Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise and speak in the debate. I will be sharing my time with the member from Dewdney—Alouette.
I want to talk for a minute about what the debate is all about. Sometimes we get caught up in all the legalese, but basically the debate is about the Quebec summit.
There has been a lot made of the free trade area of the Americas that is coming up. In reality, that free trade agreement, of which I am very supportive, is not going to come to fruition until 2006 at the earliest. We hear about the draft text, which is really the negotiating position of the 34 member countries participating at the Quebec summit. However, there are a lot of other issues.
I do want to speak a little about free trade, about why I think it is so important and about why I think the government has put us in a somewhat compromised position.
As we go into the very preliminary stages of these discussions, with the heads of state there to discuss a free trade agreement for the hemisphere, our government, only months before with respect to Brazilian beef, took a very political position and banned beef when it had no grounds to do so. Yet we will be arguing with the Americans over the softwood lumber agreement, which could cost the Canadian softwood lumber industry $2 billion a year. We will be arguing that they should follow the rules.
Only months ago in regard to the aerospace industry, the Canadians very clearly had a right to impose trade sanctions against Brazil. The government could have imposed sanctions at that time, but then hid behind this veil of safety in regard to Brazilian beef without any scientific evidence. Of course that is arguable, but when the government sent our scientists down there they very clearly could not find any grounds for the ban.
I greatly regret that. As well, leadership has not been shown on the issue of the P.E.I. potatoes. Clearly there are some concerns.
Let us go specifically to the summit that is ahead of us. I will state a few of the concerns of the Canadian Alliance. One of them is in regard to the people's summit. There should be an opportunity for all people to put their views before the subcommittee on international trade, where some of those groups are coming forward, and they should also have an opportunity to protest very peacefully and, quote, legally at the Quebec summit.
What I find very frustrating is that the government has given funding of $300,000 to these groups that have very openly and blatantly said they will break the law. In fact, they are holding workshops right now and training people in civil disobedience. A number of groups are participating. The NDP caucus right here in the House of Commons has said it will participate. The Council of Canadians said in the media very openly that it is holding workshops in civil disobedience. As well, there are the Canadian Labour Congress, the Canadian auto workers and many other groups.
It is interesting that the former member from Kamloops, Nelson Riis, said yesterday that the NDP is abandoning parliament and dangerously risking its reputation by deciding to “lock arms” with protesters at the summit.
I have very grave concerns about the government choosing to fund the people's summit with $300,000. I think these people should be given an opportunity to have their voices heard, but not at the table and not at the plenary sessions because obviously that is a place for the heads of state. We are a very open, free and democratic country and I believe there are opportunities for them to have their voices heard. Again, I think there are some concerns in that area.
The flip side of it, as we heard in the debate earlier, is the corporate sponsorship. There is a cloud of uncertainty when the government allows different corporations to sponsor coffee breaks for $75,000 or to supply a vehicle for $500,000 or to have a speaking opportunity for $500,000. People who are influential in the business community should be invited, I think, but I do not believe that they should be paying for a service. As a country we are hosting the 34 heads of state. I do not think we want to turn this into a three-ring circus by having people who can afford to pay. We know who the leaders are from both sides. It is the government's responsibility to take the input from the NGOs, from the business community and from members of parliament to ensure that there is real and meaningful dialogue as we proceed in these negotiations.
That brings me to the process. If there is one very legitimate group of people that has an absolute right to have meaningful dialogue it is members of parliament. Yes, we can do it through committees, but the government will argue that it is not allowed to release the text of the document. I am not saying it has to release the absolute text, but let us face it, there are 34 member states and their negotiators and they know exactly what the other countries' positions are. There are no secrets. The government's suggestion that it cannot reveal exactly what is on the table and what is being discussed is not right. The other countries Canada is negotiating with know our position, as we know theirs. That is what is done in negotiations.
Michael Hart from Carleton University talked about openness and transparency. I am paraphrasing, but he said that we do not need to be under any illusions, that all the countries know the positions, so we should make this information available. Members of parliament should have full participation and access. We can speculate as to what is in there. We can go back to the Uruguay rounds or we can go back to the NAFTA agreements. There are texts out there.
However, it is speculation on our part about what there is in the text. The government could provide more information without releasing the text. It could say “Here are the issues on the table, this is exactly what is being discussed and this is what needs to happen”. Most important is that absolutely nothing be ratified or signed on to until there is an opportunity for a full and open public debate in the House of Commons and a vote by members of parliament. Members of parliament are the ones who are democratically elected and they should have the final say.
I want to say again that the Canadian Alliance is very supportive of free trade. We believe that free trade will benefit all Canadians. As well, it will benefit people from some of the poorer countries who want access to these larger markets in the United States and Canada. The poorer countries want to see free trade opened up.
However, in the same breath, we are about to embark on a very difficult time. I will summarize this with respect to the softwood lumber agreement. The agreement will expire this Sunday. I have to admit that we are trying to stay united. The government is stating its position. The government wants the agreement to expire and wants free trade, which we in the Canadian Alliance do as well.
The biggest argument of the Americans has been that they allege we subsidize our stumpage, which is absolutely false. In fact, stumpage in British Columbia has gone up significantly. It was the government's responsibility to make sure that the American administration and the American industry were fully aware of that. The government has failed. The Americans have made it very clear that the American industry will be launching a countervail duty case and possibly an anti-dumping case, which will cost our industry billions of dollars.
It was the responsibility of the government to ensure that the Americans knew the facts. The government has had almost five years to do that and has failed miserably. The Americans just believe that we are providing all these subsidies, which is absolutely false. Now, at the 24th hour as the agreement is about to expire, the government is scrambling. It will have to deal with this. The government is looking at how it will deal with the CVDs, the countervail duty cases, that will be brought forward. That could be very damaging. It would be very damaging for our industry. I believe the government has failed the industry in preparing as we come to the expiration. Some would argue that the softwood lumber agreement was in fact the bridging agreement to reach free trade. Now that we are in the 24th hour, very clearly the Americans would seem to be back at ground zero after over $100 million in legal fees in the last 20 years.
The Canadian Alliance supports the free trade agreement of the Americas. We hope the government shows leadership and makes wiser decisions than it has in the past.