Mr. Speaker, I will be brief. I would tell my colleague from Lévis—Bellechasse that today’s debate should be the most instructive period for the Conservatives since the government returned after the election.
We have shown in black and white how government lawyers are pointing to loan guarantees as an acceptable measure under the agreements. For weeks, the Minister of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec) has been saying the opposite. Today, we have the evidence that Export Development Canada—EDC—is giving the okay to this kind of measure. The lawyers who represented the Government of Canada before the courts in London did the same thing. The Conservative government is the only holdout. That is why we have tabled a proposal that calls for these things. I agree with him concerning the utility of wood construction. Thank goodness we can agree on that point. The Quebec forestry industry has issued a distress call to say that it needs loan guarantees. The Conservative government is the only one that does not want to move forward, even though its own lawyers admit that loan guarantees are a good management tool and the one that should be used.
Will my colleague from Lévis—Bellechasse intervene with the Minister of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec) and the Minister of International Trade to ensure that this tool will be available so that our industry can get through the current crisis and move toward recovery? Obviously, we must use all the other tools available but this is one that is important and which the Conservatives have unacceptably deemed off limits.