Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have shown British Columbians that resolving the softwood lumber crisis is not their priority. The Prime Minister talks tough, but he will not talk to President Bush.
Possibly worse than the Liberal inaction, the NDP want to go down a dangerous road by imposing export taxes on oil and gas. Only the NDP could think that fighting an import tax with an export tax makes for a sound trade policy.
Conservatives continue to stand up for the B.C. workers, companies and communities affected by the illegal softwood duties.
A Conservative government would immediately appoint a special envoy to Washington to press our case and get our money back. We would offer assistance to the companies that have been unfairly impacted by this dispute. We would demand that trade deals be honoured and dispute rulings respected.
Unlike the Liberal-NDP coalition, we do not think the answer is to run and hide or to play to anti-American sentiment. We need creative solutions and a Prime Minister more interested in public policy than public posturing.
The bottom line? We need a new Prime Minister.