Madam Speaker, the debate today is against a background of Canada's burgeoning export records, the extraordinary successes that Canada has achieved in its export trade which are being jeopardized by the present strike of the railway.
The amendments before the House this morning would attempt to resolve that strike through mediation. Mediation, however, would require yet another 60 days of deliberation and would not bring any early conclusion to the severe disruptions in our export trade resulting from the prolonged strike.
If we have arbitration we can have an early resolution of the problem that faces us. It is for that reason that we on this side of the House oppose the amendments and intend to support the rapid implementation of the bill now before the House.
The rail strike today is causing all sorts of disruptions in our export trade which, as I said a moment ago, has reached record levels in 1994 and again in the first month of 1995.
Canada recorded an annual trade surplus with the world of over $17 billion in 1994, up almost $8 billion over the previous year. Our trade surplus with the United States was $28.4 billion or $8.7 billion higher than in 1993. In addition to those formidable achievements, Canada has recorded a record merchandise trade surplus with Japan of over $1.3 billion.
In the case of Japan and Europe, as well as in the case of the United States, the success of our trade achievement depends on the ability of our railways to deliver our products directly or to ports for shipment.
As a result of the strike we found that severe disruptions were already occurring. In the automotive sector, the Ford Motor Company has had to curtail its production, reduce its assembly line operations. In the pulp and paper industry in the province of Quebec, the large company Repap Enterprises will shortly have to close its operations altogether since it cannot have access to its natural resources nor have the opportunity to ship its products to markets where there is demand for Canadian exports.
I draw the attention of the House to the fact that in the January Canada recorded a trade surplus of some $2.4 billion in that one month, up by $285 million from December 1994. In January 1995 Canadian exports stood at a record level of $22.5 billion, up by $1.3 billion over December 1994.
In those circumstances we have a situation where Canadian exports to the United States and American exports to Canada total $1 billion a day, every day, day in and day out all year round. It is imperative that rail services be available to ensure that our goods reach the markets that have expressed such demand for Canadian products.
We have already seen a situation arise where as a result of the rail strike rail cars have been retained in Canada when they should be moving goods and services across the border to the United States. As I noted a moment ago, the products for overseas are being detained because of an inability to reach our ports. All this is against a background of increasing liberalized trade, of freer market access that provides Canadians with the opportunity to ship their products across the globe.
Through the evolution of the North American Free Trade Agreement and our commitment to free trade in the western hemisphere we have seen new opportunities for Canadian products in our own hemisphere.
The growth of the markets in Asia is know to all of us. We have seen the so-called Asian tigers come forward as promising new markets for Canadian goods and services. We have a highly profitable market available to us in Japan, markets that will only be enhanced by the commitment that all member countries of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-Operation have made to trade liberalization, indeed free trade, within 25 years throughout Asia and the Pacific.
In the case of Europe the growth of the European Union, its deepening and its expansion to additional countries have led to greater opportunities for Canadian exports.
In a world of increasingly liberalized trade, especially with the new World Trade Organization that came into being on January 1, there are ample opportunities, promising new opportunities, for Canadians. We have achieved such remarkable success in ensuring the sale of Canadian goods and services abroad that we cannot allow the situation in our basic rail system to continue.
There must be a resolution to this obstacle to our further growth in international trade, to the achievement of yet greater levels in 1995, and to the achievement of a permanent and more satisfactory method of resolving disputes and differences within our rail system.