MP Gallant Obtains Job Assurances from AECL President

June 06, 2008

Ottawa, Ontario - Cheryl Gallant, MP (Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke) received direct assurances from Atomic Energy of Canada(AECL) President Hugh MacDiarmid that the Crown Corporation will continue to provide an overall increase of new jobs in the Upper Ottawa valley.

“I am pleased, on behalf of the women and men employed by AECL in the Upper Ottawa valley, to confirm that AECL President MacDiarmid was definite that AECL would continue to expand. He made it clear that the skills of the employees associated with the Maple project were valuable to the company,” stated Cheryl Gallant, MP.

Participating as a Member of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources, which has oversight responsibilities for AECL, MP Gallant was able to question President MacDiarmid directly regarding the future of AECL.

Hansard, Standing Committee on Natural Resources June 5, 2008

Mrs. Cheryl Gallant (Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, Conservative): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Through you to the witness, the Chalk River site of AECL is in my riding of Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, and it is a significant employer. Employment has increased significantly over the last two years since this government has taken office. It has given cash injections, the highest cash injections in more than 30 years. So we've seen a growth in employment.

We've had many talented individuals working on the MAPLE project. What impact on the overall employment at AECL is the termination of the MAPLE project going to have? Are we still going to see a net increase in employment?

Mr. Hugh MacDiarmid (President and Chief Executive Officer, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited):

Yes. We expect that we will be employing more people at both Chalk River and Sheridan Park in the future.

I just mentioned Project New Lease, a project at Chalk River. It is a significant multi-year project that will require very sophisticated engineering and scientific expertise in order to pull it off. So from my perspective, the ability to redeploy the staff from the DIF project onto Project New Lease is, indeed, very welcome. We have demands, and we have open positions, as we speak. So we do not expect any employment effects at all.