Response to the Federal Finance Minister's invitation for industry consultation

In March 1985, the Canadian Nuclear Association (CNA) presented an extensive brief to the Minister of Finance, Michael Wilson, in response to the challenge issued to Canadians in the Minister's document 'A New Direction for Canada'. This further brief has been prepared in the spirit of the Minister's letter to the CNA dated May 23rd, 1985 in which Mr. Wilson indicated his desire for continued participation of groups such as the CNA in the consultative process. Appended to this brief is a reference sheet entitled 'What Nuclear Energy Means to Canada'. The facts in this sheet are extracted from the 1985 brief and updated with the latest information. Since the major emphasis in energy related discussions is usually on supply and demand of hydrocarbons such as oil and gas, it may come as a suprise to most Canadians that Canada's uranium production contained twice the energy in Canada's crude oil production and exceeded the total energy in all of the country's crude and natural gas production in 1984. Another little known fact is that nuclear power will soon produce more electricity world-wide than all the world's hydro- electric plants. The CNA intends to more widely disseminate this knowledge to the Canadian public. As part of that process it is hoped that the importance of uranium both for domestic use and exports, and Canada's success in harnessing nuclear power for peaceful and beneficial applications, will be fully reflected in decisions and statements related to the development of government fiscal and energy policies. The industry wishes to maintain an ongoing dialogue with government in the following matters: substitution of non-renewable by renewable energy; assurance that electricity sales will not be taxed; maintenance of an open market for uranium with the U.S.A.; continued support in research and development; approval of the Point Lepreau proposal and federal government support for sale of a reactor to Turkey