Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to come back to a question that I asked in February about an industry that is at the heart and soul of the economy of my community of Sault Ste. Marie.
I asked at that time why the government was not in Washington, standing shoulder to shoulder with the steel workers union, negotiating with the Obama government, as it came to terms with the recession that was hitting that country, and negotiating a deal that would protect our industries, particularly our steel industry, in the same way as we knew that the Americans would do. In fact, that has turned out to be the case.
At that time, the parliamentary secretary to the minister suggested that I was misleading the House and the people of Canada in suggesting that was even possible, but I went on to say to the minister's assistant that within NAFTA and the WTO, Canada was permitted to put in place a buy Canadian strategy, which is what the Americans were looking to do at that particular point in time and on which they have since begun to move forward.
Not only is it legal, but domestic procurement strategies are in place with our NAFTA partners, the U.S. and Mexico. It seems that Canada is the only jurisdiction that is satisfied with spending billions of dollars of taxpayers' money to stimulate the economy and not guarantee that a chunk of it, at least a percentage of it, will stay in Canada to support the communities and the jobs that would be saved by that action alone.
I ask the parliamentary secretary today to please take my question a bit more seriously than previously, and explain to me, to the people of Sault Ste. Marie, and to the people of Canada why the Canadian government is not willing to go to bat for Canadian industry in the same way as the Americans, and protect the jobs and the communities that are supported by those industries? Why will the government not look at the possibility of a Canadian procurement policy that would direct at least some portion of the billions of dollars that we will spend of Canadian taxpayers' money to Canadian industry, Canadian communities in order to protect Canadian jobs?