Mr. Chair, the member mentioned disappointments and the two months that it took after the extraordinary challenges committee reported to finally get a telephone message to the Prime Minister.
I certainly want to say that the people in my riding were disappointed. They have had a lot of disappointments in the years that this file has been lingering on with so little action taken on it.
In Nanaimo--Alberni, we have the Franklin division scaled right back, the logging division, formerly of MacMillan Bloedel and then of Weyerhaeuser when it was the owner, and now of Brascan. We have lost the entire Sproat Lake division. Logging is shut down. A lot of people are at home who used to be working and gainfully employed in this industry. They are just are not working anymore. They are disappointed.
Just a few moments before the hon. member spoke, my colleagues, the members for Kenora and Thunder Bay—Atikokan, were talking. We applaud their efforts to get loan guarantees in here, but it is late in the game. These guarantees would have made a huge difference earlier, when some of our companies were much more sound. It is late in the game now.
I know the hon. member was active on this from the beginning in recommending that we take action on this. I wonder if he would care to review the earlier activity on this file when he was asking for loan guarantees way back at the beginning of this conflict.
Second, there was a comment made by one of the members from the NDP about the Byrd amendment and the moneys held back by the U.S. that have already been distributed. I think he said they have already been paid out so they cannot be receivables. I know the hon. member is knowledgeable on this file and I wonder if he would care to comment on that.
Perhaps he would also care to comment on other industries that have been supported very generously by this government while our softwood industry has been hung out to dry.