Mr. Speaker, I would only suggest that he does so out of habit. The support of the American position at the trade table has gone on for far too long. The Americans come forward and, while signing agreements like NAFTA with Canada, set up a protection measure around their steel industry. Why? Because they want to protect their steel industry under the auspices of NAFTA. Did we have any problem with that as Canadian negotiators? Apparently not.
However, when the elected representatives in the House stand and make similar suggestions, we are called insane and crazy. We cannot do such a thing. When the Chinese government proposed to buy Noranda, our largest mining outfit, and all its resources, we had a finance minister tripping over himself, excited by that so-called investment. The Chinese came forward during those negotiations and said that their plan was to smelt less of the materials than Noranda traditionally did in Canada and smelt more of it overseas, taking added-value jobs overseas.
It is perplexing to me and it is not comprehensible to most Canadians. Why is there this pattern of not standing up for the interests and rights of Canadians? Negotiators like that are why our industrial strategy fails us time and again.