Madam Speaker, certainly notable exceptions have taken place with the softwood lumber deal. I agree with him that the money was left on the table and problems have been created as a result of that in this trade dispute. I suggest that he and others to go back to what I talked about earlier, and his party supports a forestry summit, and that is to talk about this industry in the context in which we are. He brought up the fact that we were in the context of a downturn. That started well before the recession took over.
One of the issues I had with the other side was the community trust fund. The accountability record on the community trust fund has been abysmal.
I will ask the government this. What does the community trust fund do for someone who has been laid off and is now looking for work in the town of Grand Falls--Windsor? My local newspaper, the Grand Falls Advertiser, recently did a story about Mr. Glen Frampton. After working so long in the mill, he is unable to find work, but also the accreditation to continue the skills he learned in the mill. How does the community trust fund help out a person like Mr. Frampton when it is for industries that have failed?
This debate should be about how we protect those failing industries. The investments we make should maintain the mills. My mill is closing at the end of this month. What will the trust fund do to keep this mill open? Probably very little, and that is the debate I want to bring to the House.