Madam Speaker, let us leave the surreal world of poetry to come back to something that is little more down to earth.
On May 7 of this year, I directed another question to the Minister of Natural Resources regarding his government's unspeakable decision to abandon the Tokamak project in Varennes.
We have never stopped wondering about the real motives that caused the federal government to unilaterally withdraw its annual contribution of $7.2 million to what was the most important research and development project in the energy sector in Quebec.
The fact that the federal government was about to sign the Kyoto protocol, with a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Canada by 6% by 2010-2012, made this decision all the more surprising. It so happens that nuclear fusion research should lead to the production of a form of energy that is clean, abundant, safe and environmentally friendly.
The federal government first invoked financial considerations to justify this iniquitous decision, which seemed quite defendable in 1994. However, that did not take into account the fact that the federal government could easily recover, in tax revenues, its annual investment in the project and the fact that Canada was also benefiting from the technological spinoff of that project.
Nor did it take into account the tens of millions of tax dollars in public funds that were invested in the project itself and in training nuclear fusion specialists, who, after the project was abandoned, had no other choice than to leave the country in order to put their knowledge and skills to good use.
All this to say that the decision did not really demonstrate careful management of public funds. Furthermore, the budget argument used by the federal government at the time appears completely disconnected today, even out of place, knowing that since 1997, it has accumulated a surplus of some $40 billion in its coffers.
What is most sordid and unacceptable in this story is the government's blatant and shameless duplicity. In fact, it is financing the activities of a consortium that is promoting an Ontario site for the establishment of an international ITER megaproject worth some $12 billion, to build the largest magnetic fusion reactor in the world.
Quebec would have stood an excellent chance of attracting this project, since all of the facilities and expertise required for such a project were already there. However the presence of an important core of scientific skills and very high calibre facilities in Varennes made it virtually impossible to promote another site in Canada for the establishment of the ITER project.
The minister contested the fact that the federal government provided, as I stated, millions of dollars to the consortium to attract the ITER project to Ontario. The federal government will actually be providing $1 million over three years for the project, the minister said.
I am loath to have to make this type of revelation in the House, but unfortunately, in view of the minister's flagrant lack of transparency, I am forced to do so in the interest of the public. The former ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, today a lobbyist for the ITER-Canada consortium, informed me that the federal contribution was approximately $3 million. The least we can say is that the government seems to have something to hide with this issue, and for good reason.
How can the federal government honestly claim that nuclear fusion is no longer a priority, thereby cutting off funding for the Varennes Tokamak project, and then turn around and invest even $1 million in a considerably larger nuclear fusion project, but this time, in Ontario?
The real scandal in this affair is this government's duplicity and double standards, which benefit Ontario, which—surprise—just so happens to be its electoral base.