Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate you, since this is the first opportunity I have had to do so, on your recent appointment. I know that you will add a great deal to the civility of the debate in the House and that you will ensure that members' privileges and rights are properly upheld. Indeed, you will add greatly to the decorum of the House. My congratulations on your appointment. It is long overdue.
My comments to the hon. member opposite again deal with different approaches to the bill.
The first approach obviously has to be that the bill was done not to benefit or to reward the Israelis or the Palestinians for any particular behaviour. It was done because Canadian companies, many of them resident in the province of Quebec had indicated they were having great trouble competing in the Israeli market.
There was mention that the government of late has come to the road of free trade and the member is correct. However, we have always indicated that when trade deals are done, that Canadian interests must be vigorously debated and defended during the negotiations. I think we have done that in this deal.
I am somewhat troubled by the approach by some members of the hon. member's party on this deal that because of the very serious situation in the Middle East we should just forget this, take the two years of negotiations and put the matter on hold until the situation is further resolved.
The member should understand first that the trade deal is meant to give Canadian companies access on an equal footing with their competitors from the United States and the European Union in the Israeli market. He also should know that the deal has been very carefully crafted to ensure that whatever benefits accrue to entrepreneurs and business people and the production of goods in Israel also apply equally to the occupied territories.
The member also knows full well that Canada has been very firm and very strong in its position with respect to the peace process. Indeed, we have used our stature in the international community to try to encourage both sides to get back to the table and deal one on one, face to face and finally put this very tragic issue behind all of us and bring peace to the Middle East.
I have pages of names of companies that deal with Israel. There are companies from Montreal that produce products but if they are destined for the Israeli market, they do not produce all of the product. They send it to the United States for finishing, which means jobs that Quebecers will not have. American workers finish the product so that it can be shipped into the Israeli market under the rules of origin requirement and it is given preferential tariff treatment under the Israel-U.S. arrangement.
Surely the member must know that to further delay this matter means lost jobs in Canadian companies that cannot be competitive. Those companies that have decided they can be competitive have gone south of the border and are literally exporting jobs from Montreal, Quebec, from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and from Winnipeg and North Bay. It is literally stopping the job growth there could be if there was a level playing field.
Companies such as Price Waterhouse in Toronto have vigorously supported the deal and indicated that it must go forward. There is Nortel, and the Canada-Israel Industrial Research and Development Foundation which we heard in committee. There is the
Alliance of Manufacturers and Exporters of Canada. There are Freed and Freed International of Winnipeg; Teleglobe Canada Incorporated from Montreal; Pratt and Whitney in Ontario; and Air Canada. The list goes on and on of Canadian companies that provide jobs in the province of Quebec and throughout the Canadian economy because they are competitive and when they are given a level playing field they can get contracts which mean jobs for Canadians no matter where they live.
In light of all the member has said, does he not see the downside in not proceeding at this point? Does he agree with the position of the Canadian government, that it is by promoting trade, by getting Canadian companies and exporters into the Israeli and Palestinian areas that we will be most able to show the benefits from the normalization of relations in the political spirit as well as economically for the peoples who live in the region?