Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I just want to elaborate on a couple more points. First of all, I fully support the spirit intended in this amended motion from the fact that forestry is a significant economic generator for British Columbia, as members around the table know who are from B.C. and of course from those communities across the country.
There are a couple of other extenuating circumstances that are beyond government's control, specifically in British Columbia. We're supposed to lose about 78%--this was the figure I heard yesterday from Premier Campbell--of our pine forest due to the pine beetle. That's obviously created all kinds of havoc for the industry. As we mentioned around the table, the high dollar has been a triple whammy. The hat trick portion is the housing market going down about 25% in the U.S. Those are circumstances that are extenuating, and obviously the softwood lumber agreement has mitigated the damage to some of our Canadian forest industries.
There's been a lot of retooling. People are re-equipping. I've had the chance to visit some of the mills, and those that have re-equipped and re-invested and found markets that are going to help them stay competitive and sustainable into the future....
I really support the fact that we need to be cognizant of the downturn of the forestry and also the manufacturing. I've got the largest private boat manufacturer in Canada. Campion produces about 1,000 boats. I've toured their facility and am working with that industry as well because it's been affected by the increased dollar.
I'm fully supportive of doing all we can as a government to help during these difficult times, and as alluded to, we have sectors of the economy that are very bullish. One of the big challenges in my riding is that other employers don't have enough people. So we have a shortage of skilled labour. There is work available with certain industries, and there are definitely certain pockets of the economy that are being challenged.
I think that by supporting this motion we can work together as all elected officials to see that our men and women out there throughout the country will have food on their table and are not going to be laid off and lose jobs. We do have some challenges ahead, but we do have great opportunities, so I support the motion.