Mr. Speaker, in the daily newspaper La Presse , the president of the MIL Davie shipyard says that he needs two contracts from the federal government to complete the military to civilian conversion of the company. These two contracts are to build a ferry for the Magdalen Islands and to build a multi-purpose ``smart ship''.
Analysts say that the world market for merchant ships will grow strongly for ten years starting in late 1995.
MIL Davie is in the midst of restructuring and has made major productivity gains since 1991. These gains will be even larger once its conversion plan is implemented.
Through its lack of vision and indecision on all employment-related issues, the government is endangering the survival of a potentially profitable shipyard which generates thousands of jobs in the Quebec City region.