Mr. Speaker, it has been almost two months now since the Prime Minister declared “peace in our time” on the softwood lumber dispute. As a result of the Prime Minister's negotiating strategy of any deal at any cost, the U.S. administration is now telling the U.S. lumber lobby that the agreement will force the Canadian forest industry to abandon the practices that the Americans do not like.
Does the Prime Minister now realize that his declaration of victory was in fact an unconditional surrender? Will he tell the House today that he will refuse to accept any agreement that threatens Canada's sovereign control over our own natural resources?