Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.
When we speak of the forestry industry, we think of the companies, sawmills and workers in the forest. Now lumber producers are being affected. Mr. Jean-Louis Gagnon, President of the Syndicat des producteurs forestiers du Bas-Saint-Laurent stated: “Producers have been hit hard. In some families, it is the bread and not just the butter that may not be on the table.”
The forestry sector is in a crisis that is affecting not only companies, which are closing one after the other, but the entire sector. This is detrimental to the family incomes derived from this sector in our society.
With regard to the second part of her question, I would like to read the tenth recommendation made by the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. We submitted a comprehensive strategy. The committee recommended the following:
That the Government of Canada conduct an internal review of Canadian anti-dumping, countervail and safeguard policies, practices and their application to ensure that Canada’s trade remedy laws and practices remain current and effective.
We also recommended that the Copyright Act be amended.
The recommendations overall sought to stop the importing into Canada of goods manufactured in unacceptable environmental or working conditions. We need true globalization where everyone meets the same requirements, which is not the case currently.
The Conservative government is abetting operations carried out in unacceptable environmental and working conditions in an attempt to lower the rate of inflation. This Conservative government must take action in this regard and implement the recommendations of this unanimous report.