Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to the hon. member, who spoke about the international trade aspect of the magazine bill which we are debating today. He said in his remarks that if Americans did retaliate there would be a chilling effect on our trade.
If he knows that there would be a chilling effect, why does he not bring the whole issue into perspective and mention it to the minister, whose selfish motive is to have this bill passed even if it affects the steel industry, the plastic industry, the agriculture industry and the textile industry? Would there not be significant damage done to the international trade relations we have with the U.S.? We have more than $1 billion in trade with our major trading partner every day.
The member also mentioned that Canada will have to argue at the World Trade Organization in the case of retaliation. We all know that subsidies hurt Canadian businesses or Canadian interests. We know what the story is on softwood lumber. We know what the story is on agricultural trade. We saw what happened a few months ago with agricultural trade. We also know that the government sold out the Canadian interest on the Pacific salmon fishery in the recent treaty it negotiated. It has already lost the war on magazines with the Americans.
Can the hon. member shed some light on this? What will be the effect? Since he is an international trade specialist himself, can the hon. member shed some light on how much these subsidies will cost Canadian businesses, as well as American businesses? Because if this goes to the World Trade Organization, according to chapter 11 of the NAFTA, the subsidies will have to be given to American businesses as well. How shameful. Can the hon. member shed some light on how much these subsidies will cost Canadian taxpayers?