Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to the comments from my colleague. I was not talking about agriculture, but about lumber. The member said the government was wimpish. Wimpish as in soft, I guess, because, in the lumber industry, we do have soft wood and hard wood, 2x4s and 4x4s.
The member of the Canadian Alliance said that public money has only been spent on other industries. Let me point out to him that the Department of Natural Resources got $720 million this year compared to $638 million last year. New ministers have just been appointed. The minister responsible is from Vancouver. Forestry is one of his main priorities. He works hard on developing forest policies. The Minister for International Trade does a good job too.
We are talking today on behalf of forest workers. That is what is important. We need to work together to come up with a new program so that Canada is not rapped on the knuckles and told it is subsidizing softwood lumber. We need a social program to help the softwood lumber industry.