Mr. Speaker, I listened with much interest to the speech from my Bloc Québécois colleague. However, I find a lack of consistency in the position taken by the Bloc Québécois in the House.
Last year, the Bloc Québécois helped the Conservative Party push the softwood lumber agreement through. As a result, thousands of jobs were lost in Quebec, particularly in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean regions. Because of this ill-considered support from the Bloc Québécois, the Conservative Party put in place a softwood lumber agreement for which Quebec workers ended up paying a very high price.
Today, the Bloc is putting forward a motion which, at first sight, seems to make sense. The motion talks about measures to be taken in the forest industry. However, just as all other provinces in Canada, Quebec can no longer take measures to help communities hard hit by the forestry crisis, since the softwood lumber agreement gave Washington a decision-making power.
The Bloc is trying to clean up the mess. It helped the Conservative Party pass a bill and an agreement for which Quebec workers ended up paying a very high price. The Bloc is now saying that measures are needed to help the communities affected by the forestry crisis.
Does the member understand that it was a mistake to support the softwood lumber agreement of the Conservative Party, for which workers in Quebec and British Columbia ended up paying a very high price? Does he regret the fact that the Bloc supported the Conservative Party? We now see the result, the impact and the loss of thousands of jobs in Quebec because of that support.