Mr. Speaker, if we consider the manufacturing sector, such as the auto sector, there have been many subsidies granted to that sector, for all of the right reasons, in deals which in the beginning resembled what they turned out to be in the end.
The issue in this debate today is not just about CETA, or this particular deal and what flows from the initial agreement with respect to all of these tariffs being reduced. It is wonderful that over 95% of the tariffs would be reduced because in the shrimp sector alone that could represent a big benefit. I do not know why the Conservatives keep asking why we are arguing against that because we are not. The issue, as has been pointed out time and again, is a deal that managed to meander its way to a point where it went from a positive to a negative. As an example, in all of the literature we have seen which stated that it was up to a certain amount of money, the initiatives announced within were always about things like marketing. All of these agreements that the Conservatives use throughout this country would illustrate just that. However, in this case, that is being referred to as a slush fund. I dare them to go to people in any other sector and ask why they are asking for a slush fund. They would not do that. The reason is because they were deals that in many cases were lived up to from the beginning. However, this one went south.
The question is this: Who said what and when? I would like the hon. member to address the issue as to why this deal changed from beginning to end, or perhaps he would like to tell the House that the deal never changed, even though everyone else is saying that it did.