Madam Chair, through you, I have a question for my hon. colleague. I would like to return this conversation and debate to the communities that are often affected by this trade dispute. Sometimes, as the rhetoric from the government and the other parties comes forward, the people in the communities most deeply affected by this trade dispute are lost.
My region of northwestern British Columbia is among the hardest hit regions in the entire country. I would argue this with little doubt in my mind. There has been an incredible concentration within the industry. A lot of the smaller and mid-sized shops have had to close. A lot of workers have lost jobs. A lot of families have had to move out of our region and into the cities and other places, seeking other types of employment, when their preference was to remain.
I am curious about my colleague's impression with respect to Quebec and particularly the smaller communities that are affected by this situation. There is the frustration they must feel that, after so many years of this debate going on over this trade dispute, the best we can hope for, after so-called victory after victory, are the suggestions of a special envoy, continued negotiations and a 20 minute phone call to the president. I am sure that for 15 minutes of the call the Prime Minister was reminding President Bush of who he was and where he came from. The remainder of the time, I am sure, was the hard chat that he talked about.
Let us talk about the effect on the communities. The communities are tired. I have raised the issue of there being some sort of warning period for the Americans. I know that is quite contentious within the Canadian economy, particularly for those in the energy sector, but I have raised the issue of there being some sort of warning period for the Americans to suggest that this trade agreement we have is of such great importance to our economy that it must be protected and the dispute resolution must work.
I have suggested that we say we are willing to impose some sort of countervailing duty, with a warning period, a grace period, to allow the Americans to make the change, with this being done in order to affect the voters in the United States, to affect the congressmen and congresswomen and senators and get them to finally pay attention. I am sure the view in Quebec is the same as it is in British Columbia: the Americans are still not aware of how important this is to Canadians.
The Americans may not be aware at all of where Canada is at this point, but we must appeal to the American people, who have a sense of justice and a deep connection with our country. We have a long history together. Somehow they have failed to push their own politicians to react in a way to push the Congress, the Senate and the president to finally return all of the duties and to remove the Byrd amendment, which is illegal in almost any international context.
There must be a resolution from this House to finally get serious about the issue, not the Conservatives' suggestion of a special envoy nor the suggestion of the Liberals for negotiating after we have won. This is a bizarre and absolutely insane scenario in which we negotiate after we have won, which only means that we can negotiate backwards from that point of victory.
The Prime Minister would like us to believe this delusional notion that we somehow have this $3 billion plus because the trade dispute panel said so. In fact, the cheque is not there and no money is present.
Would the member comment on some of those issues?