Mr. Speaker, I too want to echo the concerns raised by the two members who specifically questioned the minister about the impact on the textile industry. I believe the minister may have referred to this, but I believe December 31, 2004 is the exact date when the remission orders, which applied to textile industries, will be eliminated. If remissions are removed from these various industries, the inputs they use and obtain from many countries will skyrocket because, as some of our colleagues have mentioned, they are not available in Canada. The duties on those products will go extremely high which will force prices in the country to raise to unprecedented levels. As my colleague from the NDP said, this will have a huge impact on Canadian workers.
One thing the government has an opportunity to address, given that there is goodwill to extend these preferential tariffs, is the issue of remission orders. I believe all parties are generally supporting the move to have this legislation pass. It would be good to have an indication from the Department of Finance that it will address the issue of remission orders with these industries. It would put our industry at a huge disadvantage if there were no reciprocal agreement or some sort of extension of remission orders. We have said that we would extend those for the next seven years. I believe they initially were extended in 1997.
Could the minister comment on that because I think the industry faces a huge problem?