Mr. Speaker, let us look at a few facts in the softwood lumber dispute. Legal fees over the last 20 years have reached $100 million, and we are back where we started. Over one million Canadians are affected by the dispute. There are tens of thousands of jobs at stake.
David Emerson, CEO of Canfor, Duncan Davies of Interfor, Jake Ker of Lignum and many more have all said that if they end up with a 20% countervail they will have to close mills. Yesterday the minister suggested they would be better off in the long run.
Could the minister tell us how working Canadians will be better off when they do not have a job to go to?