Lisa Raitt

[Pulp and Paper Industry, June 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Kenora for his work on the file and all the other Conservative MPs who have brought this matter to my attention. He continues to serve his constituents in northern Ontario very well.

As indicated, Canadian pulp mills will be eligible to access $1 billion in funding through our government's pulp and paper green transformation program. It will help ensure Canada has a pulp sector, both commercially and environmentally sustainable for years to come. Every dollar made available through this program will benefit forestry communities across Canada and provide them with a brighter future.

By making a smart investment today, we are laying the groundwork for a greener, more secure future for pulp and paper workers and their families.

[Pulp and Paper Industry, June 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated, the government announced today the pulp and paper green transformation program. This program is being put in place specifically to allow the pulp and paper industry to transform itself. It is already doing very well in terms of renewable energy, but even more so it is becoming more clean and more green. That is exactly what we should be doing at this point in time.

As I have already indicated, the industry has embraced this and has been very vocal about the fact that it is the right thing to do.

[Pulp and Paper Industry, June 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, we are very pleased to announce today the government's new program with respect to forestry, and I will give more details of it later on. However, if the member actually bothered to talk to the industry, he would find out that it embraces it, that it will help save jobs and help us maintain our edge as the greenest supplier of pulp in the world.

What it particularly appreciates about the announcement is it demonstrates a commitment to the future of the industry through its support to capital improvements, exactly what industry needs to prepare for the return of markets.

[Medical Isotopes, June 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, our plan has been in action and we have been very active on the file.

In December of last year, we released a statement to the public, indicating that we were pursuing the supply of medical isotopes around the globe in terms of the security of supply. Two areas on which my department was concentrating were reviewing the actual ability to produce alternatives to medical isotopes in another way and to explore how to better coordinate the reactors around the world.

We have had great success on both of those, culminating with an expert panel review for the long-term with respect to new ways to produce medical isotopes and the global response of both Petten and France coming on line.

[Medical Isotopes, June 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, indeed, the one thing that the hon. member said that was, in fact, a fact is that we are world leaders.

We are absolutely world leaders in leading the globe in coming together to come up with contingency planning with respect to reactor schedules to ensure that we have a global supply of medical isotopes.

With respect to McMaster, this government has funded McMaster, both on the side of research with respect to the reactor as well as the infrastructure side of the reactor. Indeed, on May 28 of this year we announced an expert panel to review the call for proposals for alternate ways to produce medical isotopes for the long-term.

[Medical Isotopes, June 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the testimony of the former president of CNSC has actually turned up something else which I find very interesting. Indeed, she indicated to the Globe and Mail, not more than three weeks ago, that she was told that the MAPLEs had problems in 2001, which I presume she told the member for Wascana. As well, the quote was, “You know, we are going to be bringing out the cement machines to fill that in”.

Now, is that something the member for Wascana actually knew about? If so, why did it take him so long to alert the world that Canada was not in a position to provide—

[The Environment, June 16th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his excellent and important question.

Sadly, if the opposition were to vote to block our stimulus funding on Friday, some 200,000 Canadian family homes would not receive grants for their energy efficiency renovations. That also includes 55,000 homeowners who have already had their pre-audits done.

However, there is still time. The vote is on Friday and the Liberals have a choice. We hope that the Liberal leader considers the interests of Canadians instead of his own interests and drops his threat to block the economic action plan. If the opposition--

[Medical Isotopes, June 16th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, as mentioned in our five-point plan in December of last year, one of the issues that the department was looking into was exactly what kinds of proposals were out there for alternative means of producing medical isotopes.

Last week we did announce that there will be an expert review panel to take a look at all of these reports and suggestions that are coming in from institutions as well as universities in terms of an alternate way of producing medical isotopes. They will be reviewing them over the summer. We look forward to receiving the results.

[Medical Isotopes, June 16th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, one thing that is clear is that this is a global issue. In fact, we are working with the other producing countries in the world with respect to reactor schedules and we have had a very positive response.

It is under Canada's leadership that Petten increased its amount of medical isotopes produced, as was done in South Africa as well. Those isotopes are coming into the country this week. We will be able to have 75% of our total medical isotopes.

However, we continue to work. The Minister of Health continues to work with the medical establishment. We will continue to work with the reactors to get this done right.

[Medical Isotopes, June 16th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, as indicated in the House yesterday, Canada has 75% of its supply of medical isotopes for this week on order. We are monitoring the situation very closely.

This morning I spoke with Belgium's minister of energy to discuss with him the reactor schedules. The Belgians have indicated that they are going to help us as best they can. I will continue on that follow-up on Thursday when I meet with the experts in Toronto.