Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Industry can hide behind statistics all he wants, but the sad reality is harder to hide.
In 10 years, under the Liberal and Conservative governments, Canada has lost nearly 600,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector. Six hundred thousand jobs means that 600,000 families have been affected by unemployment, hundreds of communities are getting poorer and municipalities are facing budget challenges.
What is the government waiting for? Does it want to see the entire manufacturing sector disappear before it takes action?