Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleagues for their support and enthusiasm. Before I begin, I should mention that I will be splitting my time with the member for Berthier—Maskinongé, who is with us this morning.
I found the throne speech very surprising, but not in a good way. I expected something completely different, given that the government supposedly decided to convene the House because Canada is facing a serious crisis, particularly in the manufacturing sector. Since the House was convened so soon after the election, I was expecting to hear about some very concrete measures in a number of areas, but that is not at all what happened.
At a press conference just this weekend, the Prime Minister did not convey any sense of urgency with respect to addressing the terrible crisis that people are going through right now, especially in my region and throughout Quebec. For example, since the beginning of the crisis in the softwood lumber sector, over half of the 300 processing plants in Quebec have closed, some of them just recently. As a result, in Quebec alone, some 30,000 workers have been laid off over the last few months and years.
It seems to me that all across Canada, wherever lumber is a major industry, such as in British Columbia, this crisis is extremely far-reaching and very bad for all regions like mine. I expected the Prime Minister to come up with a plan to help businesses deal with this crisis, but that is not at all what we got. Instead, we got a throne speech that I found feeble and virtually content-free.
This past weekend, the Minister of Finance suggested that we might have to wait until the introduction of the budget for any measures to be announced. But the crisis is happening now, and it is serious. Unfortunately, the throne speech offered no hope at all to workers or to the people of my riding.
One more example is that as recently as November 21, one of the largest companies in the riding of Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, Uniboard—Panval, announced yet again that it was cutting back on some of its activities. Not only is the company scaling back but the company has also said that, given the crisis, it is extremely difficult to predict when it will be able to start production again, because it produces particleboard panels used to build furniture. When consumption decreases, companies have no choice but to scale back production.
This is a company with 350 employees, in an RCM with 14,000 to 15,000 people. So one can imagine the impact such a closure would have, even though it is true that these people will be eligible for employment insurance. But, once again, there was absolutely nothing in the throne speech about employment insurance. EI provides only 50% of an employee's regular salary, and just for a given period of time. Not to mention there is a two-week waiting period, which we would like to get rid of.
There was absolutely nothing in the throne speech with regard to ways we can weather the crisis we are experiencing. And, with one small exception, there was absolutely nothing for culture either. The government is upholding the cuts it has made to culture and to non-profit economic organizations. These organizations are extremely important to our region.
During the election campaign, I gave some examples for the Rimouski sector among others. I could give the example of SEREX, a research organization in the Matapédia valley sector.
Why is the Bloc Québécois calling for significant investment in research and development? Why is it calling on the two levels of government to increase their investment in research and development? The answer is simple: if we want to create new jobs and if we want our businesses to grow and be competitive abroad, there must be significant investment in research and development in order to come up with new products and new methods of doing things.
At present, businesses in Quebec and throughout Canada do not necessarily have the financial means to invest in research and development. Therefore, the two levels of government—both the federal government and the Quebec government—must do so immediately.
We know that the Quebec government has reduced its funding for research and development over the past years. I find that extremely unfortunate because it has meant a slowdown in the development of new products and new technologies that could increase our productivity. When there is a crisis, businesses obviously do not necessarily have the cash to significantly invest in research and development, even though it is important. If we are to weather this crisis, we must develop new methods to increase productivity and new products as well.
There is something else that was not mentioned in the Speech from the Throne. Rather, I should say that it was mentioned, but in a negative way: the consensus in Quebec on how to deal with young offenders was completely ignored, as were our views on the gun registry. The Quebec government's request was very simple: transfer the gun registry and let it run it. The government absolutely refuses to come to an agreement with the Government of Quebec.
It is the same story when it comes to the environment. The throne speech makes no mention of the Kyoto protocol. The government does talk about investing in new energy sources and clean energy, but it also mentions investing in nuclear power. Moreover, the government does not say it is going to stop investing in the oil sands, which cause a great deal of pollution and are currently the main source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada.
The government needs to understand that if it wants to invest in so-called green resources and renewable energy, then perhaps it should cut back on the production of oil from the oil sands. Then the government could give us the money it is currently giving the major oil companies, so that we could make major investments in renewable energies.
I am talking about renewable energies such as wind energy, solar panels and biofuel. Not enough money is being invested to reduce our dependence on oil to any significant extent. Yet during the recent American election campaign, both the Republicans and the Democrats promised to invest heavily in renewable energies to minimize our dependence on oil.
Why should we reduce our dependence on oil? Probably for two reasons. First, oil produces a great deal of greenhouse gas. Second, by reducing our dependence on oil, we are less subject to market forces. We all know what has happened on the markets in recent months. Oil prices skyrocketed, and many of our companies have been affected. I am thinking in particular of Uniboard in Matane, which is trying to find ways to lessen its dependence on oil. But that takes money, and the company, like companies throughout the manufacturing sector, is unfortunately short of capital.
I will conclude by saying that the throne speech is extremely disappointing. The government did not wait long after the election to convene the House, but it has come up with a lacklustre throne speech with little or nothing in the way of solutions to the crisis.
