Thank you to my colleague for that great question. Yesterday, alongside the Minister of Energy and our PAs, I was pleased to announce our government’s critical investment to support the expansion of the McMaster nuclear reactor, the largest research reactor in Canada.

Speaker, through an investment of $6.8 million, we are helping McMaster University scale up their nuclear reactor’s operations to 24 hours a day, five days a week, to increase the quantity and number of isotopes the reactor produces. What does that mean for Ontario? It means more opportunities for expanded research and development in strategic areas like advanced materials, medical isotopes, clean energy and small modular reactors. And it means countless quality jobs that will support the economy in southern Ontario, all while positioning our province as a leader in the global nuclear medicine market and our researchers’ reputations across the globe.

Speaker, unlike the Liberals who oversaw the fruits of millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded research sold off to the highest foreign bidder, our government will continue to foster Ontario-based research and development.

Canadian clinicians rely on access to nearly two dozen different medical isotopes to treat many different types of medical conditions, including heart disease and cancer. That’s why this work will have such a wide-ranging impact. It’s hard not to have been touched in some way by these conditions.

The medical benefits we hope to see will be unparalleled. The reactor will increase medical isotope production by three times what it is now, ensuring that Ontarians will have earlier access to advanced cancer therapies.

More importantly, Speaker, it will save lives, and it will take us one step closer to improving health outcomes of those impacted by a cancer diagnosis. It is the strong research that Ontario’s post-secondary institutions are conducting that is helping advance—