Mr. Speaker, the hon. member very clearly indicated the wording of the Investment Canada Act. However, when he was talking about the wording, he was not talking about the effects. Here is how the Investment Canada Act has worked in my community.
About a year and a half ago, Xstrata laid off 686 workers seven months before the three-year agreement expired. Xstrata is closing down the copper refinery in Timmins. Vale Inco has laid off over 400 workers. They have been on strike for 10 months. That is now affecting the mining supply and services sector, meaning that 17,000 employees in Sudbury have gone from 40 hours a week to about 21 hours a week. Hopefully, some of them are still working. This is also affecting jobs in the retail sector.
Therefore, we are trying to find out what the net benefit is. What is the net benefit to Timmins, Voisey's Bay and Port Colborne? What is the net benefit to Sudbury, and what is the net benefit to Canada when we continue to lose jobs and to export these jobs to China and other third world countries when all along we see people pointing fingers at other governments or not taking responsibility? What is the net benefit of this Investment Canada Act for the people in northern Ontario?