Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Verchères--Les-Patriotes for his kind words and congratulate him on his speech.
I am very pleased to speak on the Bloc Quebecois motion which reads:
That, in the opinion of this House, the government should set up an assistance program for the softwood lumber industry and its workers, to support them in the face of the unjust decision by the American government to impose a 27.2% tariff on Canadian softwood lumber exports to the United States, the program to continue in effect until such time as this conflict has been resolved.
I join with my colleague in reminding the House that is it urgent that the government provide our businesses and our workers with the means to hang on while we challenge the decision made by the U.S.
Members on the government side and on this side agree that we stand a good chance of winning that challenge. But the real issue facing us is this: if that challenge takes too long, American companies and workers will have won. Therefore, we urge the government to look at effective ways to help businesses in Quebec and the rest of Canada to hang in there.
Not all businesses are large, diversified corporations that can rely more on one sector when another is struggling. We also have small sawmills. They are all caught up in this crisis that could bring about their demise. That is what is at stake here.
This is why, as a member representing the eastern part of Montreal, I feel the need to take part in this debate. We cannot say “This debate only concerns the regions. It has nothing to do with the urban population”. It is not true.
Why is it not true? Because at stake here is the survival of an important industry for the Quebec economy, and the Canadian economy, an industry that provides many jobs and where, year after year, businesspeople create employment opportunities and wealth.
When we say that countervailing duties will be 27.2%, this is huge. This means that, for Quebec alone, $550 million will be taken from businesses this year and will not be used to pay workers.
For people who are listening, this is surely strange. Why is it that, all of a sudden, the Americans can impose duties of 27.2% on our lumber exports, when, in Quebec at least, we remember a certain debate on a free trade agreement, in which the government said “Free trade means there will no longer be duties on goods that are traded. The strength of businesses will be the productivity of workers”?
I happened to be in Washington with the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs two months ago. We met with representatives from the American administration. I asked why it was the fourth time that Quebec and Canadian workers and businesses were going through this same tragedy. For many people, this is a tragedy. This is nonsense. Why is it that the United States do not understand that this is nonsense, and contrary to the spirit of free trade?
The answer that I was given—and I was glad to hear it as a parliamentarian—was that, in some regions, MPs and senators are influenced or under pressure by local industries that find that Canadian lumber sells better, perhaps because of the weakness of the Canadian dollar. So, these local businesses, workers, and parliamentarians exert pressure, use the mechanisms available to them to try to delay the export, or prevent Quebec and Canadian lumber from being exported to the United States in the way it now is.
There is a reason why we have the support of consumers' associations in the U.S., and that is because they know they will be paying more for their houses with these countervailing duties.
I understood from the response given by administrators that even the American administration was very uncomfortable. It is aware that in its desire to extend free trade agreements to all of the Americas it is in an exceedingly bad position when, under the mechanisms included in the NAFTA, we who export our lumber to the United States quite legitimately and legally, are being challenged. There is more involved than just words. They are requiring, and can require that we pay countervailing duties of 27.2% until a final decision is reached.
Some time earlier, a colleague wondered what we could do. I will come back to this, but I want to talk more about the second solution.
The first solution is to arrange to get through this crisis and ensure that businesses and workers involved will be there when we win. We also think that we will win under the NAFTA and WTO recourse mechanisms, but we have to be there. Otherwise, we will not have won, we will have lost and will have demonstrated that the free trade agreement is not to be relied on. This is an extremely bad thing for many and it is more than a bad thing politically, because people are losing their jobs and businesses will close. That is the first point.
The Government of Canada must act. It is not enough for it to say “Ah, there are ways. Ah, there is employment insurance”—we know it is inadequate for such problems—“Ah, there is the former EDC, which we have rechristened Export Development Canada”.
We say to the government that certain measures are needed. Support measures have to be improved and additional and sufficient loan guarantees must be provided.
We must be more effective when dealing with American legislators than we are now. Relations between Canadian and American legislators are rare. On the foreign affairs committee, we even agreed, in meeting with Mexican parliamentarians, that we needed to develop closer ties and try to influence American legislators subsequently on other matters in addition to this one.
The stakes are high, and we must be ready and present when we win before the international tribunals.