Even on his holidays, he took time to visit shipyards. In the area of shipyards this is not always easy.
The purpose of the bill he introduced is to promote shipbuilding in Canada and to make Canadian shipyards more competitive. There is a lot of support for these demands. One hundred sixty thousand people have petitioned the Prime Minister of Canada. They sent postcards saying that something had to be done in this area in Canada.
In addition, the Shipbuilding Association of Canada supports the Marine Workers' Federation of Canada and the Shipyard General Workers' Federation of British Columbia.
All these people support the bill, which may help enormously. Some shipyards are nearly bankrupt, others are doing well. In my riding of Matapédia—Matane, one shipyard is doing very well—the Verreault Navigation shipyard.
I am not going to give the history of this shipyard, which is a family history. But they also need help. They are not asking for subsidies, they want the bill to be passed because it will help them enormously.
Yesterday, Ms. Verreault said the following at a press conference she gave “I do not necessarily want money. What I want is for certain standards to be eliminated and ones comparable to those in the United States to be set. That would be enough for me”.
Verreault Navigation's present project is to equip this shipyard with a second dry dock. Mrs. Verrault herself entered into alliances with the employers in order to reach a common agreement. This would result in a huge increase in employment. If there were a second dry dock, this would immediately create 119 more jobs on top of the existing 225. For a region like the Gaspé, that is really great.
We heard in the House today, and since Monday, that $1 billion had been squandered or at least not having been properly accounted for. I can say that, if we had standards, not subsidies but standards, government-backed loans as my colleague has called for, 129 jobs could be created immediately, or just about, with this $1 billion.
When we meet the minister, he tells us there is a moratorium and that it cannot be lifted. How can there be a moratorium when we are calling for job creation? Nowadays competition does not come only from Vancouver, the Maritimes or Quebec, but from all around the world.
The Canadian government has a duty to provide assistance to shipyards, and I cannot therefore see how one could not support this bill. It was introduced by my colleague from Lévis, and I will be going over certain provisions in a moment. It contains three major demands, and I will tell you more about them if time permits, but the House is already aware of this bill. These are our demands, and it is very important that the bill be passed as quickly as possible.
Mrs. Verreault is an extraordinary woman. My colleague came with me to meet her. We toured her shipyard with her, and it is quite impressive. We often think that something like that can only be found in large cities but, for once, it is in the Gaspé Peninsula. Mrs. Verreault wants to create jobs. She is not asking for money; she would just like to be granted loans like everybody else. I cannot see how such a request could be denied.
The problem is when people dig their heels in. The government implements a policy from coast to coast, but when a request is made that is a little bit too unusual, albeit very legitimate, they say “No. There is a moratorium. Everyone must comply”. I cannot help but think that, if we were a sovereign state, we would not have to beg, and the problem would be solved in no time. This is just one more reason. Even in the Gaspé Peninsula, people want to achieve sovereignty because the government bureaucracy is such that jobs are being lost, with the result that families are getting poorer and young people are leaving.
Moving to one of the demands contained in the bill, I will read our request concerning a loan guarantee program. a ) through the establishment of a program whereby a maximum of 87.5% of the money borrowed by a company from financial institutions to purchase a commercial ship that will be built in a shipyard located in Canada
(i) is guaranteed by the federal government in the event of default in the repayment of the loan,
(ii) bears a rate of interest comparable to that available for loans from financial institutions to large and financially strong corporations, and
(iii) is repayable on terms comparable to those usually granted by financial institutions to large and financially strong corporations for the repayment of their loans;
This is what we are asking the government for. Mere peanuts. It is only peanuts compared to the $1 billion boondoggle. I hope that, this time, the government will understand something must be done.
Going back to our shipyard in Les Méchins, I invite anyone who has never been to Les Méchins to come and visit this beautiful shipyard. This small village is an economic hub; a lot of development is taking place in surrounding areas. When people are working, they can help other people, and it snowballs.
I am asking for the co-operation of the House as a whole to pass this bill so that it can be implemented as soon as possible. Otherwise, this would be all the more reason to go the sovereignty way, as far as I am concerned.