Mr. Speaker, on May 26, 2003, I rose in this House to put a question to the Minister of Natural Resources about the need to move to phase 2 in order to deal with the softwood lumber crisis.
He answered, and I quote:
We are seeing hardships in certain parts of the industry and we have to ensure that we do everything we can to look at the next phase.
That is phase 2. He added:
Our priority right now is to make sure we have an... agreement with the Americans.
In answer to my supplemental, he said:
I can assure the hon. member that if we do not get an agreement in the near future we will be looking at other measures.
That was back in May 2003. To follow up on what the minister said, now that we know, several months later, that there will not be a short term agreement and that the softwood lumber crisis could last another year, will the government agree with us and with the industry and the workers that we need to move to phase 2 in order to deal with this crisis? Some businesses need loan guarantees and other types of financial assistance might also be helpful to the softwood lumber industry.
For instance, money could be put into the economic diversification program for softwood lumber. While the crisis is ongoing, this program will end on March 31, 2004, and it will be necessary to keep diversifying the economy that way for one more year at least.
What is most urgently needed, however, is to provide help to businesses and workers. Will the federal government act quickly and take what the Minister of Natural Resources said into account?
In May 2003, the minister said an agreement was expected shortly, but five months later, there is still no agreement. Christmas is coming. There are people listening to us today who do not know whether they will qualify for EI for the whole period they will be unemployed. This period will be longer this year because of the problems on the softwood lumber market.
As regards the industries, they are in the process of choosing between investing in equipment or in increased productivity. Instead of relying on a return on their investment over three, four or five years, as previously forecast, they are no longer strong enough to make it through the crisis, now that they must pay a 27% tariff to the Americans. Many small sawmills have closed down.
Is the federal government finally going to act, implement and announce the second phase of the action plan to deal with the lumber crisis?