Mr. Speaker, I cannot say that I am pleased to rise today to address this motion. Rather, I am doing so with some sadness, because the softwood lumber and forestry industry is so important to Quebec, and particularly to my riding of Champlain. We were hoping that all the work undertaken in the past year would have yielded some results and that today we would not have to debate an issue that is at the core of our economy and that could pose problems to a large number of companies and workers who depend on the forestry industry.
I want to congratulate the hon. member for Joliette for presenting this motion and for working on this issue for over a year, that is since we first saw all this coming. My colleague worked with his usual skill in providing assistance to the Minister for International Trade, so that this issue could be settled without having to go through what we are now experiencing.
As I read the motion introduced by the hon. member for Joliette on behalf of the Bloc Quebecois, I realize that it does not even condemn the government. Once again, the hon. member for Joliette, along with his Bloc Quebecois colleagues, did a thoughtful job. We are suggesting that the government take the necessary measures, so that the unfair and, in my opinion, immoral U.S. decision impacts as little as possible on workers and industries in Quebec.
Earlier, I was surprised to hear the minister responsible for regional development boast about the government's actions and react as if we were condemning his government. He said that everything had been done to help the workers and the industry get through this trial.
Let me first say that if the term “lie” was allowed in the House, I would use it. But since it is not, I will refrain from using it.
What should be unparliamentary is not using that word, but doing what it refers to. If one did not lie, there would be no need to use unparliamentary language.
The motion by the hon. member for Joliette reads as follows: 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.
As hon. members can see, we are calling for assistance, not just empty words. I know that the hon. member for Joliette and the members of the Bloc Quebecois, after touring Quebec, have given some thought to a program to help the industry get through this. We are offering this program to the government. We are offering as well as the necessary cooperation to get this program accepted.
I think it would be important for the government to seize the opportunity to announce that it will do everything in its power to help the industry to get through this trial and to help the workers.
For over a year, if not longer, questions have been raised in this House on what was coming for the softwood lumber industry, and the American threat. I remember what the minister has said already “We are going to win out, anyway. The Americans are not right”. He reminded us of a previous decision where the U.S. government had to reimburse the industry, if I recall correctly, $1.2 billion for having taxed it unjustly.
I asked another question about where the money had gone. The problem in this is that, after being faced with this unfair American tax and after watching their plants close, workers in Quebec and in the riding of Champlain will not find another job, even if Canada wins before the WTO in a few months or a few years.
They need help today. It is not their fault the Americans made a bad decision. It is also not their fault that the government badly managed the matter, and this has to be recognized, as things have failed.
Workers in my riding and in Quebec are not responsible for this failure. This is why the member for Joliette is proposing measures to the government to come to their assistance, so that the doors of the industry will again be open, once the problem with the Americans is settled.
Do we have the means to do what is being proposed. The employment Insurance fund has a surplus of some $47 billion. With a fund that is so rich—that would be so rich, had the government not emptied it into its coffers in order to pay its debts with money that belongs to workers—with a fund that has this much in it, do we have the means to support business? Can we afford to help the workers? I think so.
Before concluding, I will share my time with the member for Sherbrooke.
The government must give some thought to the measures we are proposing. It could provide some help to the industry by offering loans or guarantees, perhaps, so it could continue its work and show the Americans as well that we will not always let ourselves be had.
It makes no sense to decide to close our plants with the remark, “If we do not make our case at the WTO, you will win”. But when we do win, perhaps 50% of our plants will have disappeared. Perhaps many of our workers will be gone, having decided to do something else or struggled to manage to do something else. Many of these people will be older workers, who will have trouble retraining.
In my riding, there are older workers aged 55, 57 or 60, who have worked in forestry. It is just about the only work they have done and they are extremely good at it. Can we expect a worker such as this to pick up other job skills easily if the industry in which he works closes down?
This is the time to show our solidarity. We must remember that it is workers and the industry who are contributing to the EI fund, not the government. This money is to help them through hard times. That is what people in the riding of Champlain and in the Mauricie region and elsewhere in Quebec are now going through. Over $300 million in revenues and salaries are paid by this industry to workers in my riding and in the region.
We are looking at some difficult times. The government should have the courage, the compassion and the honesty to take a portion of the EI surplus, which is there to help workers, and set up the assistance program being suggested by the member for Joliette to help the industry and workers throughout Quebec.