Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully and I certainly appreciate the comments of the member. Being a native Cape Bretoner, certainly his comments are from the heart and very relevant. He gave great voice to the concerns of the working people and the miners of Cape Breton, but there are a couple of areas I am still kind of confused about.
What exactly is the position of the member and his party when it comes to the future of coal mining in Cape Breton? Does he support the closure of the coal mines or does he not?
Further, I would like to hear the member's views on the proposal by the hon. member for Broadview—Greenwood who expressed such confidence in his minister's ability to turn Cape Breton into the Hollywood of the north. We have some wonderful, talented people from Cape Breton, certainly Hank Snow, Rita MacNeil and some others come to mind, but is that the future of Cape Breton? I wonder how much confidence the people have in that kind of a proposal or in the idea of turning Cape Bretoners into bureaucrats working for the government, as has been done in so many other parts of Atlantic Canada.
Last, what would his party's position be with the idea of the private sector being allowed to use the world-class pier in Sydney, Nova Scotia, which belongs to Devco, for the import and export of value-added products from the massive oil and gas reserves off the coast of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton and using the free trade agreement to access the markets in New England for those products that would perhaps be manufactured in Cape Breton and Nova Scotia?