Mr. Speaker, I do not know if the fact that the Liberals are not questioning the party that brought forward this motion in favour of a shipbuilding policy this morning is a sign of openness on their part. I hope it is.
I just wanted to react to a remark made by my colleague from Chicoutimi, to tell him that I do not always agree with him. Sometimes, in the political arena, it is normal to be in opposition, to have democratic debates, and so on. On the issue of commitments, a Liberal member opposite said they were made in 1988.
I was a candidate in 1993 and I recall very clearly watching on television the Liberal candidate for Quebec City, who is now the Prime Minister's chief of staff, when he said “We will adopt a shipbuilding policy, hold a summit in the following year, and put in place concrete measures to revitalize the Canadian shipbuilding industry”. That is all I wanted to say.
The member for Chicoutimi has had experience in the previous government. Does he think it would be possible, if the government really wanted to do it, to renegotiate the free trade agreement to include shipbuilding? Canada has been in favour of its inclusion since the beginning.
Does the member think that, with all that is being done in the WTO and the OECD, the United States might be open to the idea of including shipbuilding in the free trade agreement? If so, does he think it would be a good thing, considering the weakness of the Canadian dollar compared to the U.S. dollar, and does he agree with me that Canadians shipyards could benefit?