Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, today it feels as though I am reading the weekly newspaper obituaries. Despite each adjournment debate on questions we asked a few months ago about the manufacturing sector, day after day, more businesses are closing and hundreds of jobs are lost, while the government does absolutely nothing.
I remember that on January 31 we asked what concrete action would be taken by the federal government. At the time, a budget surplus of $10 billion had already been announced. The Conservative government had a choice: it could pay down the debt, or put some towards paying down the debt and use the rest to stimulate the economy. It chose to throw it all at the debt, a real obsession of this government.
Today we can see the results. In all regions of Quebec—yesterday in the Sherbrooke region, last week in the Montreal region, or a few weeks ago in my region, the Lower St. Lawrence—businesses are shutting down. However, the federal government has not put forward an action plan for the manufacturing industry. The Government of Quebec, which has much more limited financial means—since the fiscal imbalance has yet to be corrected—is trying to create a plan. But this plan would have to be backed up by a similar one from the federal government. This has not happened.
In January, when I asked the question, the Prime Minister was still saying that the $1 billion trust would be part of the budget and that we would have to vote in favour of the budget to have it adopted. The negative reaction was so strong that he had to backtrack and agree to have a separate vote for the $1 billion, and that was done.
That is why today, I am raising the issue again and I am telling the government that the need for action in response to the crisis in the manufacturing and forestry industries is as urgent as ever. In Quebec and Ontario, the crisis has been aggravated by the rising cost of petroleum, of gasoline, which has resulted in even more undue competition for our manufacturers.
Earlier, the parliamentary secretary said that the government had cut the GST. The last GST cut did a lot more to support manufacturing jobs in China than it did to strengthen our own manufacturing industries.
We expected the government to move forward. Today, we are reiterating demands from union members and the groups that represent them, as well as from employers, such as Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. They are all calling for additional measures. Perrin Beatty, a former Conservative minister, expressed his support for these demands, as did Jason Myers, executive director of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, and major unions.
In closing, what I would like to know is, has the government finally realized that the crisis in the manufacturing sector is a real problem and that it must put all of the tools in its toolbox to try to deal with this problem?