Mr. Speaker, Canada's nuclear energy industry contributes an impressive $4.5 billion annually to the country's economy and directly employs 30,000 people. Atomic Energy of Canada's Chalk River plant employs nearly 2,000 people in my great riding of Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke.
As a result of our national nuclear program, many spinoff industries have been created which employ roughly 100,000 people. One such company is SRB Technologies of Pembroke. This is a successful growing company run by bright, aggressive young people such as vice-president Stephane Levesque.
SRB Technologies manufactures tritium-filled light sources, Betalights, which have both scientific and commercial applications, from luminous energy emergency signs to military vehicles. Next year SRB plans to expand, hire more people and increase sales in both Canada and around the world.
I am proud to salute Stephane Levesque and his great upper Ottawa valley company.