Mr. Speaker, our dollar has gained about 5% relative to the U.S. dollar in the past two months. This means that manufacturers in Quebec and Canada who export goods to the United States are finding themselves forced to lower their profit margins so they can stay competitive.
The latest figures from Statistics Canada show that deliveries dropped by 1.5% from March to April. Worse yet, this downward trend has shown up in three of the first four months of 2006.
These statistics confirm opinions expressed by Laurent Beaudoin, CEO of Bombardier, and Perrin Beatty, President of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters.
Mr. Beaudoin said, and I quote, “If the Canadian dollar continues to gain ground, manufacturing companies that export will soon have almost no other choice but to increase the US dollar content of their business or move production to countries where costs will allow them to be more competitive”.
We must counteract repeated increases in the value of the dollar. The Bloc Québécois urges the Prime Minister to implement measures to support manufacturing employment.