:
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I have several opening comments.
We have heard from members of both parties that this is a very serious issue and we need to get to the bottom of it. It was even mentioned again today in this committee by members of the official opposition that they wanted to get to the bottom of this issue.
We need to look back into events and into the history, because the Auditor General has identified a systemic, long-term problem here. That is what led us up to the point of Bill in Parliament. I remember those many hours we sat in Parliament that night, coming to grips with the emotional, agonizing issue of the health and safety of hundreds of thousands of cancer patients, in contrast with public safety in the event of a nuclear disaster. It put parliamentarians in a very difficult position. We had to really almost guess who was right, who was telling the truth, what was going on, and it was a very agonizing decision. Some people felt it was an easy decision to make, but it was a difficult one. We took it very seriously, and we didn't shy away from it.
We made our decision, and I think we made the right decision at the time, but now we need to look back and see how we got to this point. How did we come to this point of weighing those two things?
Nuclear safety is a very important issue. It is one that the NDP takes very seriously. It is one that I take very seriously, and it is one that all Canadians are concerned about. I've had many letters and calls from people all across the country about the decision that was made at the time on both sides of the issue.
It is very important that we hear from the department, from AECL. The information that we glean from the minister and from the president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission can be used by the independent investigator as well. This committee also doesn't have the time or the resources to do such a deep investigation over a long period of time. A lot of notes and correspondence that went back and forth over many years will need to be looked at. It is important that someone other than this committee do that, because from what we have seen today, with the going back and forth between the government party and the official opposition, this would be the wrong committee to hear such a thing. It needs to be independent.
We need to have this investigation to get to the bottom of this so that we can fix the problems and move forward for the safety and confidence of all Canadians.