Madam Speaker, first I want to thank my colleague from Matapédia—Matane for explaining so clearly why this amendment, which seems quite simple—there is only one clause in the bill—could have huge repercussions in the future. It absolves of any responsibility several third parties that could be required to decontaminate nuclear sites, and this could mainly be lending institutions. The previous provision said this:
—any other person with a right to or interestin, the affected land or place take the prescribed measures to reduce thelevel of contamination.
The new proposed provision reads as follows:
—any other person who has themanagement and control of—
Nuclear energy is very difficult to control; we do not yet know all the potential impacts of decontamination.
Instead of protecting society—and I mean society as a whole, the people and our environment—the government is absolving third parties, such as banks, of any responsibility with regard to decontamination.
In other words, the bank lobby, among others, is asking that such a change be made so that banks can lend money to develop a fossil energy that is very difficult to control, when we have wind energy and solar energy as alternatives.
In Quebec, we can still increase our hydroelectricity production, and my colleague was right to mention that. The federal government is said to have invested in excess of $66 billion in fossil energies and has not invested one cent in the development of hydroelectricity in Quebec. And yet, as you know, Quebecers pay taxes, 50% of which go to the federal government, and it has not invested one cent in the development of our clean energy in Quebec.
Not only do we have hydroelectricity, but we also have the possibility of developing wind energy. As my colleague so rightly said, we could even be a world leader in this field if we developed wind energy on platforms in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
What kind of investments could the federal government make in this type of clean energy not only for Quebec but in the context of the ratification of the Kyoto protocol, which, I think, has the same goal in mind?