Mr. Speaker, this government has had since 1996 to deal with the softwood lumber issue.
Yesterday in the House the Minister for International Trade said “everyone knows, good progress continues to be made”. This morning we learned that Tembec, Canada's second largest lumber producer, is laying workers off and curtailing operations as a result of U.S. trade actions.
It would appear that the government considers the destruction of the Canadian softwood lumber industry and the resulting job losses as “good progress”.
Will the Minister of Industry commit today to implementing a plan of action to protect this industry and the jobs it provides until the Minister for International Trade finally manages to get this trade dispute resolved?