Mr. Speaker, first I wish to congratulate my colleague from Champlain for his speech, which lasted 15 minutes. Above all, I wish to underline the issue of balance, because I am pleased to have heard his speech, one day after the one by our colleague from the Canadian Alliance, who, taking the opposite stand, sang the praises of the nuclear industry in Canada.
She even said she hoped to see the establishment of a nuclear economy in Canada. She was in favour of importing plutonium from Russia in order to create jobs. Yet we all know two or three things about nuclear energy, and plutonium in particular. The mean life of plutonium in terms of dangerousness and radioactivity is 24,000 years. It is wrong to believe that this substance can be neutralized in a few years. It has a mean life of 24,000 years.
There is one other important aspect, which we mentioned to the Alliance member. Plutonium is one of the most carcigonenic substances known to mankind. I believe it is totally ridiculous and unacceptable to favour the development and the establishment of what I call a nuclear economy.
The bottom line of the speech by my colleague from Champlain can be summarized as follows: this government, and this is what we should remember about this bill, under the provisions set out in the bill, is promoting a one track approach in terms of management of the nuclear industry through the establishment of nuclear management agencies.
Why does the bill favour a one track approach? Because those management agencies will have a single partner, the energy corporations, which have been, throughout Canadian history, the main source of nuclear waste. Therefore, how could an energy corporation, in New Brunswick, Ontario or elsewhere--and it should be remembered that Ontario produces 90% of the waste in Canada--be part of an organization responsible for the management of the waste? We should remember that the government had every opportunity to include municipalities in its agencies. Municipalities are the ones who have to live day to day with nuclear waste. Besides, the government had a unique opportunity to involve the public in management agencies.
When it comes to nuclear waste or nuclear waste imports in Canada, such as in the riding of my colleague, the public wants to be consulted. It would have been easy to include members of the public in these waste management organizations. This is the underlying message in the hon. member's speech on waste management.
Another issue relates to the Seaborn panel, which sat for 10 years in Canada.