Mr. Chair, only a few days ago, Huntingdon Mills and Cleyn & Tinker garment manufacturers announced that they would shut down for good in the near future. Huntingdon Mills will cease its operations on Friday and will lay off 250 workers. Cleyn & Tinker has already started selling off its equipment, which is being exported. It will cease its operations next April. In total, the two plants will lay off 800 workers.
Let me tell you that all that makes me very sad, since we are dealing with a massive loss of jobs in my riding of Beauharnois—Salaberry. The Haut-Saint-Laurent RCM will have a very bleak Christmas, and I dare hope that the government will alleviate their misfortune by suggesting concrete measures to help them.
More than 800 jobs will be lost, and the measures announced today will not suffice to make up for them. They are coming much too late in the day, and I can hardly understand why the Minister of Finance is of the opinion that the Bloc Québécois is impatient with this matter: it is of the utmost urgency to act. Indeed, the plants had been employing couples, whole families, for generations. For those municipalities, they really were economic engines. For instance, 75% of the labour force of the town of Huntingdon was employed in those plants.
Located in Montérégie, Huntingdon is a municipality of 2,600 people. It is going through a serious crisis following the announcement of the closure of these textile plants, which will mean the loss of 800 jobs. The mayor of Huntingdon, Mr. Stéphane Gendron, is sending a cry of alarm and calling for an immediate emergency plan. Moreover, 43% of the people affected by these closures do not have a high school diploma and are over 50 years of age. Thus, you will agree that finding another job is hardly an option for these people. Whole towns and villages are threatened with closure, because these plants are their only hope.
Textile has always been a profitable sector of activity in Canada. This industry has been generating more than 150,000 jobs in Canada and over 70,000 in Quebec. Currently, several duty remission orders apply to the Canadian clothing industry, most of which are expiring on December 31, 2004.
Until now, the government seemed insensitive to the cry of alarm of these workers, and the assistance that was announced today is evidence that preserving these jobs is not a great concern for the federal government.
There may be several reasons why these clothing plants are closing in my riding. The forthcoming end of import quotas on textile, which will come into force in 2005 is one of them. It will be impossible to compete with Chinese manufacturers under the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing of which Canada is a signatory.
This new situation will put in jeopardy a number of textile and apparel businesses that are already suffering from the stiff competition, including because of the trade practices that are in effect in certain countries. Industry stakeholders are all the more concerned because several duty remission orders for manufacturers who import clothing will soon expire.
The Bloc Québécois has been working on this issue for a long time. On December 9, I tabled a petition signed by 2,845 fellow citizens and textile workers in my riding, calling on the government to solve the textile crisis. The Bloc Québécois also asked a number of questions in the House on this issue, but the minister said that we were too impatient.
This evening, the Bloc Québécois is urging the government to take immediate action regarding this issue. The federal government's lack of action has generated a real public show of discontent. Some concrete action must be taken now, because the announcement made by the Minister of Finance to triple the assistance provided to the textile industry is, unfortunately, of no help to the 800 workers in Huntingdon.
The workers from Huntingdon are asking the government to assure them it will maintain import tariffs on clothing, textiles and products in Canada; carry on with the duty remissions for clothing companies; maintain a quota on Chinese imports pursuant to the WTO access protocol for China; implement a program to help modernize the apparel and textile sectors stipulating research, development and creation; implement an aid package for older workers who will be unable to find other work; develop immediately a restructuring plan to compensate for the job losses; grant severance pay to those who have lost their job; increase transfers to Quebec to promote job training; and, in conclusion, develop a program similar to POWA.
The government must listen to this cri de coeur from an industry important to the upper St. Lawrence economy and take the necessary action to correct the situation.
The current situation of the textile and apparel sectors is a prime example of the need to implement an older worker adjustment program similar to POWA in order to pay benefits to those who may lose their job in any of the businesses affected by this new situation.
There is no shortage of solutions. The only thing missing right now seems to be the government's will to act to find constructive solutions.