Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak tonight on this topic which is critically important for all Canadians and of particular concern for the people of British Columbia.
This is a major crisis. We cannot pretend that it is anything but that. In British Columbia thousands of people are out of work, we hope temporarily. Thousands more are at risk. Communities whose major source of economic strength is in the lumber industry are at risk and are worrying through this terrible time. The whole economy and revenues of British Columbia and the revenues and the economic security of our country are at risk in this situation.
In the short time, less than a year, that I have been in parliament I have not seen another issue that has been given this prolonged and serious consideration. We have to examine what has been done.
At every week's meeting of the B.C. caucus this issue has been at the top of the list. We have regular meetings with the Minister for International Trade. This issue is brought up regularly in national caucus with the utmost urgency.
Support has been given by the B.C. caucus for the position of the international trade minister and the government, particularly for unity across the country. Different regions should not be treated differently, in particular regions like Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, and Manitoba, with British Columbia leading all making up almost half of our exports to the United States.
The important thing is all of the concentrated effort. This has been difficult. The issue is complex and obviously is not being solved quickly, but it must be solved fairly and finally. There has been a concentration of effort and constant communication, the Prime Minister with the U.S. president, the trade minister with the American commerce secretary, the U.S. trade representative and now with Governor Marc Racicot, the U.S. emissary appointed by President Bush.
Let us look at the history for a moment to see how we can bring this together at this time. These arguments across the border have been going on for 100 years but increasingly, and we have heard many people speak of it over the last 20 years, Canada has faced charges of subsidy in particular. Canada has taken the issue to various dispute resolution tribunals and courts and has always won. This is not an issue of subsidy. Let us put that to rest.
We have a public land management system in British Columbia and in many other parts of Canada. That is pointed to by some U.S. producers who favour protectionism and protecting their own perhaps inefficient practices.
I can speak of British Columbia with knowledge. We have high standards of sustainable logging practices. These have costs. It is not a matter of low stumpage. It is a matter of sustainable logging. It is a matter of sustaining employment in the communities. It is a matter of managing forest practices for biodiversity. It is a matter of ensuring that roads are built carefully and decommissioned. It is a matter of making sure there is protection for streams and if damage has been done in the past to restore them. It is a matter of ensuring that reforestation takes place in the most varied, healthy and realistic way for the continuation of the wealth and health of the forests.
This is not a matter of subsidy. It is a matter of protectionism in the United States. What action can we take? Let us look at two of the major Canadian and American forest products companies, Weyerhaeuser, the largest forest products company in the world, and Louisiana-Pacific.
Weyerhaeuser and Louisiana-Pacific operate on both sides of the border. Their corporate message to all of us is that there is no appreciable difference in economic returns between logging in British Columbia or anywhere else in Canada and on the U.S. side. These simply are not subsidies and the courts keep telling us that. What do we do?
Leading up to the expiry of the softwood lumber agreement at the end of last March, the unified Canadian position led by the Canadian government with the agreement of Canadian industry and the Canadian provinces was that we wanted free trade. We did not want an extension of that agreement of managed trade and quotas on exports. We wanted free trade. That is our right. That is what we bargained for and that is what we want to get. That was the position of all of us.
What happened after the expiry? It is punitive action that is discriminatory, biased and unrelated to the true facts of the situation and it is patently unreasonable. That is the problem we are facing.
How do we go ahead? We stay unified. That unity must be preserved. We also have to litigate. The Canadian government is litigating now before the World Trade Organization.
We saw today in the Globe and Mail a report on business written by David Emerson, the president of Canfor, the largest Canadian forest products company. He announced that he and his company are taking the U.S. government to the NAFTA tribunal before an impartial panel under chapter 11 to sue the U.S. government for $250 million in damages for the dumping penalties that it has introduced. This is an important act. This is the rule of law. This is the free trade we agreed to. It is good to see Mr. Emerson and other corporate leaders in Canada standing up for their rights in the same way. Canada is doing the same at the WTO.
Talking about sustainable logging practices and the beauty of British Columbia old growth forests, it was interesting to see the painting that Mr. Emerson was standing in front of in that major newspaper article. It is a painting of a magnificent old growth forest on the Queen Charlotte Islands. It is by one of Canada's greatest modern artists, John Koerner, a constituent of Vancouver--Quadra. I am very pleased to say he is also my father-in-law. That painting and Mr. Emerson's actions in front of it, if anything, can represent the beauty, the wealth and the health, but the health at high cost to our forest companies, of the sound logging practices in British Columbia.
We litigate but we also engage. We must remember the engagement from last fall. Whom were we to engage with other than to say we were going to insist on free trade when the softwood lumber agreement expired? There was a change in administration and there was some confusion about who was president. The U.S. trade representative was not even appointed and confirmed until March. In any event, we were unified in terms of going for free trade.
Let us engage. We have had a series of discussions now. The provinces, the states, our national governments have gotten together, advised by industry on all sides. The understanding is growing. Let us think. President Bush has appointed his close confidant Governor Racicot to act as his emissary. He is engaged with our trade minister. He has said that he wants this issue settled in four to five weeks. Increasingly Canada has allies in the United States and I am speaking of the American people who are going to pay higher prices.
Let us turn finally not from subsidies, not to the Canadian situation, but to what do the Americans want? Do they want fewer imports? Do they want higher prices? The American public is made up of home builders and suppliers and consumers. What do they want? The answer is clear and it is going to come together quickly, we hope. We will support industry and the people who are affected directly as much as possible, but we are going to solve this once and for all with free trade on a just basis.