Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague and friend from Saanich—Gulf Islands for her question.
Why are we taking this approach? I have some idea why. The nuclear lobby is doing its best to ensure that the regulations are relaxed. Basically, one could argue that nuclear energy is a carbon copy of oil and gas. They all do the same thing. They have a strong presence. They do a lot of lobbying.
What they do is go through the Privy Council Office to make recommendations to cabinet. They go around anything that might stop them and go straight to cabinet. Not only are the majority of nuclear projects exempt from impact assessments under the act, but the industry also wants reactors to be exempted so that there are no constraints on the development and installation of nuclear reactors. They go straight to the Privy Council Office to make recommendations to cabinet. They have a fast track to try to impose their will.
Unfortunately, this country's government is only too eager to listen to what the lobbies want and nod along to whatever they say.