Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to rise in support of the motion put forward by the member for Toronto—Danforth.
To validate some of what he has said already, we only need look at some of the public commentary not just from those who have been advocating for a number of years to shed some light on this issue, but also from people who are not normally in the NDP's corner.
Professor Joseph d'Cruz of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Business, who said that he is not normally sympathetic to the NDP, said today:
I'm in grave danger of agreeing with the NDP. But on this one, I think they're on the right track. I think having public hearings is pretty healthy. I've always been a bit concerned that the commitments that the foreign companies make to Investment Canada are confidential and the public doesn't know what they are. On an important public policy issue, I think confidentiality is not healthy.
This is critical because the Investment Canada Act has command over many different jobs, not only jobs controlled by domestic companies and foreign companies, but value-added jobs that are critical for a modern economy to function.
Canada is offside with the Investment Canada Act. This act was put in place in 1985 and since then we have seen wholesale sell-offs of a number of different industries.
It is important to recognize that the act was recently undemocratically reformed through a budget bill. The Conservative government commissioned the Wilson report, which came up with a series of recommendations. The government included them as part of a budget bill. Because the Liberals felt squeezed at the time, they voted with the Conservatives. The result was that the Investment Canada Act was changed without any review whatsoever.
The motion put forward by the member for Toronto—Danforth calls for a process that had been skipped over, which is amazing when we think about it. With world consolidation of natural resources, minerals and other types of businesses, we actually turned away the opportunity to update and modernize our law in a democratic way. A debate in the House of Commons, such as the one we are having today, should have been held before the Investment Canada Act was changed because the changes made to the act actually opened the door even further.
The business community and others were left out of hearings.
We need to listen to the stories told by the people in Sudbury who were thrown out of their jobs and went on strike because they had to fight for their nickel bonus. A Brazilian company was slapping down on them. They did not get a chance to have their say.
We did not hear from the investment community which looks at the significance of the investments on the stock market and the trading opportunities that are created when these types of things go back and forth. We did not hear from people in the investment community.
The government told everyone in Canada that it can take care of everything, that everything is under control. The government did not change the law democratically. It decided to ram it through. That is an American style of politics the Conservative government has used on several occasions, and it is really hurting this country. The government has done that with a number of budget bills. We never saw that practice before. We have been raising the alarm constantly about this.
I want to correct the record on a number of important timelines. It is critical that Canadians understand that although this issue has come to a head recently, it has been in the press in the past and we have raised this issue before.
On August 18 the federal NDP member for Nickel Belt raised this issue in a press release. I want to thank him and the member for Sudbury. I had a chance to visit their communities and meet with the workers who were on the picket lines. I heard about the problems they faced as ordinary Canadians. For over a year they struggled to make ends meet.
That was the result of a takeover. Instead of a Canadian champion being created out of Inco and Falconbridge, the Conservative government decided to sell out to foreign companies and it made sure it did so in secrecy.
We have been hearing the Minister of Industry brag about the fact that the government turned away one case, the MacDonald, Dettwiler case. I would like to thank Peggy Nash for her hard work in making sure that company stayed Canadian. If she had not done all the necessary work, that company would not have stayed Canadian. She was the driving force behind that.
The Conservatives brag about going through a court case with respect to U.S. Steel. That is not a victory. To describe as a victory a company being taken to court because it shut down operations is bizarre at best.
How is it great to be able to brag about the fact that we have lost value-added work and that people have to haul their business partners off to court? What kind of a message does that send? That is very significant because there have been thousands and thousands of takeovers in this country and we have not been able to see the terms and conditions.
There have been opportunities along the way. We could have committee hearings. There are a number of ways we could get access to some of the documents. Any sensitive documents would not have to be made public, but there needs to be light shed on the process. There needs to be accountability and follow through.
This file continued throughout the summer and into the fall. It is interesting because back on August 20 the NDP leader was already calling on the Minister of Industry to take action on this file and to show leadership. We never saw that. At the end of the day yesterday, sadly, the minister told the Canadian public that his officials have no opinion. When there are 11 people in a department reviewing these files, one would expect they would come back with an opinion, yes or no.
Obviously, there are some political tactics behind that. We know the government refuses to take advice from bureaucrats on a regular basis. One example would be Statistics Canada. We lost the chief statistician because the government tried to manipulate his words.
The government comes back with no recommendations from the department and then claims it is not in the best interests of Canadians but it cannot provide any further information. It has left the door open for another 30 days for the Potash Corporation deal to go forward. It is true it is the letter of the law that 30 days are available, but there seems to be a bit of glee in the minister's appeal to come back with different conditions. I am not convinced that this file is finished by any means.
The job for the people of Saskatchewan and Canada who want to see a different vision is not done. We will stay vigilant on this. We will continue to raise these issues because it is more than just this one case. This is about the sell-off of Canadian industry and the lack of an industrial policy for Canada. Brazil, China and other countries are looking to acquire natural resources in different types of sectors to facilitate their modern economies. Canada's plan is to sell out, to get rid of some of the most important features that we have been strong on.
Not only should members listen to the words of the NDP, but they should listen to the experts in the field. Let us look at some of the commentary in the Financial Times:
Could Barrick [a Canadian company] take over Norsk Hydro? Shenhua Coal? Rio Tinto? No. That's because the Brazilians and Norwegians and Chinese and Australians would never allow such a thing to happen. But in Canada you can come in and buy anything. You can come in and buy Barrick for the right price.
That is what the experts are saying. They are identifying that these other countries are coming up with industrial strategies. It is clear that Canada does not have that type of philosophy and we are failing because of it.
I want to finish with a bit of discussion related to the types of jobs that we are losing. These are value-added jobs, jobs on which we can build a modern economy. It is important to recognize that because we have seen a shift to part-time employment and jobs that do not have pensions. We are losing out on the opportunity for those workers to raise their families with dignity and integrity so their children can do better than they did. We have lost that vision. We have become apathetic to that. Many students are coming out of university with huge debt loads in an economy that does not have the type of market to help them pay off that debt.
I want to thank the member for Toronto—Danforth and my caucus members who have been leading the fight for many years. I first raised issues about the Investment Canada Act back in 2002 when China Minmetals was looking to buy out part of Canada. I have been pushing the national security file on that issue for many years. It is ironic that an undemocratic state government can own Canadian resources, but it is wrong for Canadians to own their own resources.