Mr. Speaker, on April 9, 2008, a little over two months ago, I asked a question in this House about what is being done by the federal government to help the manufacturing sector to get through the current crisis. I mentioned that the federal government's current aid in the $1 billion trust fund granted $20,000 per job lost in Alberta compared to $2,276 in Quebec, while Alberta has lost just 2% of jobs compared to 34% for Quebec over the past three years. This illustrates the unfairness of the current system.
In the meantime, unfortunately, a significant number of job losses have been added—just look at the automobile plant closure in Oshawa. Those job losses have a major impact throughout Quebec because 2,400 jobs in Quebec are tied to sub-contracts with that plant.
Unanimous recommendations from the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology were supported by the Standing Committee on Finance with respect to refundable tax credits for companies that do research and development. We do not see the federal government taking any action. Does its ideological approach, whereby only the rules of the market matter, still apply? The public does not support that approach.
Or is it because it wasted money and did not use the tools it should have used, such as the $10 billion surplus it put toward the debt on March 31, 2008, even though Canada's debt to gross domestic product ratio is better than any other G-7 country's? The “pay off the debt” mentality is not meeting today's needs. Instead, we need the government to put money into the economy, not in the form of subsidies, but in the form of a fiscal framework that would help our companies deal with these realities.
Can my colleague tell me whether the Conservative government has a plan for new ways to help the manufacturing sector, which is still facing the same difficulties? That is what is happening now in Quebec and Ontario. Right now, Canada has a two-speed economy. When the Bank of Canada sets the interest rate, it has to take into account the pro-inflationary situation in Alberta and the situation in the east, Quebec and Ontario, which are having a much harder time keeping their economies going.
The government has the tools at its disposal, so will it decide to use them to ensure that our economy can benefit fully from a little boost in desperate times, when the rising dollar, linked to the rising price of fuel, is wreaking havoc on our ability to compete in the North American and global economies?
Is it not time to use some new tools? Should the government not step up with some new development tools and new ways to support businesses so that we can keep our jobs? Because without that, once all of our manufacturing jobs are gone and have been replaced by maintenance and sales jobs, we will not have what it takes to make our economy work.
Can my colleague comment on whether the government plans to change its approach?