Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today in the House to speak to Bill C-213.
First, I would like to congratulate my colleague from Lévis-et-Chutes-de-la-Chaudière. He has spent a lot of time on this issue. Since I was elected here two and a half years ago he has been fighting for this industry.
I believe this industry belongs just as much to Canada as to any other country in the world. When we look at our shipyards, we can be proud. Given that in Canada we are surrounded by oceans, the Pacific on one side, the Atlantic on the other side, it is important to look at the jobs that can be generated. Shipyards are a good example of that.
In 1993, in the red book, the Liberals promised Canadians a shipbuilding policy.
We are in the year 2000 and we have yet to see a policy. We are still waiting for a policy concerning shipyards; yet it could save the jobs of Canadian men and women. Instead, Canadians are currently forced to move to the United States to put their expertise to use. This is totally unacceptable.
Les Holloway was here on May 11, 1999. He met all the opposition parties and made suggestions, along with the unions, to save our shipbuilding industry. I do not agree often with the Irving company, but for once even Irving agrees with the unions. Irving is not the unions' biggest fan, but in this case, it is asking for the same thing as the unions. They want Canada to put in place concrete policies to save the shipbuilding industry.
I think it is really important that the Liberals keep their 1993 promise to implement such a policy. We are asking for loan guarantees with reimbursement, tax exemptions, anything to save Canadian jobs, because we can no longer accept to see good paying jobs being lost, jobs that we could have in our regions, for example in St. John, New Brunswick. A small shipyard in Caraquet had to close its doors. But we know how important it is to be able to create jobs in the Acadian peninsula.
I wish to congratulate the member for Lévis-et-Chutes-de-la-Chaudière on all the work he has done and the attention he has given to it. I wish to congratulate him on travelling throughout Canada, on coming to see us in Saint John and Caraquet in New Brunswick, on going to Nova Scotia, to Vancouver and to other countries to do the work of the Liberals elected in 1993, who have since cut jobs and who are not even able to save jobs here at home.
The Minister of Finance, who owns a shipping line, and who is not even able to have his ships built in Canada, tells Canadians that they must tighten their belts, that Canada is in trouble, that we must save money and be careful. He is not even able to help our own Canadians. He is not even able to save our jobs. In the Acadian peninsula, unemployment tops 40% in the winter but he has lumped us in with the major regions, which lowers it to 13%.
Our Minister of Finance has ships that he has not been able to have built in Canada. It is a real disgrace. Our Minister of Finance, who wants to run the country, be the leader of the Liberal Party and prime minister of Canada, has an industry that is not even able to support our Canadians. It is a real disgrace.
I strongly urge the Liberals to keep their promise to Canadians and not to take the approach they took with the GST, which they did not scrap even though they said they would in the 1993 red book. This was a promise made by the former leader of the opposition, now the Prime Minister. In 1993 he promised Canadians that he would develop a shipyard policy. He is not able to keep that promise either.
It is important to be able to save our jobs here in Canada because they are needed. They are needed in places like Saint John, New Brunswick, like Caraquet, Halifax and Dartmouth. Good policies such as those presented by our colleague from Lévis-et-Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, for example loan guarantees and tax exemptions, are what will make it possible to save this industry, which is so important.
The Minister of Finance, who owns a shipping company, prefers to go to Vietnam for his ships, instead of having them built here to save Canadian jobs. That is a disgrace. A minister with prime ministerial aspirations who is not even capable of supporting Canadians, that is disgraceful, and I am saying so here in this House.
In the Acadian peninsula and the Acadie—Bathurst region, we are losing over $65 million in employment insurance benefits because of the cuts made by the Liberal Party over there, which is in power today. That is what we are losing in our area. I can guarantee that the government party did not train the workers and create the jobs in our area. That is not true, and I am prepared to rise in this House at any time to speak out against the damage the Liberals have done in continuing the policies of the Conservatives, the likes of Valcourt, who took employment insurance funds back in 1986 to add to the consolidated revenue fund.
Since then, workers have had to struggle day after day, and there is no money coming in. Today we are calling for a simple policy, one which would make it possible for us to keep our jobs in our area. When you were in the opposition, you were opposed to changes in employment insurance. The Liberals were against that. And yet they have made changes as well. They were in favour of a shipbuilding policy and today they cannot even follow that policy. They should be ashamed of themselves. They should pack their things and leave, because they are not doing what they promised Canadians they would do.