David McGuinty

[Medical Isotopes, June 1st, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, just 18 months ago, the Prime Minister's position was that getting back a reactor online was a matter of life or death.

MDS Nordion stated today that the government has no long-term plan for the supply of medical isotopes.

Dr. Christopher O'Brien, of the Ontario Association of Nuclear Medicine, states, “There just aren't enough reactors out there that can take the place of Chalk River”.

Clearly, isotope supply will not meet demand in Canada or elsewhere. If this is a matter of life or death, where will the required isotopes come from and, if there are not enough, which patients will suffer and who gets to decide?

[Medical Isotopes, June 1st, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, 2 million procedures in Canada every year rely on medical isotopes, 80% of which come from Chalk River.

Dr. Jean-Luc Urbain, president of the Canadian Association of Nuclear Medicine, describes the situation as a real catastrophe.

The Prime Minister has no one left to blame and no one left to fire.

Since the government does not know when its own reactor will be back on line, could the Prime Minister tell us when and from where supplies of medical isotopes will be secured? Will every Canadian who needs diagnostic tests and cancer and heart treatments get them, yes or no?

[Medical Isotopes, June 1st, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the situation concerning medical isotopes is critical.

Every day, 5,000 Canadians and 60,000 patients around the world depend on Chalk River. Some 18 months ago, when the first of the three unplanned shutdowns happened, the minister called it a matter of life and death. The Prime Minister said more or less the same thing when he called it a threat to human health.

When will the production of medical isotopes resume in Chalk River, if it ever does?

[Medical Isotopes, May 26th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, this is a Conservative made in Canada crisis now described by nuclear medicine experts as a catastrophe.

There is no plan B, there is no one left to blame and there is no one left to fire. The last natural resources minister argued that “a continued shortage of isotopes for just one week”, he said, was the difference between “life or death for some patients”.

As we are now facing an indefinite shutdown again, with 5,000 daily tests and treatments for Canadians at risk, how could the minister possibly have allowed this situation to occur?

[Medical Isotopes, May 26th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, here is what we know about the situation at Chalk River.

There have been three unplanned and extended shutdowns in 17 months and at least four radioactive leaks. The NRU licence was renewed with AECL in July 2006 without ensuring all safety requirements were met. A new 40 year isotope supply agreement was signed with MDS Nordion with no backup plan and now it is the subject of a $1.6 billion lawsuit.

With 5,000 daily tests and treatments for Canadians now at risk, when will this end?

[Vimala Sadashiv Dhavale, May 14th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured today to pay tribute to Mrs. Vimala Sadashiv Dhavale, a respected member of my community of Ottawa South, who passed away on January 14, 2009.

Mrs. Dhavale was born in Wardha in the Maharashtra state in India on October 10, 1920. Vimala was a good student who excelled in academic life. Inspired by this love of learning, she attained a post-secondary degree in education, and became a teacher. For over two decades in India she taught senior high school students English, history and math.

During her tenure as a teacher, Mrs. Dhavale also developed a devotion to the daily practice of therapeutic yoga after finding it had cured her of chronic asthma. She committed herself to a lifelong advocacy of the benefits of yoga, becoming a yoga teacher, giving seminars and authoring several books on the practice.

After retiring from teaching, she immigrated to Canada in 1978, obtained her nursing degree from Algonquin College and worked at Glebe Centre. There she brought her love of yoga to Ottawa's seniors community, offering classes across the city. Her dedication to seniors continued over decades. Mrs. Dhavale continued her good works until just weeks before her passing.

On behalf of the House of Commons, I offer our condolences to her sons, Vijay, Vishwas and Vivek Dhavale. Through her devotion to her family, her students, her patients and her community, she made them exceptionally proud.

[The Environment, May 13th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the so-called dialogue with the United States is turning to confrontation.

The natural resources minister lobbies to block progressive fossil fuel standards out of California instead of helping Canada compete and win in the race to the low carbon economy.

Today, the environment minister is busy finger-wagging and lecturing the United States on its own plan because he has none to present.

When will the government realize that when it comes to achieving Canada's green energy potential, the United States is not the bad guy and it is not our greatest threat? Our greatest threat continues to be Conservative incompetence.

[The Environment, May 13th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Environment Commissioner confirmed that after three years, three ministers and three plans, on climate change the Conservatives are not credible on any level.

Their emission reductions have no rationale. They are not transparent. Emissions are way up. Worse, they are deliberating overstating reductions targets, which they know they cannot meet.

Given those conclusions, why will the Prime Minister not finally admit that he will not come anywhere close to meeting his reduction target of 49 megatonnes for our large industries by 2010?

[Environmental Enforcement Act, May 12th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I have spoken at length with my hon. colleague about the links between the government's changes to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. I would like to hear what he thinks of those changes. Are they in line with what is being proposed in the bill before us here today?

[Environmental Enforcement Act, May 12th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, our leader has been perfectly clear about how to proceed forward now given the three years and seven months, roughly, that we have lost through three plans and three ministers in three years. The only thing we hear on the climate change file is, “We are talking about it” and, “We are waiting for instructions from Washington”.

The cap and trade system is a system whereby we put a price on the right to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Our 760 large polluters are asked to pay for that privilege, to emit into the atmosphere. It is a market mechanism. It is a very efficient tool to use to price carbon emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce them over time.

It is what the Americans will be doing and it is what a number of other jurisdictions are examining. However, we need to ensure, using 1990 as the baseline year, unlike 2005 or 2006, as proposed by the government, that it is in line with the international community of 174 countries that have ratified the Kyoto treaty and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. We are all using 1990 as the baseline year. The only two or three exceptions would be the Canadian government and, because of the lost eight years under the republican administration of Mr. Bush, now, I believe, President Obama is using 2005, but that is also under negotiation.