Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Hamilton Centre.
I am proud of the New Democratic Party motion being debated today in the House of Commons.
The text of the motion calls for improvements by:
(a) making public hearings a mandatory part of foreign investment review; (b) ensuring those hearings are open to all directly affected and expert witnesses they choose to call on their behalf; (c) ensuring all conditions attached to approval of a takeover be made public and be accompanied by equally transparent commitments to monitoring corporate performance on those conditions and appropriate and enforceable penalties for failure to live up to those conditions; (d) clarifying that a goal of the Act is to encourage foreign investment that brings new capital, creates new jobs, transfers new technology to this country, increases Canadian-based research and development, contributes to sustainable economic development and improves the lives of Canadian workers and their communities, and not foreign investment motivated simply by a desire to gain control of a strategic Canadian resource; and that the House express its opposition to the takeover of Potash Corporation by BHP.
I do not see how the government can vote against this motion unless it has something to hide.
While I was listening to the members from Saskatchewan, 1 of the 13 Conservative members from Saskatchewan said they all play a big role and that they talk to people in Saskatchewan, to the government, to the caucus and to the party caucus in Saskatchewan.
I wonder if the threat by the premier of Saskatchewan to take the federal government court played a part in the government's decision yesterday. When the premier of Saskatchewan and his party said that if the government did not give Saskatchewan what belongs to them, which is the potash of Saskatchewan, then they would take the federal government to court, I wonder if that figured into the federal government's decision.
Knowing that there will probably be an election at the beginning of 2011, the government had to wonder what would happen to the 13 Conservative members of Parliament from Saskatchewan if it did not change its decision. Is that what made the government change its decision?
When we talk about foreign companies coming to Canada, we say that we welcome them but, as motion reads, it needs to be good for Canada.
Yesterday, the Minister of Industry said that he looked at this issue and found that it was not good for Canadians, so the government would stop the sale for 30 days. He would not tell us why under the law.
Today we hear that the 13 Conservative members worked so hard that they were the ones who stopped the sale. That is what the government has been telling us all day. It did not tell us that the sale was stopped because it was not a benefit to Canadians.It said that it was stopped because of the 13 Conservative members working so hard because they did not want to lose in an election. Talk about politics, the government is making this political.
We have experience with foreign companies. In 1914, a paper company was built in Bathurst, New Brunswick. In 1989, Stone, a company from the United States, bought it. In 1989, Smurfit, another company from the United States joined with Stone and became Smurfit-Stone.
What did that company give to the people of Canada? What did it give to the people of Bathurst and New Richmond?
Well, not long after that, in 2007, the company decided to close down and go back home to the United States. One of the conditions to buy the pulp and paper mill in Bathurst was that the company could not be in competition with the United States. How can a pulp mill be sold without being competition to a company with a pulp mill?
Today in Bathurst, it is sad to see this mill going down every day. The whole building is being torn down, a building that was built in 1914 and a mill that gave good jobs to the people in Bathurst, New Brunswick. It also gave good jobs to people in New Richmond and in Quebec but they also lost their jobs.
What happened to Bowater when it bought Abitibi in Dalhousie? Abitibi bought it and then Bowater came in and in 2007-08 it decided to close it down. Where is the mill today? The mill is being torn down in the same way the mill in Bathurst, New Brunswick is being torn down.
The only thing foreign companies have done is to walk away from us and people have lost their job. What about Vale Inco, the company from Brazil? The government did not stop that company from coming in. Nothing stopped it from coming in. First, it supposedly had a guarantee for Canadians. Was the only problem in Sudbury the fact that it did not have 13 members from the Conservative Party? Is that the only problem it had in Sudbury? This company came in and it put people on strike and out of work for 10 months. The company took away part of their pension plans and their bonuses and put the workers on the streets.
At the same time, in Voisey's Bay, Newfoundland, the workers are still on strike. That is what foreign companies have done. On top of that, company told the workers they should learn about the type of living in Brazil.
How many times were questions put to the Minister of Industry and he kept defending the company? At the same time, the government was ready to give the company a $1.2 billion loan, a company that put Canadian workers out on the street.
This motion is calling on the government to be open and transparent, which is why the government was elected in 2006. It said that it would be more open and transparent, that it would talk and share decisions with Canadians and that it would not hide.
This motion is all about sharing with the House of Commons and sharing with Canadians. So far we have not seen too many companies that have helped Canadians once they took over a company. They just exploit everything that we have and, once it is time for them to go, they just go.
That is what happened in the forestry industry. I am happy with what the NDP did. After we put pressure on the government, it finally saw the light or was forced to see the light as a result of a threat from the premier of Saskatchewan that it would take the government to court if that company went into Saskatchewan. The government must have felt the threat pretty strongly when it knew that 13 Conservative members of Parliament in Saskatchewan did not stopping the deal. That is what stopped the deal.
However, it should go further than that. That is not what should stop a deal. What should stop a deal is truth and transparency being given to Canadians and a decision being taken on behalf of Canadians. That is what needs to be done.
The Conservatives are telling us that they are a responsible government and they feel the opposition parties are playing politics. If somebody is playing politics, it is the Conservatives. If they are not playing politics and if they believe in transparency, on November 16 when we vote on this motion they should stand and support it.
Outside of that, they have something to hide and that will be sad because we have lost too many companies in our country. We have lost too many jobs and for the people who are working their wages are going down. Too much of that has happened because of foreign companies coming here. We are a country with sovereignty and we could run our own businesses when we look at our natural resources. Very soon we will not own this country anymore because the Conservatives and the Liberals will have given it away to other countries around the world.
I ask this House to support this good motion because it is a good one. The motion did not come just yesterday. In 1985 a motion like this was brought to the House by the hon. Ed Broadbent and the Liberals and Conservatives never supported it. I will be surprised on November 16 if they are here to defend—