As a Canadian company we are invited on a regular basis to take part in trade missions, be it to Asia or elsewhere in the world. When I am invited to take part on a trade mission to China to forge strategic production alliances, the trip may be fully or partially paid for. I find this completely unacceptable, because, as a manufacturer, I'm going there to forge a relationship in order to do business with people who are not respecting environmental standards, as I said earlier, and to show them what I need and how to make it.
I want to come back to the example I gave earlier regarding Louis Garneau Sports, a Canadian and Quebec company. Its representatives went there, found manufacturers, showed them how to make the products, shared their expertise with them by telling them North American market preferences with regard to esthetics, colours and so forth. They gave them addresses and did business with them.
We've greatly reduced the number of jobs in our plants. Louis Garneau Sports did the same, in addition to closing its helmet manufacturing facility, and sent contracts to Asia. This year, contracts were negotiated directly between China and the customers, meaning Wal-Mart, Canadian Tire, just to name a few. Everyone is in the same boat. Louis Garneau Sports had its clients, its designs and its products stolen from it.
I think that we have to stop participating in trade missions because our involvement means taking work from people here and giving China, among other countries, the opportunity to do business by manufacturing our products.