Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for Lévis-et-Chutes-de-la-Chaudière for his questions.
Indeed, this is certainly an item that ought to be on the agenda of multilateral negotiations, unless all countries negotiating merely decide to say “We will continue, each in our own areas, to fully support the industrial sector shipbuilding represents”.
We cannot ask that of our local yards. We will try not to be too partisan in this matter. At the present time, our shipyards' inability to compete costs thousands of direct and indirect jobs.
When there is bidding, how can we compete with others, such as the Asia-Pacific region, when their subsidies may account for more than 30% of the value of a project?
In Europe too, they can be as high as 16% of the value of a project. When there is a 15% to 30% difference right off the bat, it is impossible to compete. That is why all parties, including the government party, ought to show some open-mindedness. We would be in favour of broader discussions with all stakeholders in this industry. The government and the four opposition parties must arrive at a consistent policy, one which would enable us to take proper advantage of the expertise we have developed for meeting needs anywhere in the world.
I can assure the House that this could result in a tremendous boost. Many jobs could be created in this industry. We are not asking for any special privileges. We want our shipyards to be treated on an equal footing with other shipbuilding industries internationally.