Mr. Speaker, first, I want to say that I will share my time with my friend and colleague, the member for Sherbrooke.
I am very pleased to have heard the minister and to have mentioned the region de l'Amiante. It is true that the region de l'Amiante has developed, but it is mainly thanks to the imagination and ingenuity of citizens and organizations that decided to take their destiny into their own hands, because there were problems.
On this Bloc Québécois opposition day, I find it essential to take part in today's debate on an extremely important issue, the textile and clothing industry. The riding of Mégantic—L'Érable, which I represent, is not exempt from the many difficulties of the textile and clothing industry. We talked about this throughout the day. These difficulties are due mainly to the negligence of the Liberal government. Despite what the minister says, this government made numerous promises during the election campaign, without ever taking the trouble to fulfill them. This is its usual and normal way of doing things.
As for the hundreds of jobs lost, it is a tragedy in my riding, especially in the region of L'Amiante and L'Érable. The minister talked about the Beauce region earlier, but he did not talk about East Broughton, where the factory has closed. Hundreds of jobs are threatened because the government, among others, did not listen to the demands of business people and especially to the pressure of the Bloc Québécois to put transition measures in place.
Everyone was convinced that this was the solution, except the government. What is most shocking is that the federal government knew what was coming, as everyone knew, and did nothing. Today, it is trying to fix the mess. Once again, I repeat that this caused factory closings across Quebec.
In my riding, there are textile plants in Disraeli, Thetford, East Broughton and Saint-Méthode. In every plant the workers feel uneasy and are facing difficulties. Of course, we have talked about the programs. However, these programs are not adequate for the textile industry, and they are not enough. Eventually, the programs run out of money, or they have a $100,000 cap, or they are designed in such a way that a little money is spread here and there, which does not help the companies much. Consequently, the problems are not fixed and the job losses are massive.
The Liberal federal government did not find any solution because it did not look for one when the time was right. The government acted when disaster struck and for strictly political reasons, to try and rake in the votes. Unlike the government, the Bloc Québécois proposes solutions to the crisis facing the textile and apparel industries. I had the chance of welcoming my leader, the member for Laurier—Sainte-Marie, in the Amiante region. He toured the textile plants. He knows what he is talking about. He made important suggestions at a time when something could have been salvaged from the wreckage. Indeed, we could have maintained jobs and saved entire plants in Quebec. However, nobody listened. Nobody listened to the recommendations and the requests made by the Bloc Québécois. And now, the industry is in dire straits.
We mentioned earlier the $50 million investment. This morning, we could read the following in La Presse : “Canadian textile industry evicted from US market.” Mr. Harvey Penner from the Canadian Textiles Institute said that this $50 million investment absolutely does not match the needs of the industry and that a Plan B would be required. The government can keep on throwing figures around, that will not solve anything.
The Bloc Québécois has made several recommendations to resolve the problems. In my opinion, it is important to consider them. First, we talk about the use of safeguards provided for in international agreements. International competition is a problem. Tariffs must be maintained on imported clothing. That is one way the government can protect local producers, at least until they adapt to international competition. Again, the current competition is not domestic, but comes from China, India and globalization. Imposing quotas on Chinese imports, for example, would prevent the Canadian market from being inundated with highly competitive Chinese products. This is one measure that can easily be turned into reality. Another solution, we see this often, is simply to implement measures to encourage the use of Quebec--and Canadian--made textiles.
Many more measures could be added to the list. First, we must allow the duty-free entry of clothing made abroad from textiles of Canadian origin thereby assuring local textile producers an additional market outlet for their products, which is important.
In the same vein, we must also create an additional market outlet for Canadian textiles by including raw materials in the definition of local content. It is important. This is the current practice in some countries and we should apply it here as well. Also, we must negotiate Canada's entry in agreements reached between the United States and Latin America. We have to start negotiating instead of settling for rules that penalize Canadian or Quebec markets. Otherwise, problems will arise.
Again, in terms of measures for encouragement, we could also adopt a buy local policy for uniforms and clothing. In our regions, the chambers of commerce often promote buying locally. This measure could be applied nationally.
There is a third item my colleague from Drummond talked about earlier and that is the relocation of industries, which is a major problem. We have to strike a balance between the environment and workers' rights in order to avoid an exodus of companies. Canada should perhaps improve its negotiating position with foreign countries.
Another major solution, which my colleagues spoke about, would be to allocate funds to assist workers where companies close down. I spoke earlier of East Broughton, in my riding, where some 50 workers in their mid-fifties are getting no assistance because POWA has been abolished. Assistance to workers who have lost their job is therefore a necessity. I admit that there is no magic solution and that some companies will inevitably close down. Consequently, middle age employees must be able to re-enter the workforce. In the meantime, they need the financial assistance of a program like POWA as they move from employment insurance to retirement. We have yet to see on the part of this government a firm will to establish such a program or to resume funding for POWA.
On the other hand, some people wish to retrain. Thus the importance of establishing a training program for workers. This comes under Quebec's jurisdiction, but the federal government can act and finance this kind of initiative through employment insurance.
We are identifying the problem and trying to save the industry and the plants with programs adapted to their needs. That way, workers who can re-enter the workforce will do so through training, while those of a certain age who cannot retrain will be allowed to retire and benefit from a generous financial assistance program.
Those are the four priorities to deal with in order to solve or improve the situation. There is also a fifth recommendation, which is inescapable; it deals with research and development. In that regard, we must establish an assistance and modernization program for the clothing and textile industries, in order to promote research and development.
Those are basically the measures we could take to develop those industries. I also wish to invite members of the House to support the motion of the Bloc Quebecois, which underlines the inadequacy of the assistance plan to the clothing and textile industries which was announced, if we really want to do positive things in that area.