Mr. Speaker, that was an interesting comment, and it amazes me. When we are trying to organize something in the House and all parties are speaking basically on the same issue, why would someone would come up with that type of condescending attitudinal question. However I will answer the question.
First, the member for Calgary Centre spoke before and not after the fact. The hon. member should look up past records of the House and he will see which party first brought up softwood lumber. There is a complete record of all committee meetings and everything that takes places in the House of Commons. I challenge the hon. member to do that.
This is not about one party or one person's file. This is about finding a solution. One of the most outstanding issues that the government has failed to address is the whole argument about American and Canadian stumpage rates. Canadian Alliance members failed to address that when they were speaking earlier today and since Canadian Alliance members had the opportunity to go first as the official opposition, we would have thought they would have put all of their arguments on the table at that time.
We were beaten up on the issue of American and Canadian stumpage rates which should never have happened. The stumpage rates in the U.S. refer to the selling price of the timber in the U.S. market. In some instances, because it differs from state to state, the buyer is not necessarily responsible for logging roads, environmental remediation or the planting of trees; the U.S. forestry service is responsible. That gives the U.S. a huge advantage on this file.
Canadian stumpage rates, which Americans like to say are too low, refer to the average price paid for timber to the government and any province. There is no difference between Nova Scotia and British Columbia when the stumpage is being sold on crown land. The buyer of the timber is responsible for putting in logging roads and any remediation of the roads when they move. In many instances where there is not sufficient regeneration, the buyer is also responsible for the planting of trees after the land has been logged. That is one concrete point where we have failed on the file. We have been unable to convince the Americans that we have a fair rate for stumpage and they have an unfair rate which tends to distort the price of timber south of the border.