Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to rise and speak to this debate brought forward today by the Bloc Quebecois. I would like to reread the motion. It states:
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 made 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 would like to say to the Liberal member who spoke before me that we moved this motion because the Bloc Quebecois made a proposal to the government a few weeks ago already to establish programs to assist businesses, loan guarantee programs, ways to ensure that our businesses in the softwood lumber sector would be well prepared to weather this period that lays ahead, which could last several years and which will be very hard on these businesses.
We made real proposals. It would have been nice for the member to be aware of this situation. This recommendation for workers was made public. We referred to using the government's reserves for training programs, among other ideas. The member is aware that through the employment insurance fund, the government transfers money to the provinces for workforce training. However, it has set aside $700 million in reserves that have not been used and that could be used properly.
This morning there was a press conference with workers and their representatives. They told us “This money needs to be invested in the industry right away in order to develop secondary and tertiary processing. From the plant workers, we can select those who have the ability to develop their skills in these areas of activity, and give them a chance to launch businesses immediately to diversify the product”. Once softwood lumber has been processed, it can no longer be hit by the tariffs. In that sense, it is an interesting option.
There is also the question of dealing with the crisis triggered by the imposition of the tariff after the end of May. This fall, a number of people in my riding and in several municipalities will be dealing with the softwood lumber situation. Whether at Dégelis, Squatteck, Saint-Eusèbe, Packington, the entire Témiscouata region, as well as Kamouraska, there is considerable dependency on the forests. Today, all these people are very worried about their future.
The statement made Friday by the Minister for International Trade had considerable impact on the people in our region. Although not necessarily sovereignists or anti-Liberal, they were very surprised to hear the Minister for International Trade state that, so far, there have not really been any consequences and that the government will wait until there are some.
In our region, people know that they were laid off last fall a month earlier than expected. They know that next fall it is very likely that they will be laid off a whole lot earlier. This being the case, it was not only the workers who reacted to the statement by the Minister for International Trade. So did the business people, Guildo Deschênes of Groupe GDS among them. He is a big man in Quebec industry, with mills in the Témiscouata area and in the Gaspé as well, lumber mills. According to him, the minister's statement was irresponsible.
I think the Minister for International Trade needs to be more in touch with what is really going on. He is perhaps great as an international trade consultant, but he needs to fulfill his real role as a minister. It is as a minister that he acts as our spokesperson with the Americans.
When he said to the Americans, “You know, your duties have not caused that many problems”, the message he was sending them was, “Go ahead, hit us some more. Bring it on. We can take it. We can survive it. We will get by thanks to our existing programs”. This is not the message the industry was expecting. This is not the message workers were expecting. This is not the message the regions were expecting. What they were expecting was the message contained in our proposal, a proposal with real solutions. It would give us the solidarity we need to get through the next two years.
Let us not forget that it is not the members of this House, it is not the government, not even the business leaders who will bera the brunt of this. Those who will are the workers who will wind up having their jobs cut. Next spring, they will end up facing a greater gap than the one that currently exists.
Next year, with the end of the moratorium that was proposed as an election promise, workers will need around three more weeks of work to qualify for EI in my region, and in the end, there will be about eight fewer weeks of benefits.
These two factors, combined with the softwood lumber crisis, will mean that in many regions, such as the one I represent, consumer spending will cease; people will not have enough money to survive on, for their family to survive on, to pay their rent, and to make their car payments. All of these factors have a very significant impact on the economy.
When you take money out of the economy, unfortunately it has as exponential an effect as when you put money into the economy. This causes our communities to suffer.
We must not wait until people start lining up in front of unemployment offices, 150 at a time, to pick up their cheques, and be told, “Conditions have changed; you would have needed to work 75 extra hours to qualify, or else, instead of receiving unemployment benefits for 28 weeks, you will only get 21 weeks of benefits”.
We must not wait for that to happen. We must act now. We must implement a policy. The Minister for International Trade, in co-operation with the Minister of Human Resources Development and the Minister of Industry, must say “We are faced with an urgent situation; we must stand up to the Americans. We must stand together. This solidarity implies that we will adequately support our workers and businesses”.
This is currently not the case. Throughout the negotiations, the Minister for International Trade said “We are well equipped. We will deal with the situation”. It would appear that he grossly underestimated the Americans' reaction. We now have it before us. There is no longer any reason to underestimate it. The minister is well aware of the reality. We must know if he is prepared for a protracted war, one that will last two years, until the WTO rules in favour of Canada in the softwood lumber dispute with the United States.
In the meantime, if we do not make the necessary efforts, who knows what will happen? Small sawmills will not make it. Some people, who could very well be the owners of large sawmills or U.S. competitors, will buy back these companies. In the end, our communities will become increasingly dependent on world trade, on owners who will not have any ties with the regions in which we live, in which we support our communities every year.
This is what must be avoided. This is why the Bloc Quebecois has tabled today this motion, this proposal, and the related action plan it had developed.
In order to help the industry, whose main problem is one of credit, we included help for companies, because this is essential. The loan guarantee is a tool that could be used for this purpose.
A special fund for SMBs could also be used.
Obviously, there is secondary and tertiary processing.
For the second group, there are industries that we could help in this manner.
As for workers, improving support measures would be a way of providing better training, using the $700 million the federal government has tucked away.
There is the creation of a special status for seasonal workers. We could add five weeks of benefits in order to eliminate the spring gap for workers and help older workers unable to re-enter the job market.
In answer to the Liberal member who spoke earlier and said that he would like to see more specific suggestions, I would say that these suggestions are on the table. They have been there for several weeks. And we are waiting for the federal government to decide to put forward an action plan.
For several weeks, the Minister for International Trade has been saying, “We must wait for the May 2 ruling”. May 2 has come and gone. The tariffs will take effect on May 23 and still there is no news. It is as though they had a boat without a captain, and are not sure where they are heading right now. That is why we have proposed this debate in the House of Commons, so that the government will finally make a decision.
I will conclude by informing you, Madam Speaker, that I am sharing my time with the member for Témiscamingue and that I will be pleased to answer questions from members of the House.
However, as the representative of a region hard hit by the softwood lumber dispute, I saw last summer that workers stood behind the government's position during a visit with my leader. They said, “We have to settle the score with the Americans”.
But now the government has to return the favour. Now that it knows that the battle will be long and difficult, it must not let people down. I think that the public would be incensed if it realized that it had been hung out to dry by the federal government.