Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First, I want to answer your question about the industry. I have already indicated our wish to respond as best we can, but I want to be clear: my minister does not have a mandate to propose aid packages or structural changes.
Obviously, this context is extremely important with regard to the department's plans. That said, the minister's main objective — without putting words in his mouth — is to create jobs and generate productivity.
In the past few decades, we experienced similar shocks. In the 80s, the threat did not come from China, but rather from Japan and the United States. One of the most important lessons we learned from those experiences was to realize that the government cannot really predict the direction that the economy or an industrial sector will take.
For example, people had predicted as early as the 1980s the imminent disappearance of the furniture industry due to competition from the United States.
So, it is important to note that industries and companies operating in a flexible economy are better able to ensure their own survival. Quite clearly, we have seen a considerable change in the nature of jobs. For example, the textile industry has focused on design and retail sales, but it is important to note that the very nature of trade itself is escaping us. We can no longer rely on data about trade across our borders. The flow of trade no longer takes into consideration the complexity or totality of trade. This means that the government's most important role — and the minister insists on this — is to ensure a healthy economic environment, both nationally and regionally. That is why we are working with the municipalities to attract new investments and create and generate other prospects. Obviously, this is only one of the things we are doing. It is a way to ensure that wherever jobs are lost or are threatened, other jobs can be created to make up for that loss.
I see the chair looking at his watch.
I will talk briefly about supply management, if possible. It is important to first understand that it has been the policy of the Government of Canada, during these negotiations, to ensure that Canadian farmers continue to be able to decide how they want to do things. So, we have never tried to make decisions for farmers, but rather to give them a choice. The department also opposes export subsidies, or internal subsidies, which distort trade. The department wanted to allow them to remain competitive through their own efforts instead of through government funding.
With regard to milk proteins, we see on the one hand an evolution in the technology and on the other hand a market organization that goes back, in the case of the dairy industry, to the 1950s for cheese and to the 1960s for the Canadian Dairy Commission. The problem is that neither the industry nor the government is really able to predict the impact of technology related to the production of dairy products based on proteins or other ingredients.
Obviously, you are more up-to-date than I am on the recent rulings of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal. Consequently, when it comes to the challenges faced by the dairy industry, I'm sorry, but this falls under the mandate of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food, Mr. Strahl. This has to do with agricultural policy and not trade policy.