them with money from Canadian and Quebec taxpayers. If that is not a scandal, what is?
In reality, the sale of CANDU reactors, with their supposedly safe technology, is nothing more than a clever way of subsidizing Atomic Energy of Canada. This government would have done better to overhaul Atomic Energy of Canada's operating methods. The days when the government could squander taxpayers' money have long gone, and gone, I hope, forever.
When a government slashes employment insurance, unemployment insurance, and gets ready to cut pensions and OAS, when a government attacks the poorest members of society, it should first clean up its own act.
Yes, Bill C-23 represents a step forward. The Bloc Quebecois will vote in favour of this bill.
I pointed out a number of things, and some amendments could probably be made.
I am still critical of the fact that this bill should have been presented 10, 15 or 20 years ago, and at least at the beginning of this Legislature. But we we always have to wait. At a certain point, the government wakes up, but it is always ordinary citizens that get it started. In other words, this government needs a good push before it says: "Oh dear, we have not been careful enough. For 50 years now, safety has been lacking in the nuclear field". In 1996, they told themselves it was time to get moving.
This government is like that. The preceding government was no better. So, listen to the opposition for a bit longer. We are making some very good suggestions, because we listen more carefully to our constituents, and our constituents have a lot to tell us. I say that the average citizen is incredibly wise.
When in power, a governement realizes that it is inevitably drawn away from the people. After three or four years, it realizes that the people are on one side and it is on the other. At this point in time, those who represent the people best are, of course, the opposition parties, and particularly the official opposition because it does not lean to the far right. When the left has good ideas, they are well received, when the right has good ideas, they are also well received. The important thing here is good ideas.
I will conclude by saying that this bill is a good bill and that it is long overdue. We will follow it closely because a bill in itself is not much, what counts is the way it is implemented. In that regard, we will be there to call the government to order if need be.