Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to have the opportunity this afternoon to enter the debate on Bill C-213, an act to promote shipbuilding in Canada and to make Canadian shipyards more competitive.
First I congratulate the shipyard workers who have worked together tirelessly with industry representatives to press the federal government to keep the commitment it made, upon coming to office, to put in place a shipbuilding policy for Canada and, I might add, to do it before it was too late.
Why do I say before it was too late? Despite the proud tradition of our shipbuilding industry throughout the history of the country and despite its importance to our economy, our regional economies and our total national economy, it is unbelievable that through the 1990s the Canadian shipbuilding industry has been cut by more than one-half.
Seven thousand jobs and over $250 million in annual wages have been lost to regions that desperately needed that infusion into their economy but, most important, they were lost to families who depended upon those jobs and those wages.
I take the opportunity to acknowledge the presence in the gallery today of a number of representatives of those hard working shipyard workers. They have kept the campaign going, kept the issue before the Canadian public, and gained the support of municipal governments, provincial governments, industry representatives, labour representatives, and a very broad range of Canadians.
In part, this debate is about how in the name of heaven we will win the support of the federal Liberal government to put in place the Canadian shipbuilding policy that is so badly needed.
I wish to congratulate the member for Lévis-et-Chutes-de-la-Chaudière for introducing this bill. It is very brief—only three pages long. But I must say that if we could convince the federal government to establish a nationwide policy on shipbuilding, the impact would be enormous.
It would be enormous for shipyard workers throughout Canada. It would be enormous for the Canadian shipbuilding industry. It would also be enormous for our coastal communities, those of the Great Lakes region and the St. Lawrence Seaway.
In a way the fight for a national shipbuilding policy is about more than shipbuilding. It is about thousands of desperately needed jobs in the least prosperous areas of Canada. It is about skills that are crucial to our capabilities as a coastal and seafaring nation. In that sense it can be said that this is a fight that is not just about shipbuilding but is about nation-building.
Let me say as a member of parliament who is privileged to represent a constituency that is one of those communities with an important shipbuilding component, I am very concerned about the future of shipbuilding in Canada.
I would be less than honest if I did not say that I am extremely angry at the federal government. The federal government was given the privilege and the opportunity to govern. It promised the people in Atlantic Canada and across the country that if it were elected in the 1993 election it would make Canadian shipbuilding a priority. Some priority. Seven years and people are still waiting, seven very lean years for shipbuilders.
Last week I wrote to the Minister of Industry, as many people have done. I pleaded with him to be willing, at the very least, to respond to the pleas of shipyard workers and industry representatives to convene a national summit on the future of Canadian shipbuilding in a global marketplace before the entire shipbuilding industry sank in the wake of Liberal neglect.
What the bill before us proposes is very practical. It is concrete. It is doable. They are measures that should comprise part of the Canadian shipbuilding policy.
The aim of this bill is reasonable. It could allow Canada to enjoy the same opportunities as our competitors.
This problem has not just developed over this decade. The fact of the matter is that in the early eighties the then Liberal government removed some very important support to the shipbuilding industry. Since that time we have witnessed a steady severe slide in shipbuilding, particularly so for anything but government purposes, defence vessels or patrol vessels. The fact is that shipbuilding for commercial markets has been very limited because Canada has placed itself at a very severe competitive disadvantage.
Let us take one moment to look at what the situation is in the United States, our nearest neighbour and our largest competitor. The United States has put in place a comprehensive policy to support its own shipbuilding industry. It actually succeeded in getting Canada to agree to grandfather the Jones Act in the flawed free trade agreement which had in place and kept in place very distinct advantages that made perfect sense for an economy to protect for its own benefit. The Jones Act continues to apply and continues to require a very significant number of ships to carry the goods being transported in and out of the United States. It is also supplemented by title 11 financing.
What is title 11 financing? It is an aggressive industrial policy to build for rapidly growing new markets in shipbuilding. It is a policy that recognizes there needs to be a transition and in fact has put in place measures to ease the transition from military contracts to commercial vessels. Surely Canadians deserve no less than a comprehensive national shipbuilding policy for Canada.
Let me simply repeat the obvious and why it is so obvious to most Canadians and so obscure for the federal Liberals to understand. We need to put in place a Canadian shipbuilding policy or we will not have the shipbuilding capacity or the shipbuilding jobs we need. At the very least, we should convene that summit, face the challenges squarely and examine what our competitors are doing that makes it so difficult for us to compete.
I congratulate the member for putting forward the bill. I hope Liberal members will see the wisdom and the importance of supporting it.