Mr. Speaker, it is incredible to hear the hon. member raise those points. It boggles the mind that he could be that misinformed about what the government has done. I do not know if he believes that the government has done nothing or if he has just been in rhetorical flight. Let me remind my colleague about what the government has done on behalf of Atlantic Canadians and all Canadians.
First, this matter was raised at the highest levels by the Prime Minister of Canada on several occasions with President Bush. This matter was raised by the Minister for International Trade repeatedly with his U.S. trade counterpart, Bob Zoellick. When we were in Quebec City for the summit, the minister and I both had the opportunity to raise the issue with commerce secretary Evans.
It has been raised on a repeated basis. There have been wide consultations with the industry. The hon. member must surely know that. There have been weekly, sometimes daily, meetings with the stakeholders in Atlantic Canada in particular and throughout the country.
The minister continues to put forward the idea of an envoy, a more sensible way to try to resolve this dispute. There was very little interest apparently from the Americans until recently. Now we are at the point where Mr. Zoellick has been raising it with the Minister for International Trade. Perhaps we are finally starting to see the Americans realize that there does not have to be the unnecessary confrontation they have caused.
The fact of the matter is the government's position is very clear. I respect that the hon. member represents a riding in Atlantic Canada, but the government is charged with taking care of the interests of all stakeholders from coast to coast to coast.
This is not a matter of east versus west in Canada. It should not be that. I encourage the hon. member and all hon. members not to weaken our position by playing to that kind of argument because it is divisive and it is not constructive.
This is a matter of north-south. The United States is the one which has said it would not exempt the Atlantic provinces. We have supported the claim of the Atlantic provinces for an exemption, as we will support any province that feels it has the right to an exemption.
Let me conclude by saying there has been a clear national strategy. There has been a huge amount of work. I ask the hon. member to pull back his partisanship a bit and support the government in trying to put forward a national case.