Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Thunder Bay--Superior North also has great concerns with this file. Let me just say that our friends in the United States, the Americans, are not all of one label. I married one of those great friends and she is still an American. I have the highest regard for those people. They are our true friends and our greatest allies.
What I am talking about on the softwood lumber file is that we have no other course but to go under the political masters any more than I can hold accountable the international trade people who worked very hard on this file for success or failure ultimately is the responsibility of the Minister for International Trade and his government.
The same holds true in the United States. I appreciate the pressure on the department of commerce in the United States. The people that we have to go after aggressively are some of the political people. We have friends there. Over 100 congressmen signed on to supporting the Canadian position. They have signed a letter saying that they need free trade with Canadian lumber. It is in their own interest for affordable housing and otherwise.
Can we put more pressure on the department of commerce? Perhaps, and if we do we should probably take the lead of the government. I emphasize, just to follow up on the member's question, that the U.S. people are our greatest friend and ally. This is a dispute we are having. We need to get it resolved so we can move on to other things.
We will be successful if we can stay united, speak with one voice from all political persuasions across the country at all political levels: government, industry, trades and unions. If we present a strong united front against the U.S. government we will be successful on this file.