Mr. Speaker, I am really glad that we have the opportunity this morning to discuss concurrence in the industry committee report, “Manufacturing: Moving Forward--Rising to the Challenge”.
One of the suggestions that the NDP member on that committee made in a supplementary opinion that was attached to the report was to call for specific sectoral manufacturing strategies.
New Democrats have long called for a specific auto strategy. I know the member, being from St. Catharines, will know the importance of having a specific auto strategy, but for years we have not had that kind of specific strategy to deal with the auto industry and we still do not.
We also called for specific strategies for the textile industry, aerospace, shipbuilding, plastics, food processing and chemicals.
I wonder if the member could comment on the need for those specific sectoral strategies, and particularly the need for an auto strategy which we have yet to see in Canada.