Mr. Speaker, in closing the debate today I pay tribute to the new process which in many ways we as members of Parliament have brought about in a modest way in attempting to speak out for an issue that stands for all of us in Canada. That is the issue of our sugar workers, whether those workers are working in the fields of western Canada or producing and refining sugar in Montreal, Vancouver or Saint John. I am very
gratified to express to all members of the sugar caucus my appreciation for their co-operation, guidance and advice.
This is a complex issue which has affected all of our constituents. As I said in my opening remarks, we have lost almost four and possibly five plants over the last 10 years in Canada and 1,000 direct jobs. We are very worried about the industry.
Bill C-311 is a line in the sand, or a line in the sugar in this case. We as members of Parliament have said we are looking for levers. We are looking for ways to express our concern, our dissatisfaction and our outrage at the way Americans have access to our market. Yet we do not have unfettered access to theirs.
I urge the House leadership and the ministers of agriculture and international trade, as the hon. House leader for the Reform Party has said, to make a very strong case to our American cousins. Tell them we need some of the rate quota that is being allocated over the next couple of weeks. If we can get some of that quota back, our caucus will have gone a long way in making some important statements to the Americans. They will understand this is not a political issue for us in terms of Liberals, New Democrats, Reform or Bloc; this is a Canadian issue and an issue affecting all of us. It affects all workers in our country.
With that I want to thank the House. Perhaps because it is a very important issue and an issue of such strong national concern, I would like to make a last plea that we be given an opportunity to vote on the issue. I move for unanimous consent to have that voted on now.