Health  Mr. Speaker, we understand the stress these patients and their loved ones must be under, given the situation. The moment we were alerted to this extended shutdown, Health Canada swung into action. We have been scouring the globe for other replacement radioisotopes. We have been dealing, of course, as my colleague has, with an arm's length regulator and with AECL on how to start up as soon as possible.

Health  Mr. Speaker, as I declared, we are concerned about the situation and we have a three point plan to deal with the shortages that are in fact worldwide. If the hon. member could direct me to which desk drawer the Liberal plan that was supposed to be in place would be, then perhaps that would be helpful, but I suspect there was no Liberal plan.

Health  Mr. Speaker, the government, of course, is concerned about the impact of decisions by independent arm's length agencies, but what Canadians do need to know is that I have directed three things: first, looking for alternative sources of supply in other countries; second, looking at other isotopes that can be reapplied to alleviate the situation.

Health  Mr. Speaker, indeed, there were contingency plans in place. Of course, as a result of the arm's length decisions of some arm's length agencies, we are in a bit of a situation that we did not anticipate. As the hon. member knows, we cannot have too much of a contingency plan because the half-life of these isotopes is just three days.

Health  Mr. Speaker, I can tell the hon. member in this chamber we believe that science should be the judge on these issues. Indeed, our chemicals management plan that was announced by our Prime Minister is world leading in the fact that it reverses the onus to industry to prove to us, to prove to society and to the Government of Canada, that their products and other chemicals are safe.

Health  Mr. Speaker, I am sure the hon. member is aware that in fact the current standard in Canada for bisphenol A is one-half of the tolerable intake limits that are found in the European Union and in the United States. That is the current standard that is found in Canada. I hope the hon. member would agree with me that we have to take these situations with science as the basis for making our decisions, and that is exactly what we are doing in this case.

Health  Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member is no doubt aware, both AECL and the regulator are arm's length organizations independent of government. Nonetheless, we are certainly very concerned about this issue. I am indeed working very closely with my colleague, the Minister of Natural Resources, on this issue.

Health  Mr. Speaker, here is the difference between two governments. Under the previous Liberal government, under her ministerial capabilities, it cut $16 million from the Public Health Agency budget. Under our government, we are spending more on HIV-AIDS than any government in the history of our country and we are putting money in to end AIDS through the vaccine initiative.

Canada Marine Act  moved that Bill C-23, An Act to amend the Canada Marine Act, the Canada Transportation Act, the Pilotage Act and other Acts in consequence, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Questions on the Order Paper  Mr. Speaker, the response is as follows: a) Federal budget 2007 included a $300 million contribution to provinces and territories to support the introduction of publicly-funded HPV vaccination programs over the next three years. The funding will be allocated on a per capita basis, including Inuit and First Nations.

Health  Indeed I will, Mr. Speaker.

Health  Mr. Speaker, what the hon. member might have been waving around was a copy of a speech that I in fact delivered just 10 days ago, saying exactly what she is demanding. That is exactly my position.

Health  Mr. Speaker, as part of our world renowned chemicals management plan, I am announcing the launch of the maternal infant research on environmental chemicals study, a five year study that will recruit 2,000 women from 10 cities across Canada during their first trimester of pregnancy and follow them through the birth of their child, and obtain data on their exposure to chemicals.

Economic Development  Mr. Speaker, this is a matter that will be discussed in our caucus. However, for the hon. member, if the NDP plan is to have more bureaucracy, less control, less employees in northern Ontario as a result of his plan, then this caucus will vote against it.

Health  As the hon. member well knows, Mr. Speaker, first and foremost these are issues that are of the provincial and territorial governments, but I would say to the hon. member that the federal government can be part of the solution. Typically for the NDP, its only solution is to tax Canadians more, spend more of their hard-earned money and not work on the innovative solutions that are there, in place, and can be done.