Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.
The industry is very active at present. What did it do? Seeing as the textile industry had been affected for a long time, a petition went around that was tabled in the House on December 9. The purpose of the petition was to inform the government of a problem that needed to be resolved before it was too late.
My colleague was repeatedly told in the House that the Bloc was crying wolf and that it was getting ahead of itself. However, the Bloc never got too far ahead. It took the bull by the horns and wanted to wake up the government by telling it about a problem that absolutely needed to be resolved before everything collapsed. That is the point the people of Huntingdon were trying to make with their petition.
The region is currently working on finding other projects and employment for the workers who are going to lose their jobs in other industries. Most of these people are manual labourers. We are working on this right now in cooperation with the local CLD and the mayor of Huntingdon. In an effort to encourage the regional economy, we are trying to find new jobs in other industries, not for all of these people, but most of them.
Many workers in these industries are often members of the same family. A father and mother of a family might work in these industries. Many families will be without work. In these regions, people work in the textile industry from generation to generation. It is important to help these people have a better local economy and to find new work elsewhere.