Madam Speaker, something has to be done to create a much more competitive shipbuilding industry. The government should now, as it should have done long ago and as it promised to do, take steps to alleviate the problems. These were not my words but those of the prime minister back in 1990.
Has this government made a decision to let the industry die rather than develop a shipbuilding policy, thus casting adrift the hope and future of so many coastal communities, the people who have depended on the industry and their families? By refusing to address the needs of a sinking industry, even though it criticized the former Conservative government for the same callous disregard, this government condemns many Atlantic Canadians to continued chronic unemployment and their communities to entrenched economic stagnation.
Canada Steamship Lines, owned by the Minister of Finance and others, continues to pour megabucks into foreign economies where labour is cheap and environmental standards are often poor or absent.
Over 7,000 Canadian shipyard jobs were lost between 1990 and 1996, over half the number of jobs in all. Total nominal sales were down almost half from over $1.5 billion in 1991 to under $800 million in 1986. Other countries, including the U.S., provide assistance in some form such as generous loan guarantees.
The Jones act in the United States provides that ships carrying cargo between U.S. ports must be U.S. ships, ships which are built, registered, owned, crewed, repaired and serviced in the U.S. The one-two punch of the Jones act and the free trade deal hits Canadian coastal communities where it hurts most, in their employment possibilities. U.S. companies have the right to sell duty free to the Canadian market while their market remains protected from Canadian shipbuilders.
Will this government say yes to jobs in Atlantic Canada by saying yes to a national shipbuilding policy?
I would be willing to assist in bringing together labour and business representatives in the Halifax area if the government were serious about providing hope for Atlantic Canadians and developing a national shipbuilding policy.
Why will the government not examine a managed trade approach like the auto pact for the shipbuilding industry? Countries could agree to a gradual elimination of subsidies and specialize in relative areas of expertise. The most important part of such a forward thinking agreement would be to balance overall shipbuilding trade flows to the mutual benefit of shipbuilders in the countries involved. The overall volume of new orders could match a certain agreed upon minimum level of shipbuilding requirements for each country's industry.
Let us finish with the easiest of all requests. Will the minister agree to sit down with shipbuilding workers in Halifax to discuss these issues, or will he continue to ignore their repeated request for a meeting? Does the government not have the decency to meet with these workers to discuss their very extensive reasoned and researched suggestions about the future of shipbuilding?
The government must realize that simply ignoring a problem will not make it go away. I ask the Minister of Industry to have the integrity to meet face to face with these people who have very real fears and concerns about their future and that of their families and communities. By working together we can develop realistic workable solutions for our shipbuilding industry so that we do not run aground on the shoals of government disinterest.
I am sincere in offering my assistance in working to develop a national shipbuilding policy.