Mr. Chair, I am thankful for the opportunity to say a few words as we debate a very important issue not only to Canada, but in particular to the area that I come from in northern Ontario.
It struck me as I listened to the excellent speeches this evening that we are surrounded by some very beautiful carved wood in this place. It also struck me that we have for too long taken for granted in our society the valuable role in our economy and in our culture and communities that the forestry sector has played and continues to play.
When times are good, it is easy to put aside this very important sector and not worry about it. As has been the case for a number of years now, and especially over the last months, weeks and days, we are reminded of how important this sector is to our economy, to our communities and to all of us, not only as individual consumers of wood products, but as members of a society whose very roots are in our natural resources, much of that being in wood.
I am also struck by something else. Those who may be watching this debate on television might see that there is a certain partisan aspect to this debate. Quite frankly, that may apply only to the ways that we each would solve the problem we are having with our American neighbours over the softwood lumber issue. In truth, there is no partisanship when it comes to the fundamentals of the debate. All members of the House agree that this problem has to be resolved. We have to continue to remind our American neighbours that they have before them the right decision that they should be making. We all agree that the forestry sector is important to our economy and that unanimously we want this situation solved.
Different parties would accuse the government of doing this or that or not doing enough in one area or another. I can assure the House that our Prime Minister, our international trade minister, our foreign affairs minister, the parliamentary secretary in particular, all those who are implicated in this important file have worked very hard, very diligently. Whether it is this government or governments past, whether it was a Liberal government or a Conservative government, they have worked hard to try and get this issue resolved once and for all. It is not an issue that only goes back a few years. This issue goes back decades.
I would like to put before the House that as important as the lumber industry is to northern Ontario, in fact my grandfather moved from Papineauville, Quebec in the 1890s to the Massey area. As a young man, my grandfather Arthur St. Denis became involved in the forestry industry and that was his livelihood throughout his life.
There are many aspects to this issue, but we are in unison on the need to get it resolved. I would like to take this opportunity to imagine that I was speaking to Condoleezza Rice who was in Ottawa. She is Mr. Bush's most senior cabinet member on foreign affairs. In fact, I am not sure if she is watching. I hope she is, but if not, I hope her officials and members of the U.S. embassy are watching.
I would like to tell her that this problem with the Americans is causing tremendous difficulty for many of the small communities in my riding and for the workers who work in the plants, and for the families of those workers. Those people work hard every day. They like to earn an honest paycheque, bring it home to feed their families, to educate their children and to have a good life.
Those people understand bad weather. They understand that forest fires cause problems for their sector. They understand that machinery breaks down. They understand all kinds of things that come along to disturb their enterprise, their workplace, just as farmers expect from time to time that sadly, there are going to be droughts or floods. These are the unfortunate parts of having a business. What these workers do not expect is a good neighbour to be disturbing their workplace in a serious way.
I call upon Ms. Rice to consider the plight of the families, whether they are in Hearst, Opasatika, Nairn, Thessalon, Chapleau, Dubreuilville, or any of the number of small communities in my riding that depend on the forestry sector. In fact I would like her to come and visit one of these communities to see what it is like first hand.
Sadly on the other side of the border there is a special interest group which is a very small group and in fact if the Byrd amendment is applied and a payout of some of the $5 billion is made, it is going to end up in the hands of a very small number of people, a couple of dozen companies and individuals. The American consumer is not going to benefit. The American taxpayer certainly is not going to benefit. It is a net zero benefit to the vast majority of Americans and Canadians. Continuing on this line that I am speaking to Ms. Rice, it is patently unfair.
In Canada we like to play by the rules. We expect those whom we trade with to play by the rules as well. In fact I would suggest that our American friends, and they are our friends and neighbours. We are not going anywhere. We have to live together. We have to cooperate on this continent along with Mexico. We have to make it work. Whether it is softwood lumber, wheat, steel or security, it does not matter; we have to make it work. We are not going anywhere.
I say it is unfair. The message that Americans are sending to others around the world is a bad message. Should other countries be contemplating making a deal with the Americans in light of this situation, I do not know. I would be wondering about that. We call upon them to be fair.
I would point out to Ms. Rice that there is all-party support for getting this issue resolved once and for all. Notwithstanding that there are different ideas on how this is done within our country, we all agree on the ultimate goal.
I would tell her that the Minister of International Trade was in my riding in September. He spent the day visiting the little village of Hallebourg near Hearst to meet with stakeholders. Later in the day he visited Elliot Lake and those along Highway 17 from Espanola and Thessalon that are involved in this sector. What he heard consistently was not to negotiate with the Americans until they make a very serious gesture on the $5 billion that they are holding illegally. I think they would prefer to see it all. Perhaps there is a little bit of wiggle room, but we want a very serious gesture from our American friends on those duties that are being held.
I would probably conclude by saying to Ms. Rice that regardless of what we do on our side of the border, I support the notion of providing a loan guarantee to the industry as it awaits the return of the improperly held tariff dollars in the U.S. Whether it is half, one-third or two-thirds, I do not know, but our government should advance some reasonable proportion of those dollars to the industry. I will trust our ministers and our Prime Minister on how we do that. I would say to Ms. Rice that U.S. consumers are suffering.
It is very interesting that a lobby group or a special interest group in the U.S. in the cement industry is doing the same thing to the Mexicans on cement as we see another group doing to us on softwood lumber. It is nothing more or less than protectionism, and not protectionism because they are worried about all the Americans, only because they are worried about a couple of different special interest groups.
I would say to her that if there is rhetoric on both sides, that is the nature of politics I suppose, but we have a greater responsibility to our kids and grandkids to create a North America that is a good place to invest, a stable place to invest, a place where our children and grandchildren can grow up and have careers and families and so on.
The Americans might say that over 95% of our trade goes without problems. I would say, so what? The 5% that has problems is a serious 5%. I would be happy to earn 5% if I had some money in the bank. Five per cent is a big number.
In conclusion, I want to commend all members. It is great that we debate how we take care of business on this side of the border. I know we are sending a unified message to our friends to the south that yes, in times of crisis, whether it is a disaster in New Orleans or a disaster here, we know we can count on each other, but that aside, we have to take care of this piece of very important business for the good of everybody on this continent.