Mr. Speaker, I have to wonder sometimes where some members of the opposition are. I will not say all as I do not want to generalize.
I understand that the member may not have been in the House of Commons for the past 20 years, but if we are to believe that he is as well read and as interested in the issue of softwood lumber, in the issue of agriculture and the protectionist attitudes of the United States, then he would know that in terms of softwood lumber there have been four disputes in the past 20 years.
The issue of whether or not Mr. Bush feels as friendly or has as heart warming sentiments toward our Prime Minister as he or his father may have had toward previous Canadian prime ministers simply is not an issue. It is silly. I cannot believe that the member, who normally tends to speak with a little more common sense than not, although I will not put a precise figure to that, would make such a statement.
Yes, there is a softwood lumber dispute going on now and Canadians know there is a dispute. The difference between the official opposition and some of the other opposition parties and the Canadian public is that the Canadian public thinks the government has taken the issue seriously. They know that the government did not just start negotiating when the agreement ended but it began working and negotiating years before, As a result of the government's action there was and still is a coalition between the provincial and territorial governments that are concerned with the sector, the players and with the unions.
It is interesting that the government was able to forge the front. The front did not just happen the day after the agreement. The specific agreement is as a result of the work of several years.
I would like the member of the opposition, if he should speak to this issue again, to at least recognize that the common front that continues to exist to defend the Canadian softwood lumber industry--