Mr. Speaker, the federal government's trade negotiations with the European Free Trade Association are at risk of destroying what remains of our shipbuilding industry.
Canada intends to resume the negotiations broken off in the year 2000, with a view to withdrawing certain duties, the repercussions of which might be fatal to our shipbuilding industry.
Yet, less than a year ago, the government was claiming it wanted to revive domestic shipbuilding. In the absence of any real business support policy, it indicated some good intentions, stating that no tariffs would be eliminated without prior consultation of the stakeholders.
If the Minister for International Trade takes the trouble to carry out that consultation, he will see that a number of them have concerns about countries such as Norway having access to our markets, and thus totally annihilating any hopes the thousands of Quebec and Canadian shipyard workers might have of getting back to work.
Does the Minister of International Trade want to close down these last shipyards in Quebec and in Canada?