Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Paterson, let's not beat around the bush. Let's go back to the bonuses issue. You were saying that you have a deficit of $6.8 billion, which you would like to bring down to $1.1 billion. At the same time, the figure of $6 million was mentioned earlier. Let's not forget that not so long ago, AbitibiBowater gave bonuses of $60 million, including the infamous $27 million bonus given to John Weaver. Then, because of the outcry, you reduced that to $14 million, but you hired him at $80,000 a month until he reached the $27 million. In the meantime, you are telling the workers that they have to do their share, and make a sacrifice. The $6 million paid out to 51 senior managers corresponds to $117,000 each. And yet, at the AbitibiBowater plant in Gatineau, you were able to convince the workers in February to accept a 10% cut in their wages and a 6% cut in their benefits—for a total cut to their income of 16%—in order to help the industry recover. Then what did you do on August 24? You announced that you would be closing the plant permanently, but that you were keeping the restructuring committee.
Your entire approach to this is parasitic, and there I am quoting Mr. Sansfaçon from the newspaper Le Devoir. Even Lawrence Cannon, the Conservative Minister responsible for the Outaouais Region, talked about Atibibi-Bowater's inappropriate attitude towards its workers, with respect to the restructuring it is planning. It is absolutely indecent.
Tell me, Mr. Paterson, are you shutting down the Gatineau plant indefinitely, or do you have a restructuring committee to start up the plant again? What is the real answer?