Mr. Speaker, I am very proud, on behalf of my hon. colleague for Halifax West, to speak on behalf of the 223 Volvo workers and their families in Nova Scotia.
The other day in this House the Minister of Industry said the closure of the Volvo plant has nothing to do with Bill C-11, the auto tariff reduction bill, and that the plant is not moving to Mexico. Obviously a memory lapse seems to have happened on the cabinet side.
I want to quote some editorial sections. They are very true. The company plans to assemble S70 and V70 model automobiles, the same automobiles currently built in Halifax, at a plant at its bus division that it recently purchased for $70 million in the U.S. and Mexico. There is a sense from everybody in Nova Scotia, especially those workers and families, that Ottawa played a key role in sacrificing the Halifax plant's future when it decided in the last round of world trade talks to lower auto tariffs from 18% down to just over 6%.
In the past, the Halifax small plant was valuable to Volvo because it gave the firm the right to import cars to Canada under duty free under the auto pact. Yet Ottawa made no contingency plans for the possible impact of a tariff reduction on a major employer here. All we ask is that someone go down there and assist those workers in that regard.
Volvo states the Halifax plant is too small for the 8,000 car units it builds every year, yet it wants to start up a 1,000 car operation in Mexico. It does not make any sense, but that is what it is doing.
Volvo states that it is going to build buses in Mexico. It just purchased a bus plant. I ask Volvo and I ask the minister what does that do to Prevost Car Inc. and Novabus in Quebec? What happens to the 1,400 workers in Quebec?
Volvo plant workers are very disappointed with the federal and provincial government response to their crisis. Right now the CAW union along with members of the board of commerce and whoever else will go are planning a trip to Sweden to try to get Volvo to change its mind and do something for the workers.
As all Canadians know, after the recent Swissair fatal crash off the coast of Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia, the world got to know exactly what Nova Scotians are made of. We are compassionate. We are caring. We are giving. We are salt of the earth people, as all Atlantic Canadians are. Why would a profitable company not want to stay here and utilize that valuable workforce to meet its needs?
The workers and I are very disappointed with a memo I received from sources within Volvo about the severance package given to these workers. It says anybody who criticises this measly severance will be terminated from the severance package. They will have no access at all. What kind of a democracy do we live in?
Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of the 223 great, hardworking workers of Nova Scotia and their families. I only wish that this government would think before it enacts laws that destroy the jobs and the economy of Nova Scotians.