Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise, despite the late hour, on our fourth amendment, which reads as follows:
That Bill C-89, in Clause 9, be amended;
(b) by replacing line 31, on page 6, with the following: "section 8(1); or (c) sell any subsidiary or part of the operations of CN unless CN and the purchaser have given the Minister written undertakings, in terms satisfactory to the Minister, that all reasonable steps have been taken to ensure that it will continue for a reasonable period as a viable operation and that the interests of the employees affected by the sale will, so far as is practicable, be maintained after the sale.
9.1 The Minister shall, in respect of every sale mentioned in paragraph 9(c), cause to be laid before both Houses of Parliament the undertakings given pursuant to that paragraph.
You will have noted with the reading of the amendment that our party's principal aim was, despite the Liberal government's decision to privatize CN, to maintain and keep jobs, because behind privatization or the end of business, although economic aspects are certainly sometimes given consideration, the human element, the experiences of the people affected by changes in their working conditions or even the cutting of their position, must be considered.
You will note that the aim of this amendment is to give this House a certain right over the selling of CN assets, not directly related to rail transportation.
Our decision, in the Bloc Quebecois, to table this amendment was based on the statement made several times by the Minister of Transport that he intended to sell off individually the assets of CN not directly related to rail transportation. Being familiar with CN operations, we know that one of the largest CN subsidiaries to be sold is AMF Techno Transport, located in Pointe-St-Charles, in Montreal. We are talking here about 1,300 jobs, 1,300 workers who, unfortunately, saw their company lose some $35 million last year.
When the minister appeared before the Standing Committee on Transport, he told us that, in his opinion, AMF had a very precarious future and he refused, despite our questions, to guarantee its survival. As you can understand, the loss of this company would have disastrous consequences for the greater Montreal area.
One European company, however, showed interest. Alsthom is a French company that can brag about its major contribution to the high speed train in France, in partnership with none other than the pride of the Quebec business community, Bombardier.
Alsthom has no North American subsidiary that makes railway equipment. AMF Techno Transport, which is located in Pointe-St-Charles, could thus easily become its bridgehead in North America, which would have a very positive impact on AMF and the greater Montreal area.
Before closing, I wish to add that perhaps if we gave Alsthom the possibility or the incentive to take over AMF-this is the purpose of our amendment- I am confident that Quebec would be in a very good position when the decision is finally made to build a high speed railway corridor between Quebec City and Windsor.
Let us not forget that Alsthom Bombardier holds an exclusive licence for building a high speed train or HST in North America.
Let us not forget that about seven or eight HST projects are planned for the next 12 years, which would put the new Alsthom AMF consortium in an excellent position to bid on contracts to make railway equipment for future HST projects in the U.S. Or that economic benefits in the order of $200 billion are being mentioned. Again, a Quebec manufacturer could very well succeed on the international market.
In closing, I will say to you that the purpose of the amendment is to ensure that, whoever the buyer is, precautions will be taken to keep AMF viable and to protect the jobs of the Montreal men and women who work there as well as those of the people in the greater Montreal area.