Mr. Chairman, I thank my colleague from Churchill for her very thoughtful comments. As members know I am from the province of British Columbia. British Columbia was particularly hard hit by the punitive tariffs of 19.3%. It has been estimated that as many as 15,000 jobs may have been lost since the tariffs were imposed. We want to voice our very strong solidarity with the workers and communities that were affected.
I note that IWA-Canada has launched a national campaign, which we strongly support, to protect Canadian jobs and communities in the face of these bullying U.S. protectionist tactics.
On Wednesday this week the Interfor mill in Squamish announced that it was shutting down. That is another 170 workers out of a job. There are no transitional measures whatsoever for these folks.
The Minister of Human Resources Development indicated today that the employment insurance system was working just fine. It is not working for the airline industry and it is not working for these workers either.
Does my colleague agree it is critically important we make it clear to the U.S. government that access for Canadian manufactured wood products entering the U.S. market has to be a prerequisite to any future trade agreements between our two countries?