Medical Isotopes  Mr. Speaker, again the fact remains that this government has actually acted on the matter. When it became apparent that the MAPLEs reactors would not produce one single medical isotope after 12 years and hundreds of millions of dollars, a decision was made to shut it down and indeed we accepted that.

Minister of Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, again, I think it is important to correct the facts. Yesterday, the member for Ottawa South himself made some statements in the media with respect to reactors. He said that the OPAL reactor is 12 months away from operation. Indeed, that is false. He said that Australia would not be able to export a single medical isotope.

Medical Isotopes  Mr. Speaker, I would like to correct the record on statements made by the Leader of the Opposition. In fact, Petten in the Netherlands has increased by 50% its production of medical isotopes. It will be going into a maintenance shutdown. However, the Belgian reactor will then come on to production on July 21.

Minister of Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, I have to admit that I am surprised how the hon. member has characterized it. This government has done much in terms of ensuring there is sufficient funding for AECL to deal with these matters. This government is encouraging AECL and CNSC to do proactive disclosure on websites so people can understand what is going on.

Minister of Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, last Thursday, I announced that we would be restructuring Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, which has been welcomed by a variety of people, not only in terms of workers and employees but in terms of people who are interested in investing collectively in our Canadian nuclear industry.

Medical Isotopes  Mr. Speaker, I know the microphone got cut off, but I am sure we could all hear the yelling from the other side of the House. As I said yesterday, it is not making it a more compelling issue. The reality is and the facts are that we are working with the world. It is going along very well.

Medical Isotopes  Mr. Speaker, in December of last year, we put out a five-point strategy with respect to dealing with medical isotopes. Part of it had to do with increasing global supply. Indeed, we have delivered on that plan. The second part had to do with looking at the longer term with respect to medical isotopes.

Nuclear Waste  Mr. Speaker, with respect to the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, it is constituted under the Nuclear Fuel Waste Act. It is undergoing a very lengthy and a very fulsome process with respect to choosing the appropriate willing and informed community that wishes to become the deep geological repository for waste in nuclear fuel.

Minister of Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, as indicated, this is a serious matter. Corrective action has been taken. More important, the hon. member opposite oftentimes takes the opportunity in the House to ask me about the situation with respect to isotope supply and I think it is really important that we continue to focus on that.

Minister of Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, as we have indicated, this is a serious matter and indeed we have gone to great lengths to describe the actions that we have taken. I would just like to go back to what has been indicated earlier, that both the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail indicated it is time to move on and talk about things Canadians truly do care about, not about who did what to whom at what point in time, but rather what is going on with medical isotopes, how we are restructuring the Canadian nuclear industry in order to make more jobs for people, and what this government is actually doing to help Canadians.

Medical Isotopes  Mr. Speaker, as I indicated earlier, her hon. colleague has done good work in terms of asking questions in the past and, indeed, on February 10, he asked me a question with respect to the breakdown and the costing of medical isotopes. I gave full disclosure indicating exactly that it was $72 million for the total isotope package.

Minister of Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, as we have indicated, there are clear procedures in the minister's office with respect to the handling of these documents. It is a very serious matter when those procedures are not followed, which is what happened in this case. As a result, we took corrective action.

Minister of Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, as we have indicated, we treat this very seriously. There are clear procedures that are in place. They were not followed. The individual who was responsible for the handling of the documents offered her resignation and we accepted it.

Minister of Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, as we indicated, there are clear procedures in place dealing with these documents and these matters. Unfortunately, in this case, those clear procedures in place were not followed, and the staff member who was responsible for the documents offered her resignation and we accepted it.

Minister of Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to update the House today on progress that we have made with respect to medical isotopes. As we have mentioned before, this is a global issue that is going to be dealt with in a global manner. Through Canada's leadership we have been successful in having our co-operative partners in The Netherlands, Petten, increase their medical isotope supply by at least 50%.