2009-05-26 1440 QP - Medical Isotopes
Channel: David McGuinty
Date: 2011-06-15

Mr. David McGuinty (Ottawa South, Lib.):  
    Mr. Speaker, here is what we know about the situation at Chalk River.

    There have been three unplanned and extended shutdowns in 17 months and at least four radioactive leaks. The NRU licence was renewed with AECL in July 2006 without ensuring all safety requirements were met. A new 40 year isotope supply agreement was signed with MDS Nordion with no backup plan and now it is the subject of a $1.6 billion lawsuit.

    With 5,000 daily tests and treatments for Canadians now at risk, when will this end?

Hon. Lisa Raitt (Minister of Natural Resources, CPC): 
    Mr. Speaker, this government has taken great action with respect to the isotope file. In December of last year, we set out a five point plan in which we indicated we understood the difficulty in the supply chain regarding medical isotopes and that we would take action toward it.

    We have taken action and the Minister of Health is working with the provinces and territories to deal with the shortage of supply, My officials, along with myself, are reaching out to the other isotope producing countries in order to increase the supply in the world.

Mr. David McGuinty (Ottawa South, Lib.): 
    Mr. Speaker, this is a Conservative made in Canada crisis now described by nuclear medicine experts as a catastrophe.

    There is no plan B, there is no one left to blame and there is no one left to fire. The last natural resources minister argued that "a continued shortage of isotopes for just one week", he said, was the difference between "life or death for some patients".

    As we are now facing an indefinite shutdown again, with 5,000 daily tests and treatments for Canadians at risk, how could the minister possibly have allowed this situation to occur?

Hon. Lisa Raitt (Minister of Natural Resources, CPC): 
    Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Ottawa South for his interest in the file.

    What would have been very helpful to this file that I and the government are faced with today is if he had actually brought his concerns to the member for Markham—Unionville when he was the minister of natural resources and could have dealt with this issue at that point in time.

    Thirteen years, five Liberal cabinet ministers dealing with this issue in front of them and they did nothing.