Medical Isotopes  Mr. Speaker, it is the actions of this government that matter in dealing with the medical isotopes. Since November 2007, we have dealt with this issue in a forward thinking way. We have taken action, which is something that the Liberals did not do in 13 years in government. We are working with global partners.

Medical Isotopes  Mr. Speaker, as we have indicated, we have been working on the issues of shortages of medical isotopes for a very long time, not just as a result of this unplanned, unexpected outage of the NRU. We have actually put an action plan together. We delivered on a five point plan and we continue to work with our global partners, which is a far cry more than when the member opposite was the minister of natural resources, knew about the issue with the MAPLEs, knew about the difficulties we had with the MAPLEs and did absolutely nothing.

Medical Isotopes  Mr. Speaker, as we have indicated, we are working with the global partners. There are five nuclear reactors in the world that create medical isotopes. One of them is the Canadian one, which is down for the health and safety of Canadians because it needs to be inspected for potential repairs.

Medical Isotopes  Mr. Speaker, this is indeed a very serious issue for the points put forward by the hon. member. I can tell Canadians what we are doing. Since November 2007, we have put together a plan to deal with isotope reductions in terms of contingency planning as well as reaching out to the global community.

Minister of Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, for the leader of the NDP to indicate that we do not have any caring on this side of the House is simply a ludicrous statement. Every member on this side of the House unfortunately has been touched by illness, has been touched by sickness and indeed has been touched by cancer.

Minister of Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, as we have indicated, this government has done much work on the issue of medical isotopes. As the hon. members knows, the comments associated with me were made on January 30, well before this current issue that we are dealing with. What it does show is that we have been considering this issue in a very serious manner since November 2007.

Minister of Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, let us be clear. The only people who are interested in political opportunism are the members of the opposition in the sense that they are the ones talking about it. We are actually the ones who are doing something on the crisis. Indeed, it is this government that has taken steps regarding it as compared to a Liberal government, which for 13 years and five cabinet ministers refused to assess the situation realistically and take steps to deal with it.

Minister of Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, as we indicated last week, it was a very serious issue with respect to the documents. Indeed, we took action on the matter. I offered my resignation to the Prime Minister. He did not accept it. The individual who was responsible for the handling of the documents offered her resignation and I did accept it.

Minister of Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, let us be clear. As we indicated, the only political opportunism that is coming out right now is that of the opposition. This government is working very hard with respect to the medical isotope issue. We are engaging globally. My colleague, the Minister of Health, is doing an excellent job engaging with her provincial and territorial colleagues in terms of the shortage of supply.

Minister of Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, to review what we have accomplished on this file since 2007, we have undertaken a major study of AECL and we have actually taken a decision on how to move forward with AECL. We have also taken great steps with respect to medical isotopes. We have struck an expert panel to review the submissions we are receiving on the long term supply.

Minister of Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, as we have indicated with respect to last week, it was a serious matter. We took constructive steps in dealing with the issue. More important, speaking of the global situation regarding isotopes, it is Canada that is leading the efforts in bringing the globe together in dealing with this fragile supply that we have.

Medical Isotopes  Mr. Speaker, in December last year, we set out a five-point plan in terms of dealing with the potential of having an isotope shortage. Indeed, one of them was seeking out a longer-term medical isotope supply. Since announcing that in December, we have received a number of specific proposals from various institutions as well as from universities.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, the hon. member's question gives me a great opportunity to tell the House about the great things this government has done with respect to renewable energy and facilitating bringing renewable power on the grid. As we have heard already in the House, it is the objective of this government to reach 90% non-emitting electricity by 2020.

Medical Isotopes  Mr. Speaker, again, as we have indicated, this is a global issue and we are dealing with our global partners on the matter. Petten in the Netherlands has indicated it will be increasing production supply by 50%. The Belgian reactor is coming back on line in July. As well, the Australian reactor is accelerating, by five months, opening up its ability to produce medical isotopes.

Medical Isotopes  Mr. Speaker, as the member points out, there is a difference between the medical isotopes being produced at a reactor and those at the end of line with respect to the medical establishment. Indeed, we are working not only with the reactor groups, we are working with companies in the United States.