Mr. Speaker, I rise to talk about Group No. 6 which includes Motions 10 to 15.
First I want to talk about Motions Nos. 13 and 14 which the New Democratic Party has put forward. In my critic area I feel these are very important.
Motion No. 13 refers to Motion No. 5, which we discussed earlier, calling for exempting no nuclear substances, or at least those which would be harmful to the environment or harmful to Canadians in the current situation. This basically refers to some of the exemptions and outlines some of the concerns that the govern-
ment had about the almost untraceable amounts of nuclear product in home smoke detectors or in wrist watches. Obviously these are not things that we want to totally regulate. Certainly we have to establish some minimum requirements regarding safe levels of nuclear fuel or safe levels of nuclear product, uranium product, that shall be provided to Canadians with respect to the products that they consume, purchase or have around their homes or offices.
Motion No. 13 is supportive of Motion No. 5 which the government opposed because it did not want to get into protecting Canadians. It wants to make sure that Canadians are subjected to very loose environmental and health regulations with respect to various nuclear products.
Motion No. 14 basically provides for Parliament to be given the final word with respect to the regulations. Regulations are usually made by order in council but they have to have some reflection of the changes in society in this country electorally and governmentally reflected through elections.
Members of the House of Commons are elected from time to time from different regions, from different occupations, from different mindsets as well as different political parties. They should have the final word with respect to what the regulations are when it comes to nuclear safety in this country.
Nuclear safety is something that is paramount in people's minds and in particular those workers who operate in the industry. It is also a very important issue as technology improves and as more information becomes available to Canadians with respect to the impacts of this particular product in our society and in the lives of the people who live Canada.
Basically we are saying give Parliament the authority to deem which regulations shall be good, bad or indifferent. Give Parliament, the representatives of the people of this country, the democratically elected people of this country, some authority into whether these regulations are satisfactory.