Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, the member was very pleased to note in her speech that the budget is providing money again to Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. One would have thought that when this administration sold, at a bargain basement price, a crown corporation into which Canadians had sunk and lost tens of billions of dollars, that would have been the end of the sucking sound of money going down the drain to AECL. However, we see that over the next two years, $117 million more would go to AECL.
I am wondering if she could tell us how that is of any benefit to the Canadian economy.
Cheryl Gallant: Mr. Speaker, because AECL has diversified and the commercial end is under the command of a company that has penetration in more countries throughout the world, the local Chalk River laboratory is better positioned to continue to provide jobs and to continue with innovation and the commercialization of that innovation.
Almost 90% of all jobs created since July 2009 are full-time positions. Close to 85% are in the private sector and over two-thirds are in high-wage industries, such as those jobs at Chalk River Laboratories.