David McGuinty

[Minister of Natural Resources, June 9th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, today, on average, 62% of Canadians diagnosed with cancer survive. In the 1960s it was one in three.

Survival rates have nearly doubled over four decades thanks to medical advances in cancer testing, rates that depend on daily access to medical isotopes, which thousands of Canadians no longer have.

How can Canadians possibly believe the Prime Minister is treating this crisis with the competence and the urgency it deserves when the minister, in her own words, is willing to “roll the dice” with the health of Canadians in order to climb a political ladder?

[Minister of Natural Resources, June 8th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, there is a darkening cloud hanging over the minister and Prime Minister. Unless these allegations prove to be false, it is clear that the minister has absolutely no confidence in her colleague's ability to handle what is now a full-fledged health care crisis.

Thousands of Canadians are failing to get the cancer, heart, bone and organ tests they need. Will the Prime Minister now intervene, take the file away from his distracted minister and see that this crisis gets the urgent attention it deserves and Canadians get the procedures they desperately need?

[Minister of Natural Resources, June 8th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, we have learned that the Minister of Natural Resources was caught on tape making derogatory comments about her colleague, the Minister of Health, whom she described as not very competent. The minister now has a chance to explain herself.

Can she tell the House, loud and clear, and unequivocally, whether her comments about the Minister of Health as reported by the media are true?

[Medical Isotopes, June 5th, 2009]

Nice try, Mr. Speaker, but here are the real facts. The Dutch Petten reactor has a radioactive leak. It will shut down for a month on July 18. It is going to be shut down for a further six months this January, and its licence to operate expires in March. The Australian OPAL reactor was built strictly for its own market. Its processing plant is not yet commissioned; that will take 6 to 12 months. Currently Australia does not supply medical isotopes to anyone. It imports 100% of its domestic supply.

When will the minister level with Canadians and start treating this crisis with the honesty and the urgency it deserves?

[Medical Isotopes, June 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, AECL officials have confirmed that Chalk River may not be back on line within three months. The shutdown remains indefinite. The minister falsely claims that shortfalls can be met by the Dutch and Australian reactors.

Can the minister explain precisely how these two reactors will make up for Canadian shortages? What guarantees has the government received that Canadians will get access to these isotopes given that we are going to be competing against Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and particularly the United States, where the prices paid for isotopes are the highest in the world?

[Minister of Natural Resources, June 4th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, let us move on and take stock: three shutdowns, four radioactive leaks in 18 months, $600 million in undisclosed cost overruns, a fraction spent of the $351 million for Chalk River isotopes, a $1.6 billion lawsuit, dozens of hospitals and thousands of Canadians waiting for their medical tests now forced to settle for 20th century medicine in 2009, and a minister's secret materials left behind in a national newsroom.

Would the Prime Minister explain, please, why the decision not to accept the minister's resignation?

[Minister of Natural Resources, June 4th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, secret documents are those that “could reasonably be expected to cause serious injury to the national interest”.

We are told these documents contain information on AECL's financial status, indebtedness, contractual undertakings, obligations, lawsuits and details surrounding its bid for the supply of nuclear power in Ontario. They also deal with the critical issue of medical isotopes for medical testing.

Can the Prime Minister explain how the release of this information could not be reasonably expected to cause serious injury to the national interest?

[Minister of Natural Resources, June 4th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I have several questions for the Prime Minister.

Were the lost secret documents the minister's personal copy with handwritten annotations? When did she realize she had lost them? Did she inform her deputy minister of this, and if so, when? What secret information did these documents contain and what commercial impact was there? Finally, what legal proceedings has the government undertaken against the television network involved?

[Government Assets, June 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, this is the government that blew the fiscal framework when times were good, pretending the party had never stopped. Well, the party is over and Canadians have been left with a serious Conservative hangover.

TD Bank is now predicting a federal deficit of $167 billion over five years, which is double the finance minister's projections. After 11 consecutive surpluses where we paid down $105 billion in debt, we are $60 billion deeper in debt than we were in 1996.

Minister, stand up and tell us exactly what is for sale and at what prices, so we can cover your tracks and get Canada back into the black.

[Government Assets, June 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, last fall the government failed to deliver a serious fiscal plan to deal with the recession. Worse, it attempted to hide the fact that it had already returned Canada to deficit by booking a $4 billion fire sale of crown assets. Now we learn every major crown asset is on the Conservatives' chopping block.

Will the government disclose its criteria for this review and guarantee that this is not an ideological mission to dump institutions such as the CBC, VIA Rail and Canada Post? After all, they were all on the Prime Minister's hit list when he was the head of policy with the Reform Party.