Certainly we can have a vision for the future, but in the short term, how are we going to assist the communities and the workers in the regions, and the industry, to get through this? That is the question. Mr. Comuzzi said that speeches are not what is needed. That is exactly what I want: no more speeches; concrete programs. I was asked to come and talk about how we could help the industry, and that is what I am telling you. It is implied that we are making speeches, but they are not speeches. On the contrary, I am eager to see governments, with opposition party support, propose concrete programs in the short term, because people are at the end of their ropes.
Some forestry companies have 100 years of history and have been passed down from father to son. They are being uprooted now, to the point of losing everything they have worked for. We know that it is not always the government's fault. It is not responsible for the value of the Canadian dollar. We understand that. You can do something, but you can't do it all. We understand that you can't do anything about the collapse of the construction industry in the United States; you can't do everything. However there are some programs that would allow us to survive and make concrete preparations for the recovery so that Canada...
When it was time to support British Columbia because of the mountain pine beetle, you did not hesitate long before allocating $340 million. Could you do the same thing for Quebec, which is currently being hit by two crises? There is a major structural crisis. It is Quebec's responsibility, but you could help the province. There is also a terrible cyclical crisis that has cost us 20,000 jobs. And that's not all. We are well aware that the number is going to grow in 2008 and the banks are simply going to shut the plants down because they won't have any line of credit left. These are jobs for which there are no programs. POWA does not exist anymore. Those people will be left with a pittance, barely $5,000. That is not even the equivalent of income security.
We can tell the companies they are not looking after the workers, but in the circumstances I think you can kill two birds with one stone. When the recovery comes, we will not be able to keep our young graduates, who will be leaving the remote marginal regions. They will not be staying in Chibougamau or Chapais or the Gaspé or Abitibi if they do not have a glimmer of hope for work. An older workers assistance program would be one of the keys, and you can help us in that regard.