Madam Speaker, this is not the first time that I have asked for an adjournment debate on the issue of Shannon's contaminated water. I have made this request because we asked the Minister of National Defence several questions and because the Minister of Defence has been involved in this matter and has been negligent over the years.
We have known since 1978 that the water was contaminated by a degreasing agent—a solvent—containing TCE, a very toxic substance.
Today I would like to question the government again about this issue. Young Alexandre Mallette-Lafrenière died last week of cancer. We would like to have an epidemiological study to make the connection between the use of contaminated water and cancer. The government is hiding behind empty words and they are not at all encouraging for the citizens of Shannon. I know that the government gave $13.3 million to supply the municipality with safe drinking water.
However, that is not what we are discussing. We are talking about the effects of drinking contaminated water, the exponential growth in cancers. We know that the rate of brain cancer in the United States is 1 in 25,000 people. In Shannon, however, the rate is 8 for less than 5,000, which is very alarming.
The Minister of National Defence has never shown compassion in addressing this issue. He has never called the citizens' committee to find out how people were handling the stress day to day and how the tainted water was affecting the quality of life of most of the people in Shannon.
On the weekend, grief-stricken people cried out for help. They called on the government to make sure that Alexandre, who had come to symbolize the fight against tainted water in Shannon, had not died in vain. The government must take action and address this issue much more compassionately.
No one has ever called the chair of the citizens' committee, Ms. Speiser, who has given me permission to say so in this House. No one has ever gotten in touch with this person, who has important information and could convince the government to reach out to the citizens' committee and help them not only by decontaminating the soil, but also by compensating the members of several families who have developed cancer. When we read the file on the tainted water in Shannon and we see so many victims of cancer, we wonder. We cannot reassure the people of Shannon.
I do not want the member for Beauport—Limoilou to remind me this time about the $13.3 million earmarked for the water system, because that is not the issue. If Radio-Canada had not broadcast a damning report on how the government has handled this issue, the city never would have been promised that $13.3 million.
When the Liberals were in power, there was another investigation, and the government decided to shell out a little money for the first phase of the water system. I do not know whether the member knows what is going on in her riding, but I do. I have been following this issue since 1999, and the government has not moved. Meanwhile, some people have been going through a terrible time.