Mr. Speaker, in the days to come, workers from the Kenworth plant in Sainte-Thérèse, which closed last April, will stop receiving unemployment insurance benefits.
The Quebec government has been negotiating for several months with the owner, PACCAR, to have the plant reopen. As for the federal government, it remains silent on this issue. I am asking the government to review, with diligence and compassion, the plight of these 800 workers, whose future depends, in many cases, on their being retrained. Current negotiations would also be easier if Ottawa showed some openness and specified how Kenworth can pay the back taxes it still owes the federal treasury.
If we include the families of these workers, the fate of 2,000 people is at stake, and, in turn, hundreds of local jobs.