Mr. Speaker, you have been very patient with me so far today and I appreciate it. I will say, as probably the last speaker in the House today, that we in the NDP and many others throughout the country and around the world, believe democracy itself is threatened by the FTAA. We need go no further than the Metalclad decision, the one that should be coming up in the appeals, or the UPS decision.
UPS is now suing Canada Post because Canada Post had the audacity to have a courier system, which, by the way, supplements other postal services in the country. UPS, an American firm, is saying Canada Post cannot do that and that it will sue.
The government of British Columbia is being sued because it had the audacity to try to protect its bulk water. Across the country, we believe, environmental concerns such as water, lumber and everything else are at stake.
It was absolutely shocking in the House to hear, once and for all, a member of the Alliance Party tell it like it is and say that, yes indeed, health, education and other public services should be on the table when we negotiate the FTAA.
We knew all along that was the Alliance's position. We knew all along it was the Conservative position. We had a sneaking suspicion all along that it was the government's position. It is amazing what happens at this hour of the morning. The truth eventually does come out. It is shocking.
I wonder if the hon. member for Surrey Central has told the people in his riding that health, education and other public services should be on the table. I do not think he would represent the riding for long if he were forthright enough to tell them that.
When the Conservatives negotiated free trade they forgot to include a shipbuilding policy. The United States protected itself with what is called the Jones Act, which says a ship carrying freight between New York and Miami must be American built, American crewed, American registered, everything American. Canada forgot to protect its own shipbuilding industry, and it will now be virtually impossible to institute a shipbuilding policy in this country.
We would encourage the Minister of Industry to include one and to do everything in his power to rebuild the industry so that thousands of people can go back to work in shipyards in Saint John, Marystown or Halifax. However, I suspect that with talks continuing the way they are it will be virtually impossible for him to do so unless he takes a stand and says no.
We have heard the member from Calgary say in the House that there will be Molotov cocktails, violence and everything else like that. No one in the NDP has said that. We have said only that we have the democratic right to attend a people's conference, a citizens' initiative from a broad section of society in Canada and around the world, to register our protest to people on the other side of the fence.
To suggest we would disrupt the proceedings in the buildings behind the fence is to suggest we would be going over the fence. That is simple nonsense. More than 5,000 police officers will be there to make sure we do not. I was planning to wear a scarf in case it got cold, but I understand there will be a bylaw in Quebec that if people wear scarves they could be arrested. Imagine that. The member wants to know why we are nervous about the talks going on behind the fence when the municipal government enacts a bylaw to prevent people from wearing scarves. It is simply incredible.
The Alliance, the Liberals, the Conservatives and the Bloc are concerned about the NDP attending the people's conference. I attended a civil disobedience event in my own riding. A few years ago the Volvo plant was to leave Halifax and move to Mexico. It was to leave without looking after the workers. What did the workers do? They occupied the plant, but in a very peaceful way. That was civil disobedience. They occupied a private piece of property and just sat there.
Who attended the rally to support them? That great dissident of all time, the current premier of Nova Scotia, John Hamm, was there to support the workers of the Volvo plant. Guess who else was there? Another great dissident of democracy, former Halifax mayor Walter Fitzgerald, was there to support the workers.