Mr. François Lapointe (Montmagny—L’Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the government quietly revealed that it will spend more than $800 million on AECL this year alone.

Many people may say that massive overspending on the nuclear crown corporation is par for the course for the government, but what is different this time is that it has already sold most of the business to a private company.

Why is the minister hanging taxpayers out to dry while subsidizing privatized nuclear power?

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Mr. David Anderson (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and for the Canadian Wheat Board, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, the reason that we have sold this to a strong private sector partner is precisely for that reason. We agree that AECL is costing taxpayers too much money and that is why we moved ahead.

Actually, if the NDP had its way, there would not be a nuclear job in this country. It would cost Canadians 30,000 jobs.

We are moving ahead, protecting taxpayers and protecting industry at the same time.

[Translation]

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Mr. François Lapointe (Montmagny—L’Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, the government has botched the sale of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. Furthermore, it was not transparent about the process and we are now seeing the results. We have learned that the sale of the CANDU reactor division has cost $280 million and that the return on investment was only $15 million. That is a net loss of $265 million for Canadians, who had already paid $21 billion to support Atomic Energy of Canada Limited ever since it was created.

Starting in 2012, will this government stop running Canada’s energy resources at a loss?

[English]

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Mr. David Anderson (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and for the Canadian Wheat Board, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, our government is taking a responsible approach. We are protecting taxpayers’ interests while ensuring the future of the nuclear industry in Canada.

My colleague mentioned that there are 2,000 jobs in Mississauga alone that are connected to the nuclear industry. We are proud to protect those jobs. The NDP keeps talking about jobs for Canadians. We are protecting those jobs.

In this transition, I need to point out that the costs are actually lower than they were initially estimated to be. We have saved hundreds of Canadian jobs through doing that.

As the member mentioned, the costs associated with this divestiture are well-known to the public.

via Official Report * Table of Contents * Number 044 (Official Version).