Mr. Speaker, thousands of jobs have been lost on the North Shore because of the crisis in the forestry industry. Kruger has closed its doors. Instead of producing lumber, the Outardes mill is making wood chips for its paper mill. In Baie-Trinité, Bowater is limping along, and the sawmills along the Rivière Pentecôte and the Rivière-Saint-Jean have closed.
Given that the government, which is controlled by the Conservative Party, will have a surplus amounting to $14 billion or $15 billion in the next fiscal year, including $4 billion or $5 billion from the employment insurance fund, can the member for Joliette tell me whether the government could have helped the forestry industry become more competitive and prosperous? Could it also have helped forestry workers by improving the employment insurance system?
These workers are now being forced to resort to social assistance. The government could help them by offering them employment insurance benefits and by creating a program to help older workers.