Mr. Speaker, it was in 1972 that I was a co-founder of a company called Dominion Biologicals in Truro, Nova Scotia. We vowed to put our money where our mouth was. It was not a lot of money, but it was almost everything we had at the time. We wanted to build a scientific company because so many of our young people had to leave Atlantic Canada in order to find jobs, particularly in science or research.
We were noble in the cause, rather naive, and decided we would take everything we could after some experiences working for giant companies abroad to build this company in Atlantic Canada and to speed up the 25-year process. The company became very successful and went on to be publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
We did a lot of research and Canada Customs played a key role in our manufacturing business. We used biological products. We would immunize animals and humans for an immune response reaction and then we would plasmapheres and bleed those humans and animals and this would be our source of raw material.
I do not want to go into every scientific detail of hybridoma production and monoclonal antibody production. This took a lot more research. Canada Customs was always a vital component of our business because we would purchase raw material, human plasma of high antibody content specificity, from countries abroad through the World Health Organization and the United States.
That raw material had to be tested as safe and processed on very tight timelines. As well, in the manufacturing process there are large numbers of people involved and the processing is very time consuming, filtration, refrigeration, sterilization; protocols of world health standards and the National Institute of Health Standards of Bethesda, Maryland. Everything is on a very tight schedule because cultures must be produced and searched for contamination.
A product must come through from Canada Customs in a time frame assigned by the manufacturer because we would have a time line by which to export the product to the Austrian or German Red Cross, to world health organizations or to sell the product to hospitals in Canada. Our products were all marketed to hospitals or Red Cross health centres for in vitro diagnostic testing.
In my previous life I spent a lot of time dealing with Canada customs and tariffs, a lot of time processing paperwork and knowing the tariff item number so that a product could come in. At the same time a relationship of trust is built. They know the products being imported and to what company they are going. A one on one relationship is established. This bill will do nothing but enhance those relationships. It will be a tremendous asset.
They know you are a bona fide manufacturer. They know your integrity, reliability and honesty in the workplace. They know you have a place of business where people work and that you pay your fair share of taxes and your books and records can be inspected at any time.
When they know their clientele and the transactions of goods and what they are and what they are being used for, the bill enhances that relationship. It speeds up the relationship and allows the manufacturer to get on with the process as quickly as possible so that the goods can go out the door for sale either domestically or in foreign countries.
That is part of the credibility, the stability of being a manufacturer in Canada. It is part of selling goods. Manufacturers need to be accountable and reliable and able to be competitive in the global marketplace with a quality product that meets the time line because it is no good if there has been a disaster and it is two days late.
It is critical to have these relationships with Canada Customs and with legitimate manufacturers in Canada. It is a vital component to have efficient regulations through which goods can move as quickly a possible, particularly the goods of which I speak because they are perishable. A small bottle of serum going to the Red Cross in Canada or to Europe might be worth $50,000. It is breakable and perishable if exposed to high temperatures or extreme cooling.
The whole process of efficiency in high technology is key to doing business in Canada. I can speak firsthand of this from the Atlantic where we are a little more remote from some of the high tech centres. It can do nothing but enhance business here at home and maintain jobs particularly in the manufacturing sector. That is where the value added jobs are.
It is very easy to call yourself an importer and have a fax machine in a small cubby hole in the wall somewhere. When you input something it goes through your fax machine and goes offshore somewhere or wherever, but it does not do much to add value to jobs here in Canada. That is an easy thing to do. We see more of this all the time as the global trading community becomes smaller. People are moving things but simply with a fax machine, a telephone and maybe a warehouse.
There are manufacturers, with hundreds of people coming to work in the morning, that know the value of using Canada customs and tariffs. I can speak strongly of another manufacturer in my hometown of Truro, Stanfield's woolen mills. It employs 800 people. It is a true manufacturer. It brings in sheep's wool. The wool is carded. It is then woven into yarn on spinning wheels. From the yarn it is then woven into fabric. The fabric is then cut and designed according to whether it is a t-shirt, a piece of underwear,
whatever piece of garment it might be. It then goes in for stitching and sewing, into piecework.
To watch the women work on the sewing machines at Stanfield's I believe they could compete with any women in the world in the garment sector. It does my heart good to watch our manufacturing people, to see the jobs created. These are value added jobs and the goods are sold in Canada and exported.
Everyone in the House knows how our exports have risen during this past year. It is a sign we are doing the right thing. This legislation is part of that progressive activity. It is progressive legislation for this government. To see Her Majesty's loyal opposition this morning announce it would support it after four very difficult weeks in the country and to hear the third party say it would support this legislation can do nothing but enhance jobs at home. I am proud to be part of the legislation.