Mr. Speaker, at the time of the 1993 election, the Liberals promised to deal with shipbuilding, referring among other things to a summit that would be held the following year.
Nothing has been done since. The Liberal government has even been so bold as to purchase used ships and submarines from other countries. A coalition of unions was therefore struck in 1998 and decided to support four of the demands the shipbuilders' association has been making since 1996.
Moreover, 150,000 mail-in cards have been sent to the Prime Minister in support of these demands. All provincial premiers support the adoption of new measures to assist shipbuilding.
At their 1998 convention, the Liberal faithful passed a unanimous motion along the same lines. Now it is up to the Liberal MPs to do the same this evening, by voting in favour of Bill C-213, along with all the members of the Canadian Alliance who have signed on to support my bill.