Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister, the foreign affairs minister and the Prime Minister's foreign affairs adviser have been burning up the phone lines with their American counterparts to ask the U.S. to set up tribunals for prisoners in Afghanistan, but on our number one, cross the border economic file we are content with slow paced talks between junior level officials.
Why is this government spending more time and effort fighting for the rights of the al-Qaeda terrorists than for the 20,000 softwood lumber workers and their families laid off because of this U.S. protectionism?