Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent question. He has to deal with some serious problems in his riding, including those affecting the textile and bicycle industries. He has become the great defender of the latter, which has to deal with some quite simply unfair competition.
It is all very well to accuse us of protectionism, as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Defence has. Trying to save jobs in our ridings is not protectionism. We are merely trying to preserve employment. Too bad the Liberal government cannot see it that way. That is my response to my colleague.
We have before us Liberal MPs, including Quebec Liberal MPs, who are incapable of getting up in this House and telling their government that it has done the wrong thing.
In response to the hon. member's final question, I will just say that this situation is not going to be solved with cronyism and appointments of friends of the party.