Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the hon. member for Terrebonne on her speech. Mine will, of course, be along the same lines as hers. I shall, however, try to bring in some new elements in order to enable this assembly to be in a position to make an informed decision.
Bill C-4 may seem somewhat innocuous, given the relatively few changes it makes, but when placed in a historical context, looking into both the past and the future, it can be seen that its scope is far greater than it may seem.
It has already been said, but I think it bears repeating, that the purpose of the bill is to amend the Nuclear Safety and Control Act to vary the classes of persons that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission may order to take measures to reduce the levels of contamination of a place.
As it stands, the Nuclear Safety and Control Act states that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission:
--may order that the owner or occupant of, or any other person with a right to or interest in, the affected land or place take the prescribed measures to reduce the level of contamination.
It can be seen that the terminology used here, that is “or any other person with a right to or interest in, the affected land or place” is far broader than what the new formulation proposes, which is simply:
--any other person who has the management and control of, the affected land or place take the prescribed measures to reduce the level of contamination.
Obviously, reference has been made to the banks in the debate, but there are many other funding bodies that might be affected by this amendment, might be relieved of responsibility for their investments. We are not talking of just any investment. It is not an investment in seal-packed potatoes or some kind of sweet snack, it is an investment in an extremely controversial industry. It is the nuclear industry.
Looking at our society here in the year 2002, it is somewhat of an anachronism to be amending existing legislation, although it has been around for some time, at the very moment that it is generally agreed that there is no future in developing the nuclear industry.
Why then relieve lenders of responsibility when they have until now been responsible for their investments in the nuclear industry—a very particular industry—at the very moment that it is generally agreed that nuclear industry is an energy source that is uncertain, to say the least?
Like the New Democratic Party, the Bloc Quebecois is also calling on this House to act responsibly by not amending this legislation at this time. The amendment put forward by my colleague from Jonquière is to that effect. It seems to me that it would make sense to adopt the amendment, so that the matter can be examined further.
We must bear in mind that the legislation, in fact these energy options, date back to the early and late 1970s. In the early 1970s, in 1973-74, there was a first oil crisis. This crisis caused the first major global crisis since World War II. I clearly recall reading about it in December 1974, in Le Monde diplomatique , which I read at the time. We experienced a crisis, the first major one since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
This had an incredible impact on the collective psyche, particularly in the western world, which had enjoyed phenomenal growth since 1945. The skyrocketing oil prices were immediately linked to very serious financial and structural problems. It will go down in anecdotal history, for instance, that the then Minister of Finance, John Turner, ran his first deficit in 1975, following the recession caused by this oil shock.
Unemployment grew substantially, and continued to grow until the mid-1990s. So, the danger of this oil shock was linked to a more serious danger, namely global economic instability.
The situation quickly got back to normal following the 1974-75 recession. However, we were hit by another oil shock in 1979, with the revolution in Iran.
The shah was overthrown and Ayatollah Khomeini became the leader of the Islamic revolution in Iran. There was another jump in oil prices, which reached $42 a barrel.
At the time, I was at the Université de Montréal and I was studying this issue. In fact, my masters thesis was on the cost of energy resources. I can unequivocally state that all the forecasts made by experts, both in Quebec and around the world, including in the rest of Canada, were to the effect that, by the year 2000, the price of oil would be around $90 a barrel.
We therefore turned to alternate sources of energy. For example, in Canada, the Alberta tar sands were developed to ensure that our country would be self-sufficient from an energy point of view. This initiative proved extremely costly for Quebec. All over the world, people looked at new sources of energy, and particularly nuclear energy. This did not occur exclusively in Canada.
In Quebec, we had the great debate on the vast hydroelectric projects around James Bay. These projects were initiated by Robert Bourassa, following the initial work done by René Lévesque as minister of natural resources, in the early or mid-sixties. So, it is in this context that nuclear energy became an option. This context no longer exists.
A barrel of oil currently costs around $23. Instead of being at $90, as was anticipated 25 years ago, the price of a barrel of oil has gone down significantly. Why? Because during the 1970s and 1980s, huge efforts were made in almost all western countries to conserve energy. Our cars now use less gas than they used to. We now have much more energy efficient systems. Our homes are better protected from the cold.
The result of this is that demand for energy resources has dropped worldwide, in spite of the tremendous economic growth experienced after the crisis of the early 1980s. We now find ourselves in a situation where nuclear fission has been ruled out not only from an environmental and safety point of view, but also from an economic point of view.
It seems to me that Bill C-4 is sending out a very wrong message to the population and to industry in general in Canada and in Quebec, but also to the entire international community. As we are debating ratification of the Kyoto accord, the Canadian government is proposing to this Parliament that we relieve financial backers of their responsibility as far as nuclear development is concerned. This is totally contrary to common sense.
I would also remind hon. members that these choices were made, as I have already pointed out, in the wake of recessions, first of all the recession of 1974-75 and then particularly the major one of 1981-82. It must be kept in mind that the latter was far more serious than the one in 1974-75, and was in part a result of the rapid rise in prices due to the Iranian revolution. It created an awareness of the fact that the model of development on which we had based economic development ever since World War II was in crisis. It was a major crisis, but not strictly caused by oil prices. On the contrary, it was caused by a general dysfunction, that is successive government deficits, very heavy inflation, disputes between businesses and workers on how the gain in productivity would be shared. It is, therefore, a far more complex matter and has taken just about 15 years to get over.
Remember that throughout the 1980s, the unemployment rate was extremely high, not just in Canada and Quebec, but all over the western world. For the most part, the situation has improved since 1995. Quebec, like Canada, is experiencing considerable growth. Parliament must not therefore pass legislation that is not only a step backwards, but that is no longer relevant in terms of the economy, the environment or safety.
For this reason, we propose looking into developing other sources of energy that are much more promising both in the short term and the long term. For example, setting up certain types of wind energy would create considerable employment.
We must remember that the government, as I just explained, has spent tremendous amounts of money, not only on nuclear energy, but more importantly on the oil industry. Every Quebecker has paid $27,000 out of his or her own pocket to develop the oil industry in western Canada. I would not want the House to make a decision today that would lead to the same type of problem.
Given the context, I think we must adopt an approach with vision, we must learn from past mistakes, and look to the future. In the context of the debate on the ratification of the Kyoto protocol, we must pursue the only position that is consistent: maintaining the legislation as is, and putting off the debate until after the debate on the ratification of the Kyoto protocol is over.