Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take part in this debate. I will be sharing my time with the member for Jonquière, in whose riding also a number of businesses are affected by the softwood lumber issue.
First, I would like to congratulate the member for Vancouver Island North for his motion, as it appears to be a heartfelt appeal.
Some people believed that the Government of Canada wanted free trade in softwood lumber. Today, after everything that has happened, not only from the standpoint of businesses, who have lost profits, but even more so in terms of jobs that have been cut in our regional lumber industries, in my riding in particular, we have a picture of what is happening in the lumber industry in Canada.
For example, the multinational corporation Bowater has facilities in my riding. There are also privately owned producers, such as the Richard Pelletier et Fils sawmill, Denis Lebel inc, a large company, Bégin et Bégin inc., another sawmill, and Le Groupe G.D.S. These are groups that are involved not only on the U.S. market, but also on the Canadian market, because the conflict with the United States also has an impact on the Canadian market.
I think that the wording of the motion has been very well drafted, in the sense that is does not try to blame the government for what has been done up to this point, but it seeks to reassure the House of Commons that the Prime Minister, in dealing with what I will call “the American elephant”, when he or the Minister of International Trade meets with U.S. President Bush, will not agree to any unacceptable concessions.
If, in the coming weeks, we were forced to accept another compromise, such as the one that was reached last time in 1996 and lasted for five years, I think that everyone would feel ripped off. This is what is contained in the motion, that agreements must not run counter to the free trade agreements by not granting free and unfettered access to the U.S. market. The motion basically stipulates that the will expressed in this House by all parties be carried out in practice. However, this has yet to happen. And it is very dangerous that this has yet to happen.
Why? Because at this time the federal government is showing signs that is quite possible that it will accept a compromise. If ever free trade is not included in this compromise, if we again have to deal with something that will have to be renegotiated in five years, we will have really missed the boat. We will not have responded to what people have been calling for.
I remember the tour of my riding I made last fall with the leader of the Bloc Quebecois. We visited some sawmills, where the workers told us, “The position that is currently being defended is the right one. The Americans have to give in. There has to be access to free trade”. We explained our position to them and informed them as well that there is a sizeable lobby in the United States that supported our position in favour of free trade. We felt we had people's support on this.
If, however, next summer we go back to our ridings and an agreement has suddenly been reached, one in which the workers feel they have been had, one that has caused them to lose weeks of work and has gained them nothing in the end, and we could just as easily have given in three years ago, then this will not be acceptable. The proposal we are looking at today addresses this.
It is necessary for the Canadian government to reach a conclusion that will lead to a return to free trade. If this is not one condition of the agreement, I feel that our commitments will not have been met.
I remember that, at my request, a spokesperson for a pro-free trade council, the Conseil pour le libre-échange pour le bois d'oeuvre, Carl Grenier, came to meet with the promoters at Rivière-du-Loup. There was an exchange of views on the entire matter, as well as a debate on the small private sawmills, as opposed to the major operations in this area. Obviously, the bigger operations may have broad enough shoulders to withstand this and get through the crisis, if ever a decision by the appropriate legal bodies on the free trade agreements is required. It is a lot harder for the little sawmills to survive.
I was very pleased to hear the hon. member opposite refer just now to an assistance program. We would indeed have to ensure that the negotiations have not put us in a lesser position, but rather come up with something that will allow a return to free trade. If ever the Americans do not want to go that far, there must have been provision made for assisting our businesses and our workers.
In fact, solidarity cuts two ways. In the Lower St. Lawrence, where my riding is located, one in four unemployed workers, 25%, are reaching the end of their EI benefits.
The softwood lumber situation has meant that workers went on employment insurance earlier in the fall. They accepted that. They will work later in the spring and they have accepted that too. However, there are people who will be without any money coming in for four, five, six or eight weeks. These are not principles. This is not a war between Canada and the United States. It is the real life situation workers are facing.
We in the Bloc Quebecois suggested that the number of benefit weeks be extended for these people. I think that solutions must be found so that workers can get through this period and continue to support a free trade position. Ultimately, what matters the most with these free trade agreements is that people see that there are dispute settlement mechanisms allowing a smaller country to prevail over a larger one.
Before there ever was any free trade agreement, the United States would not even have bothered about our reaction; they would have imposed their duties and we would have had to live with them.
Solutions are within our reach. This is the final decision. We know that we are right. We know that we can win the legal battle. Canada must not decide to make unacceptable concessions. It must put its money where its mouth is. When the Minister for International Trade says something, it has to translate into action. If this decision is not made, nobody is going to want to wage this battle again in three, four or five years. We will have been had by the government and nobody will be happy.
On another note, I want to add that Quebec is realizing what would have happened if it had been sovereign during the last round of negotiations on this issue. The Americans recognized that Quebec had almost no countervailing duties. Its system was working and most of the problems were due to the situation in British Columbia.
A compromise was accepted by Canada as a whole, with the exception of the Maritimes, which were not affected. Quebec therefore lived with this agreement for five years. If there had been a sovereign state back then, it could have argued with the Americans that Quebec should not have to accept such measures, because we were not doing anything wrong.
We are aware that the federal government and the provinces have been playing fairly with the Americans under the current system. However, I believe that a sovereign Quebec would have had the opportunity to extricate itself from this quagmire much sooner, thereby avoiding the situation that we have had to endure for seven or eight years.
I feel that it is important that today's vote on this motion be virtually unanimous. I hope that after all of the speeches have been given, we will focus on what is important and say with one voice that the House of Commons believes that an acceptable agreement is one that leads to free trade, an agreement that does not contain compromises that will prevent us from having free trade in softwood lumber.
We want to send a strong message to both the Government of Canada and the Government of the United States, to let them know that for people from here, for our constituents, it is important that we have access to free trade and that our lumber can be sold on the free U.S. market. We know that we can be incredibly competitive; we are capable of selling on the U.S. market. We are capable of ensuring that houses in the U.S. are built at lower costs. However, in order for this to happen, we cannot give in right when we are in the process of winning this battle.
I hope that this is the message the Prime Minister will give to President Bush so that we will not be left with a bitter taste in our mouths and the feeling that all of our efforts were in vain. I hope this will translate into a vote in the House that will make the message very clear.