Madam Speaker, I listened to my hon. colleague lay out what happened to the people of Hamilton and the absolutely irresponsible excuses that the Minister of Industry brought forward at the time in response to this debacle. It sounds to me too similar to when we look at what happened to Sudbury. The largest nickel copper resource in the world was allowed to be basically vandalized under the minister's watch. He told the people of Sudbury, in the face of the shutdowns, the layoffs and the crippling strike, that we would look back and remember that Vale came to save Sudbury at the time when Inco was dying. It was not only factually incorrect, it was one of the most idiotic statements a Canadian minister could ever make because four years ago Inco was at the top of the base metal mining game. If we were to talk to anyone in the mining industry they would tell us that the merger between Inco and Falconbridge would have created synergies that were unprecedented. It was under the minister's watch and the government's watch that this industry was devastated.
I know no one will ever put innovation and Tory in the same sentence, all we need to do is think of the Avro Arrow, but I would ask my hon. colleague what the people in the steel industry are saying. The people from the mining sector are saying that what happened to Inco and Falconbridge under the present government's watch has crippled the base metal mining potential in this country to the point where it will never be back to the level that it was at, thanks to the government's debacle.