Unfortunately, as the member for Jonquière said, we were dreaming in technicolour.
So, with this bill as with any other bill passed by this government, we have to wonder why the opposition is there at all. It seems that the members opposite are the holders of the absolute truth. Parliamentary commissions are appointed, committees are struck and experts are invited to come to enlighten us and to answer questions. In this case, the Seaborn panel worked some 10 years on this issue. It travelled, conducted studies in Canada as well as in Europe and in the United States. It made recommendations and found, I am told, 95 problems of various kinds, thereby demonstrating the hazardous aspect of nuclear waste.
All these studies fell on deaf ears.
The government, being the only one to receive the tongues of fire the day the Holy Ghost descended and being in sole possession of the truth, decided to do as it pleases.
One recommendation, which was unanimously supported here in the House and which, I think, will be unanimously supported throughout the country, says that the management committee that will be responsible for nuclear waste should not be made up of people who have a stake in this industry. It was said that, if the management committee were made up of people from the nuclear industry itself or of people who have a stake in this industry, it would be like having the fox watch the hen house. This is a serious matter.
The member for Rosemont—Petite-Patrie said that nuclear waste has an average life of 24,000 years. That is long. When people say that this bill is the way to the future, we can imagine how long the future would be should a mistake be made in this regard. As René Lévesque, my ex-boss in Quebec City, would have said, “eternity is very long, particularly the last little bit”. We are talking about 24,000 years. It means that, should a mistake be made in the management of nuclear waste, many generations to come will have to live with it.
If this government, which makes decisions on its own, did not make mistakes, or had not made any mistakes, then I would trust it. But I could mention to those listening a few mistakes, including in the field of nuclear energy, that we have to live with.
I live in Champlain, in the area known as the Mauricie, along the St. Lawrence. Over on the other side of the river is the only nuclear power plant in Quebec. It is there in the morning when I wake up and at night when I go to bed.
I had an opportunity to visit it and talk with specialists there. All of them take the dangers involved in nuclear waste management very seriously. While it is true that the benefits of nuclear energy are enormous, there are also major risks if the right precautions are not taken in managing both nuclear waste and the plant itself.