Mr. Speaker, the bill before the House that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources has presented is something that I will be supporting. I think it is a very good initiative.
I have a question related to diamond mining and the diamond industry generally in Canada. We have become, as I understand it, the third largest diamond producing country in the world. I am wondering what opportunities there are to add more value to those diamonds in Canada. A lot of those diamonds now are being shipped, in fact all of them are being shipped, from Yellowknife to places like Antwerp where they are cut and polished.
I am working on a proposal to create a diamond trading centre in Toronto where many of the rough diamonds, let us say 30% to 40% of the production from the Northwest Territories, would come to a diamond trading centre in Toronto. When a diamond trading centre is set up, we would get all the value added industries around that because the cutters, the polishers and the other value added players want to be close to the diamond trading centre.
I know there is some interest to have a value added industry in Yellowknife, but I am told by the industry players that it would be difficult to implement. Rather than just let the diamonds flow offshore, why can we not have the diamonds adding value in Canada?