Claude Guimond

[Business of supply, October 19th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I do not consent.

[Business of supply, October 19th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my Liberal colleague for her most interesting speech.

I can see that my colleague listened carefully to the concerns expressed recently with regard to the crisis in the forestry industry. We in the Bloc Quebecois and I especially have listened too.

Today there is something new in this debate. Yes, we are talking about the crisis in the forestry industry, but we are also adding to that private woodlot owners. Since the beginning of 2009, I have had the opportunity to meet a large number of private woodlot owners in Quebec as well as groups who represent them.

Who are these private woodlot owners that we are talking about today? Most of them are farmers with a forestry component; some of them are people who own woodlots in the countryside; there are even some people from our cities, large and small, who own woodlots. Those are the people who have been forgotten since the crisis hit the forestry industry.

As I was saying earlier, I had the opportunity to go around my riding and listen to what these people had to say. I can assure the House that they too want loans and loan guarantees to help them get back on their feet or stay afloat.

[Business of supply, October 19th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, first of all I am pleased to see that the minister reads the Bloc Québécois press releases as this means she is quite interested in this issue. I would like to point out that the figures cited in Friday's press release were provided by the federal government and are found on page 122 of the third progress report. Thus, these are very real figures.

Last week, during constituency week, I again had the great privilege and pleasure of touring my riding and meeting with people and groups of producers such as Coopérative forestière Haut Plan Vert in Lac-des-Aigles and Club Agri-Tech 2000 in Saint-Éloi. These people have a keen interest in biofuels and processing forest biomass and agricultural residues.

I will ask the minister a question. Is the minister and the government interested in investing as much money in biofuels as they are currently investing in the oil sands?

[Business of supply, October 19th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the NDP member for his question.

When it comes to talking about EI mechanisms, I urge the NDP members, who support the Conservatives' Bill C-50, to come to the Bloc's side and demand even more sustainable assistance. The assistance could be applied to the private forestry sector, because these workers, primarily seasonal workers, would benefit from these changes to EI.

[Business of supply, October 19th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question and his comments.

It is true that the Government of Quebec is the only government that has taken recent action to help the forestry industry. Since last fall, and even before that, the Bloc Québécois has been calling on the federal government to take action. Since the federal government did not take concrete action, the Government of Quebec had to do something.

The Bloc Québécois is calling for loans and loan guarantees, so that the companies have the money they need to stay open, and so that they have the financial means to reinvest, conduct research, and so on. We want them to be able to keep their heads above water.

What is new today is that the Bloc Québécois is asking for the same thing for private woodlot owners. There are more and more private woodlot owners that have forestry businesses, and the Bloc feels that they could and should benefit from loans and loan guarantees to help keep their companies running and to continue, during these difficult times, to improve their businesses and to operate in their woodlots.

[Business of supply, October 19th, 2009]

moved:

That, in the opinion of the House, the government should act urgently to provide the forestry industry, which has been hit hard by the economic crisis, with assistance which is similar to that given to the automotive industry concentrated in Ontario, and primarily through tax credits, loans and loan guarantees so that companies have immediate access to cash, and tax measures for private woodlot owners.

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Chicoutimi—Le Fjord.

I am very honoured to speak to this issue which, thanks to the Bloc Québécois, will be debated in this House today. We often hear the other political parties talk about the forestry crisis. They do acknowledge that there is a crisis but none of them has really done anything to help this sector of such vital importance to Quebec's economy.

Today, the Bloc Québécois will use the opposition day to put forward, once again, concrete ideas to quickly counter a catastrophe that has destroyed the forestry sector and consequently the lives of thousands of families in Quebec. I would also like to point out that the Bloc Québécois was the first federal political party to have appointed a private woodlot critic. I am extremely proud and honoured to have been selected for this task. This just shows how in touch our party is with the concerns and the realities of Quebeckers. This initiative was taken when private woodlot owners were being completely ignored by the mediocre measures proposed by the federal government in response to the forestry crisis.

Thus, the Bloc Québécois has taken up the mandate of being the voice of Quebec's private woodlot owners in the debate on the future of forestry. In the motion being debated today, we clearly state that the government must act urgently to provide the forestry industry with assistance similar to that given to the automotive industry concentrated in Ontario. We believe that it is completely absurd for the federal government to offer the forestry industry a paltry $70 million when it is giving the automotive industry almost $9.7 billion.

In Quebec, forestry is responsible for 88,000 direct jobs, but the forestry crisis as a whole affects close to 825,000 Quebec workers. In other words, this industry is vital to the economy of Quebec and above all to the economy of the regions, such as the Lower St. Lawrence region, where my riding is. So it is not right for a government to stand idly by in the face of a crisis that is threatening so many jobs and so many rural communities. This is, once again, glaring evidence of incompetence or perhaps simply contempt on the part of this government.

It is for this reason, among others, that the Conservative government does not deserve the confidence of Quebeckers. It is our clear belief that the Conservative government is making an ideological choice that benefits the West to the detriment of Quebec. The fact is that the government has still done nothing worthy of mention for the forestry sector. In creating a joint Canada-Quebec committee on forestry issues, the Conservative government has created the appearance of taking an interest in this crisis. In fact, there has been nothing concrete to alleviate the worries of forestry workers. Their frustration is all the more justified when we know that Quebec alone accounts for 32.8% of the forestry jobs in Canada and close to 40% of the communities affected by this crisis and that, in the end, according to the government’s calculations, Quebec receives only 21.7% of the funding allocated.

In addition to doing nothing to solve the problem, the government is barely concerned at all with the more specific case of the private woodlot owners. Yet private woodlots are responsible for 29,000 direct jobs in Quebec. I myself own a private woodlot, and I know how necessary and urgent it is for concrete action to be taken as soon as possible to avoid catastrophe.

I will take this opportunity to let all parliamentarians know about a few of the Bloc Québécois' proposals to assist owners of private woodlots.

First of all, in fiscal terms, it is absolutely necessary that the federal government recognize management plans as reasonable evidence of profit, so that management expenses incurred can be deductible under section 31 of the Income Tax Act. Under the current tax system, forest management expenses are not deductible from the income of the farm as a whole, and this encourages mismanagement of the forest. The taxation system applicable to private forests thus puts producers at a disadvantage and does not encourage sustainable use of the resource.

At the present time, the Income Tax Act grants no specific status to woodlot owners, and according to Revenue Canada, most owners are considered part-time farmers or hobby farmers. That being the case, their operating losses are not easily eligible. First they have to prove a reasonable expectation of profit. This is very difficult given the current requirements of the tax authorities. It is absolutely necessary to change this situation so as to take account of the specific nature of forestry work and of private woodlot owners.

Second, the federal government must set up a registered sylvicultural savings plan. At present, all the income made by lumber producers is taxable in the year when they sell their wood, even if that income represents up to 10 years of work—and that year may be followed by 10 more years without income.

Producers are asking to be able to put a portion of their income into a registered silvicultural savings plan. Though not having the same purpose, the mechanism of such a plan would be comparable to the registered retirement savings plan. The registered silvicultural savings plan would allow producers to shelter a portion of their income, setting it aside for future woodlot development.

Third, the federal government must look into the possibility of setting up an interest tax holiday and capital tax holiday program, so that forestry producers can preserve their assets in a time of crisis while improving the management, productivity and diversification of their property.

In my region, the Lower St. Lawrence, activities associated with private forest management and wood marketing create some 2,000 forest and factory jobs. In addition, the economic spinoffs from private woodlots are vital to our rural communities—my riding consists mostly of rural communities. It is crucial that the situation of private woodlot owners improve, because the survival of these communities depends on it.

Faced with the government's inaction, private woodlot owners are not just standing idle; they are doing everything they can to develop the full potential of their forest heritage. This means that, in addition to being undeniably important to rural communities, private forests can play an important environmental role when managed sustainably. They can help preserve wildlife habitat and ecological diversity, protect air and water quality, store carbon and reduce soil and shoreline erosion. In fact, thanks to the management of private forests, they are more productive today than public forests.

Private forest management in Quebec and Canada is the best solution for sustainable development and I urge the government and the other parties in this House to adopt my motion today in order to support the 130,000 private woodlot owners in Quebec and the 450,000 in Canada.

[International Film Festival in Rimouski, October 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to draw the attention of the House to the 27th anniversary of the Carrousel international du film de Rimouski, which, every fall, presents a week of film-related activities for young people.

This year, 123 films from around the globe entertained audiences young and old. Members of the film industry led workshops and attended open animation workshops for secondary and CEGEP students. In short, it was a week of exciting cultural exchanges between international connoisseurs and young film fans.

One of the distinctive features of this festival remains its panel of international judges made up of about 20 young people aged 12 to 17, who determine the winners of the Camérios, the awards given out at that festival.

Congratulations and thanks to the volunteers, the organization's leadership, and particularly its president, Denis J. Roy.

[Le Détour de Notre-Dame-du-Lac Cheese Factory, October 1st, 2009]

Madam Speaker, Le Détour de Notre-Dame-du-Lac cheese factory just won first prize in the Caseus Quebec contest, with its Citadelle cheese.

This cheese factory keeps on winning awards. In May of this year, it also distinguished itself by taking first prize in the “soft-ripened cheese” category, with Le Marquis de Témiscouata, at the sixth Canadian Cheese Grand Prix. That cheese is made with milk from a herd of Jersey cows on the Marquis farm, in Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, in the Témiscouata region.

The Le Détour cheese factory also did well at the most prestigious North American cheese competition, held in Chicago in July 2008, where it won three prizes.

Congratulations to co-owners Ginette Bégin and Mario Quirion for their excellent work.

[Softwood Lumber, September 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the only thing that the companies and the U.S. government want is to get their hands on the $68 million.

Can the government provide assurance that the guilty Ontario companies will pay the fine on their over-quota exports and that Quebec will not end up footing the bill?

[Softwood Lumber, September 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, another issue is playing out much like sales tax harmonization. The $68 million in countervailing duties imposed by the London Court of International Arbitration will likely hurt Quebec. Ontario companies were responsible for 60% of the quota overrun, so they should be responsible for paying 60% of the penalty imposed by the court.

Will the Minister of International Trade take steps to ensure that Quebec companies are not penalized for Ontario's overrun?