We would advocate that for now you maintain the status quo until you get an answer on either the benefits or detriments to the country. It was stated that this has never been brought forward to the cabinet table. There are, as you know, literally hundreds of proposals always making their way through the federal bureaucracy. This has been raised with cabinet ministers of previous governments, and with the current government. Right now what we'd like to do is....
You know, I'm sure you meet all kinds of groups who say “Change everything--except for our little neck of the woods.” And we're not being facetious or even flippant when we say this, but our real problem is that we have never been able to get, through official or unofficial channels, any kind of analysis on the benefits of this agreement to the country at large. We could understand it if somebody told us, look, there are some very large opportunities for the aviation industry, or the pharmaceutical industry, or the pulp and paper industry, or whatever. But we have not been able to get that analysis.
There are three Canadian products that senior officials have told us could have an advantage under this agreement: horsemeat, radishes, and french fries. I'm not making this up. This is on the record, in the notes from meetings with department officials at international trade and foreign affairs.
Our difficulty is that we've never been able to get any kind of articulation on this. It's not just the industry that's having this problem. I know it's the same for the governments of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and I believe the Government of Quebec has been interested in this as well.
Our real concern, where I work, is the supply boat business. You have to understand that the offshore oil and gas industry is transnational. We need multinational organizations and companies with resources to put that kind of dollar up front to explore and develop. We understand that. There are international companies working here. We've been able to compete with many of them. But what you're looking at now is that we have an economic benefit from this industry that is just starting to grow. The supply boats really are part of that chain. They need electronics, they need hydraulics, they need fuel, they need food for their people, and they need skilled workers. A lot of those requirements come from my companies in both Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, but primarily Nova Scotia. We're genuinely concerned about the “creature of habit” factor--namely, you go to those who you know. We have a very strong suspicion that Norway will do that.
The second thing is that their ships are paid for. They have been built under a very protectionist policy. You cannot penetrate the Norwegian market. I don't see anything from the foreign affairs, international trade, or industry departments that articulates any kind of plan to break that wall.
Although I can't speak on behalf of Atlantic Towing or Secunda Marine, I do know that Secunda has competed pretty well everywhere in the world, except they can't get into Norway. The foreign affairs department doesn't tell us how we're going to get into Norway, but they're very clear about how the Norwegians are going to get into Canada. That's our problem.