Mr. Speaker, for the past four months, a revitalization committee composed of a number of partners has been working on keeping the AbitibiBowater mill in Gatineau open. The president and CEO of AbitibiBowater told the parliamentary committee that the Gatineau plant would not reopen, which is not a very credible statement because he does not know the contents of the recovery plan, which he is funding in part.
Gaston Carrière, president of local 142 of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, and the plant workers believe the plant can be reopened. The Bloc Québécois supports their efforts and encourages them to continue with the feasibility study in order to reopen the Gatineau mill.
Clearly, had the Conservative government given the same support to the forestry industry as it did to the automotive and oil industries, it would not have come to this.
The Bloc Québécois supports the workers in Gatineau.