Mr. Speaker, it was brought to my attention that the present Minister of Finance said “I fought to have my ships built in Canada but was unable to convince the government of the need for an aggressive shipbuilding policy and if we are not going to do that, we cannot be a factor in commercial shipping”. The present Minister of Finance stated that he had his ships built in Brazil because Canada does not have a national shipbuilding policy whereby we can be competitive.
The present Prime Minister when in opposition said that we have to have a new national shipbuilding policy, that we have to keep that resource going. The present Minister of Industry when he was a critic kept saying that he was for a national shipbuilding policy. Now he says it is not part of his agenda.
I congratulate the hon. member on his presentation and I thank him for it. Does he see any support whatsoever from the present government sitting in the House of Commons today for a national shipbuilding policy to put our people back to work, to give them their dignity and to make us competitive?