Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Deputy Prime Minister. On February 7 four Atlantic premiers signed a letter to the Prime Minister entitled “Softwood Lumber—Atlantic Canada Premiers' Request for renewal of the Maritime Accord”. In that letter they said that failure to continue the current agreement would have a devastating impact on the region's softwood lumber industry.
On February 22 the Minister for International Trade said in the House that no one in the country wanted the sort of agreement we had in the last five years.
Would the Deputy Prime Minister acknowledge the request of the four Atlantic premiers to renew the agreement? Would he also acknowledge that by failing to get consensus they have now pitted the east against—