Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for his question. As I said in my speech, I concede that President Bush has adopted the same position as Canada, or so he said. During his visit, he had effectively guaranteed us that the border would re-open in early March. As far as I can tell, he is unable to keep his promise because, on the one hand, a court in Montana has issued an injunction and, on the other, the American Senate passed a motion.
When American parliamentarians adopt a motion by a slim margin, we have a very serious perception problem. I think that it was 54 to 49, approximately, so it was a relatively slim margin but the motion passed all the same. So, we must deal with this perception problem, and that is not something we can do overnight.
That is why I wanted to put this debate on the closure of the border to Canadian cattle in a broader perspective, in the context of our overall trade ties with the U.S. We have a number of problems. I see that the low-profile strategy has not worked at all.
If we have the support of Mr. Bush here, that is a plus, but there are still some things missing and we need to work on them.
I cannot believe that the Prime Minister will not, in his meeting on March 23 with President Bush, address the question of the border closure. Judging from what the minister says, it is more or less pointless to do so. The matter must be brought up, but so that we look for strategy together that would prove to the U.S. courts that Canadian beef meets all health standards.
This leads me to another topic. Not only does Canada have a wait-and-see attitude in its trade relations with the Americans, but it is inconsistent. I am sorry to again draw a parallel with another issue, but the Liberal government's strategy with respect to softwood lumber is the same as its strategy with respect to cattle. Yes, there are procedures. Informal discussions appear to be taking place; there is nothing really formal in the way of discussions. The government is certainly not threatening the Americans with the implementation of the rules agreed onmoreover, there is no help to the victims here in Canada and Quebec.
Neither the beef producers nor the dairy producers of Quebec have had any sort of program of assistance that can be called such. The message being sent to the Americans is basically: hang in there. The number of victims created in Quebec and in Canada will make us far less of a trade threat in future.
It is the same thing with softwood lumber. We were promised assistance. We saw phase one, assistance with court costs for communities and associations, but then nothing more since 2003. Every year, the softwood lumber industry and the various companies have some $100 million in legal costs just to keep on going.
So without a solid assistance package in place to show the Americans that we are going to be able to hang on to the end, if no public opinion campaign is undertaken by U.S politicians and of course the American administration, we will not be able to survive this cattle crisis.