Natural Resources committee  Yes, there are liability limits in other countries. They're set at various levels. Some may be more outrageous than Canada's. Those aren't the ones I'm focusing on. If the industry internationally has proven it is capable of operating without a liability limit, then that's where I want to focus and that's where I have focused.

Natural Resources committee  Energy Probe and our co-plaintiffs pursued a number of avenues under sections 7 and 15 of the charter. They had to do with the security of the person, that in taking away normal incentives for safety, the existing act and its successor violate that part of the charter. That's one line of argument.

Natural Resources committee  The good news is that there is no need to answer that question. In the normal course of events, those who cause damage have no protection. If they go bankrupt because they created more damage than they're worth, then they go bankrupt. And that is why lawsuits for damage recovery often have multiple defendants, because it is possible, in a large case, that the first defendant will be bankrupted.

Natural Resources committee  I have no comment.

Natural Resources committee  There are two branches to my answer. One is that if I'm right, if there were an accident, the act would not survive a charter challenge, in which case it doesn't matter. And the other is that if I'm wrong, the act would survive. And obviously if it would survive, the $650 million is more than $75 million and closer to what a catastrophe might cost.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, sir. I'd like to make four points. I'll start not with my first, in logical order, but with what I think is the shortest; that is, as somebody who has spent more time in court while the Nuclear Liability Act's legality and constitutionality were debated than anybody in your room, I would suggest that neither the Nuclear Liability Act nor its draft successor, Bill C-20, is likely to survive a charter challenge after an accident.

Natural Resources committee  I hear you fine, thank you.