Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Lévis-et-Chutes-de-la-Chaudière for giving me the opportunity to speak to the subject of consultations on the shipbuilding issue. I am pleased to be able to respond to the hon. member this evening because in fact a great deal has been accomplished over past months.
I am pleased to note that the former Minister of Industry and his officials conducted extensive consultations with a broad representation of shipbuilding and repair industry stakeholders over the past several months. The consultations revealed both convergent and divergent views. Most stakeholders felt the need for action to capture emerging opportunities in the offshore oil and gas market, the Great Lakes fleet replacement market and other niche markets.
The shipbuilding and repair industry is very diverse. The interests of those businesses and workers sometimes are at variance with other stakeholders such as shippers, shipowners and shipping companies.
Stakeholders generally agreed on the current state of the industry and on the main issues. The key issues clearly are foreign subsidies, which distort the markets, trade barriers, global and domestic overcapacity, and the need to refocus traditional approaches to capture and exploit best market opportunities.
Despite these challenges there are many examples of innovative approaches and success stories in Canadian shipbuilding and repair. In general, smaller yards are co-operating at a higher capacity by pursuing new niche markets, while the larger yards are having a more difficult time, especially with the new markets.
The shipbuilding forum is being held in Newfoundland this Friday. Therefore the federal government is still listening and learning—