Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the hon. member for Tobique—Mactaquac, for giving me a chance to speak on this motion today.
I want to thank the member for Elk Island for pursuing this very important matter in the House.
From the beginning our party has opposed the construction of the Royal Canadian Mint's new plant which will manufacture coin blanks. We believe the mint has not been forthcoming with Canadians on this new facility.
The motion the member has proposed today would give taxpayers and members of parliament the opportunity to examine in detail the decision making process at the mint which has led government to support the decision which will have very terrible consequences for Westaim, for its employees and for taxpayers as well.
Let me review a few of the facts and arguments that our party has talked about in this particular case.
Through Bill C-41 the Liberal government has moved to increase the borrowing authority of the Royal Canadian Mint, allowing it to build a coin plating plant, another patronage plum, incidentally, in the Minister of Foreign Affairs' backyard.
That facility would put the mint into direct competition with Westaim of Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. Because the world market for coin blanks is going down, either Westaim will be forced out of the business and 110 employees will lose their jobs or the Royal Canadian Mint's new venture will go down in flames and taxpayers will be on the hook for a minimum of $30 million.
Why should the deal be stopped? Westaim is a legitimate Canadian business which has supplied the Royal Canadian Mint with coin blanks for 35 years. It employs 110 people in Fort Saskatchewan and the entry of the Royal Canadian Mint into the industry would jeopardize the Westaim division and its 110 employees.
Industry experts agree that the market for coin blanks will experience a slight blip in demand as the newer European currency starts up and then will continue on a steady decline as electronic transactions become more popular and the need for coinage and paper money decreases.
The new coin plating plant will not only replace Westaim as the source of supply of coin blanks, but will compete against Westaim in the world market.
The costs of getting the mint into the coin blank business are enormous. The $30 million announced is only to build the plant. Start-up costs are substantial for a new competitor in a mature to declining market.
The mint will be required to compete against established, experienced, well-entrenched competitors who have had years to build their expertise and economies of scale.
Not only will the Royal Canadian Mint have to contend with a high cost structure, but like any brand new business it is going to make many mistakes as well.
There is currently a 30% to 40% oversupply in the world coin blank market. The entry of the mint into that market will likely either drive Westaim and its 110 employees out of business or it will spectacularly go down in flames and take millions of taxpayer dollars with it.
Even though there is no direct subsidy being proposed in that venture, because all money spent by a crown corporation reduces dividends paid to the government, ultimately the taxpayer is the one who pays.
Parliament has not approved Bill C-41 that would give the Royal Canadian Mint the authority to borrow the money for the new plant. Westaim still has an unresolved lawsuit against the mint involving the softening process necessary to make these coin blanks. The mint cannot legally proceed with that venture unless it settles both of these outstanding matters, yet construction of the plant started in March.
Getting government right is a Liberal government policy that has been around since 1993. Among other things it stipulates that where the private sector can provide a service equal or superior to a government department or agency, then government should not be in that business. This venture violates that Liberal government policy.
The only reason this is being allowed to happen is because it is a patronage plum for the foreign affairs minister's backyard. The Westaim plant is in an opposition-held riding. It is as simple as that. If Westaim were in a Liberal riding this venture would never have made it past the cabinet table.
We do not have to look any further than the fiasco that the Liberal government created in the oil industry in the 1970s to know that it does not make sense for the government to take over part of an existing industry to compete with private companies.
Back then the Liberals nationalized Petrofina and created the national energy program. That hurt the industry. It cost jobs and taxpayers ended up paying out millions and millions of dollars. All that money was paid out quite unnecessarily. The same problem will happen with the Royal Canadian Mint.
In June of this year my colleague, the member for Tobique—Mactaquac, had the pleasure to meet with the master of the mint, Mrs. Danielle Wethrup, and her vice-president of finance and administration. The meeting was an opportunity for our party to exchange views and information with the management of the Royal Canadian Mint.
They made some very convincing arguments concerning security of supply. But when we asked them to show us their business plan, they refused. When we asked them to show us their market projections which they claimed indicated a healthy growing demand, they did not do that. When we asked them to show us any piece of evidence that could reassure us that the $30 million of taxpayer money that was on the line would not be a risky venture, they said “You are just going to have to trust us because we cannot do that as well”.
We cannot trust them in that regard. As I have indicated, every bit of information we have seen on this matter reinforces our view that this scheme of the mint's will put Westaim and its employees out of business. It will put 110 people on the unemployment rolls and possibly on the provincial government's welfare rolls. It is going to cost millions of dollars.
I am happy at least that government members are going to vote for the motion to give access of information to the opposition. The motion will give our party access to the information that we need to determine the advisability of this proposed venture, and specifically if we should support Bill C-41.
I call on the mint to make public all relevant papers on the coin plating facility. I am very pleased indeed that all members are going to support that part of the process.