Mr. Speaker, I am speaking on behalf of our critic for international trade, the member for Winnipeg—Transcona, on Bill C-35, an act to amend the Special Import Measures Act, SIMA, and the Canadian Trade Tribunal Act, CTTA. Unfortunately my colleague is ill but he has asked me to speak on his behalf and I am quite honoured and proud to do that.
With reference to Motion No. 1, I wish to advise the House that we are in support of the Bloc's motion and to provide the position of the New Democratic Party on this bill.
We opposed the bill at second reading on September 25 due to the fact that in our opinion it may well weaken our anti-dumping system, in particular as it compares to our major trading partner, the U.S., the lesser duty provisions being the chief example.
Canada has repeatedly stuck its neck out and been hurt in its headlong embrace of trade liberalization measures i.e., support for our farmers, FDA, NAFTA, and the World Trade Organization. It is our belief this is not the time to do so again.
Recently we have been hearing in the media concerns about agriculture and why we find it so difficult to support our farmers in terms of any kind of subsidy because of what it may do to countervailing duties from the United States or other nations we currently trade with. I find that appalling and I am sure farmers in Canada would find that appalling as well, to know their government would be hesitant to help them because of the reaction from other countries.
I am sure that is the last thing on farmers' minds as they see animals being shot because they cannot be looked after or the fact that we have grain and seed rotting away because there are no storage facilities. Farmers are leaving their farms in droves as our fishing people have done in our coastal communities as well.
We are a party that opposed the MAI which is an extended version, we believe, of the NAFTA arrangement. Some European nations recently have denied the MAI's going further. Unfortunately the MAI is stalled at the present time. We would like to drive a stake through its heart because of the fact that it was modelled on the NAFTA. European nations are saying quite publicly who in God's green acres would sign the NAFTA deal. Canada puts up its hand and says we did. They found a lot of problems with it. We in the New Democratic Party and our partners throughout the country have found a lot of problems with it as well.
We oppose this bill but we accept and support Motion No. 1 by the Bloc.