Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be able to participate tonight in the debate on the motion of my colleague for Fundy—Royal which urges the government to develop a national shipbuilding policy.
I heard the hon. member from the government talking about money that has been invested in shipyards. The shipyard at Saint John is the most modern shipyard in the whole of Canada and perhaps, in the world. That is because of what the Liberals and the Conservatives have done in the past.
The investment is there but now the shipyard cannot compete. There is no work and it is sitting idle. The private industry people who own the shipyard are very frustrated and are saying that changes have to be made. They have spoken with a number of members.
I rose in the House this past week and asked the Minister of Industry if he was going to look at a shipbuilding policy to put our people back to work. His statement was that the government is not in the subsidy business. I want to make it clear that we are not advocating subsidies at all. We are seeking the simplification of regulations to enhance the industry's export capabilities. That does not mean subsidies.
There are two specific areas where the industry can be helped to be more competitive: improvements to export financing and loan guarantees and the exclusion of newly Canadian constructed ships from the present Revenue Canada leasing regulations. For the life of me I cannot understand why the government would not look favourably on that. It is done for rail cars, for vans, trucks and computers.
Over 10,000 people in the country would be put back to work. The Liberals can become heroes. When they do it, we will stand up and applaud. Those trained people are being told to go to Calgary, Alberta and look for work, or go to Texas and look for work. And what happens then? The families come to us saying “Daddy is gone. Daddy is not coming back.”
We have an obligation to put our people to work ad we have an opportunity to do that. We have an opportunity to make use of the tremendous investments that have been put into Canada in all our shipyards. So we are saying to them please, please. We are not saying subsidies, no. I understand the Minister of Industry has heard form the private sector this week to clarify that when that was his answer to my question.
Lease financing has become a predominant method of financing significant capital items. However, the regulations as presently stipulated make ownership and lease financing of a Canadian constructed vessel very unattractive if not uneconomical.
I am saying tonight that we can all work together on this. This must be a votable item. Like my hon. colleague from Fundy—Royal, I would like to seek unanimous consent to declare this motion votable.