Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for appearing today, ladies and gentlemen.
I'd like to talk a little bit about Gildan, as it's featured in some of the reporting, but first I want to relate my experience. When I was in Haiti in 2006, I specifically asked to see the Gildan factory there, to talk to employees, to talk to the management, to ascertain the situation for myself. We all hear rumours of sweatshops and abuses. They had one plant, and they had plans for two more. I hope that in the study of Haiti we will have an opportunity to talk to them on that too, if the plants are still standing and operating.
I had experience in my previous life with manufacturing, and I had my own factory on a small scale. The factory in Haiti was clean and well organized, with a well-organized cafeteria. I talked to the employees. It was air-conditioned. I talked to the employees about whether they were happy with it. They have practically zero turnover in employment and they seem very happy with the work.
I was there with Alexa McDonough, and I'm sure she would have said something if she had noticed anything awry. I was also there with Bloc MP Thierry St-Cyr, and he concluded that this was important for the country of Haiti. It was 5,000 family-sustaining jobs. They were paying the equivalent of double the minimum wage, which here in Canada would be $20 an hour. That's what I determined. Maybe I didn't drill deep enough or look into all of the facts, but my experience runs quite counter to what I'm reading in the reports and hearing.
Have you done comparable studies of other factories in Haiti, Honduras, Canada, and the United States? Have you looked at the injury rates for this type of manufacturing in a variety of countries?
As unfortunate as it is, injuries do happen. They happened in my factory. They happen in all factories, but as to numbers of injuries in various countries, do you have any stats? Is this exceptional? How does it relate?