Mr. Chair, as a former car dealer, I cannot help but answer that question with how effective was the Envoy. The Envoy was a car that was imported to Canada in the sixties and it was not very effective.
That worked very well in previous cases that Canada has negotiated with the U.S., especially the acid rain treaty that no one ever thought would happen. I was there when that was passed and it never would have been passed without that process, and I think it would work again.
However I have been at this a long time and if members were to go back and read my comments in Hansard for the last seven or eight years they would see that I have always advocated for a united Canadian position and one Canadian negotiator . In this case we have had every province and region go down to Washington to negotiate and then they negotiate against each other. The government has never established a united position for the entire Canadian industry.
I just cannot help but think of the expression “united we stand, divided we fall”. One of the biggest mistakes Canada and the Government of Canada has made is to not bring the Canadian industry together because the industry is completely different as we go across the country. We have many different forestry practices and in Atlantic Canada we have a unique practice and they protect it so well. They spend a lot of money and a lot of attention protecting the uniqueness of the Atlantic Canadian forestry practices.
I want to give credit to the Maritime Lumber Bureau and the president and CEO, Diana Blenkhorn, who might be listening, because she has led that team. It has been the most successful organization to represent a lumber industry in Canada. However the bottom line is that we need a united position and if we do not have one we will never succeed in any negotiations with the Americans.