Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a couple of points.
First, to Mr. Carrie's point that the Liberals have cancelled Technology Partnerships Canada, in fact it was David Emerson, who was, I believe, if memory serves me correctly, a Liberal member of cabinet at the time, who did not cancel but in fact introduced a new program, repositioned it, changed the criteria and name, and the rest. It wasn't exactly the same as cancelling it.
In terms of the intent of the motion, we share with the Bloc a view that important investments in manufacturing competitiveness, forestry, and industries in distress are critically important now. We mourn the cancellation of the $1.5 billion forestry fund that our government had introduced prior to the last election. The Liberals introduced that, a $1.5 billion program. The Conservatives waited two years to introduce a $1 billion program that is less focused, two years later, so we mourn that.
So we agree with the intent. Our concern, Madame Brunelle, is with the specific numbers.
I've talked with both our finance critic and people in our economic group, and one of the reasons was the specific numbers. So we support the intent and would consider support of a motion that is less granular in terms of numbers, because we have to fit this into a fiscal envelope that is defendable.
One of the challenges we have right now--and in fact there were some articles in Report on Business today--is that with the GST cut taking $14 billion per year out of the federal treasury, the numbers are tightening. We have to be responsible both in opposition and in government that what we do offer is absolutely solid in terms of not taking the country back into deficit.
That's our concern, around the specific numbers. We support the intent and would consider support of a proposal with the same intent but less specific in terms of the numbers.