Mr. Speaker, on July 22 Michelin will close its BF Goodrich tire plant in Kitchener and 1,100 workers will join the 150,000 people across Ontario who have lost their manufacturing jobs in the last two years. Michelin, whose profits surged 36% to over $1 billion U.S. in 2005, said the closure was due to market oversupply and intense cost pressure from imports.
Most businesses will go where they can maximize profits. But as a government, it is our responsibility to protect Canadian jobs. We must be aware that the high value of the Canadian dollar hurts manufacturing jobs.
We must use tariffs to counter dumping. We must also avoid free trade agreements with countries that do not allow equal access to their markets and lack labour and environmental standards.
We must also help our workers going through transition with job searches, retraining and income support.