Mr. Chairman, the minister recently tied my comments regarding Indonesian plywood to our support for the United States. I hope the minister understands that domestically I have a very different stance than I do globally and that there is no intent to ever tie those two things together. I resent the inference.
However I have made some observations over a short period of time that we are always in a position to be reactive and not proactive whether it be on softwood lumber or agriculture.
Why do we wait for a crisis situation before we move forward? The WTO issue should be easier to resolve than it has been so far. Canada needs to take a stronger stand because this is a domestic situation. We are not talking about the global terrorism situation which I support without any reservation.
However, when it comes to what happens to Canadians in terms of agriculture or softwood lumber issues, we need to take a much stronger stand. Would the minister tell me today if that is exactly what will be done?