Debates of Oct. 19th, 2017

International Trade

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to salute my colleague.

We have been very clear: we will always defend supply management. We said so in French and we said so in English. The 40 Liberal MPs on this side of the House are working for farmers across the country. I can assure my colleague that we will always be there to defend supply management. We have always worked for farmers. People know that on this side of the House we do not just ask questions, we take action for our farmers.

Presence in Gallery

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I would like to draw to the attention of hon. members the presence in the gallery of the recipients of the 2017 Governor General's Awards in Commemoration of the Persons Case: Betsy Bury; Elizabeth Sheehy; Micheline Dumont; Linda Slanina; Melissa Sariffodeen; and Dr. Ramona Lumpkin.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

Business of the House

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I have the usual Thursday question, and I will keep it short today. I will just ask the government House leader if she could please tell us what the government has planned for the rest of this week and for next week.

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism]

Mr. Speaker, this afternoon, we will continue the debate we began this morning on the Conservative Party's opposition motion.

Tomorrow, we will begin debate at report stage of Bill C-46 on impaired driving.

Next Monday shall be an allotted day. For the remainder of next week, we will resume debate on Bill C-46 and also commence debate at report stage of Bill C-49, transportation modernization.

The House resumed consideration of the motion.

Opposition Motion—Support for Forestry Workers

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Peace River—Westlock has four minutes remaining in his speech.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Mr. Speaker, as I was saying earlier about softwood lumber in my riding, we have a very diverse economy in northern Alberta. It is supported by three flags: the oil sector, the forestry sector, and the farming sector.

What a lot of people think, when they hear that, is that so-and-so works in the oil sector, so-and-so works in the forestry sector, and so-and-so works in agriculture. When we look at it from Ottawa, that is what it looks like, but when we get on the ground, it is often much more the case that it is a mixture of all three. For example, one of my constituents works as a local farmer. His family owns a dairy farm. However, I know that he also works as an auto mechanic on the farm as well. He takes some customers from off the farm and works on their trucks, for example. He also services eight or nine gas wells right around his home. That is an interaction between the farming community and the oil and gas industry.

I know many farmers who are good at running equipment. They have grown up driving tractors, running the combine, digging drainage ditches with the high hoe, and clearing land with the Caterpillar, and those skills they learned on the farm are then translated into jobs in the oil patch. Often many of those people will be building roads in the oil patch. They continue to farm during the summer. During the winter, they go off and take an oil patch job.

Others take on a job with the forestry industry. Many farms in northern Alberta will have a logging truck parked on the farm somewhere. People will subsidize their farm with some logging income. Many of them already own a big truck to haul grain, and they learn those skills that can be translated into a job in a logging operation. All of these things come together.

Others will be in the service industry. I talked earlier about my friend Mark from Whitecourt. He works predominantly in the forestry sector. However, I know many people, including another friend of mine named Yelte. Many of the trucks he works on will be related to the oil patch, many will be for the farming community, and many will be for the logging operations that happen.

All of these together make up the vibrancy of northern Alberta, the vibrancy of the northern economy. The products that are produced in one sector are often used in another sector.

One of the things we were talking about was the very fact that some of the pulp and paper by-products are then used in the oil patch. For example, the Alberta Newsprint Company produces hundreds of thousands of litres of water through their processes. They can sell that water, and it gets used in the oil patch. It is all an intermixing.

If a log comes into Whitecourt on a logging truck, 99% of that log will be used, but it may be used by up to three or four, or maybe 10, different companies that get their hands on it before it is shipped out in the various products that get shipped out of Whitecourt.

Softwood lumber is integral to our rural communities. It is integral to life in northern Alberta. I ask for government support on this motion.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend for his speech and for articulating the importance of the forestry sector. Certainly I know that, and the people in Courtenay—Alberni know that.

The Alberni Valley once had the highest median income in Canada. Fort McMurray had the oil patch for producing great wealth for Canada. What we have seen, though, in the last 10 years, is a tenfold increase in raw-log exports. That has been under the previous Harper Conservative government, the B.C. Liberal government, and now the federal Liberal government.

My concern is that senior levels of government have downloaded to provincial governments and have washed their hands of responsibility. Most of the forestry is taking place on private land, and it is federally regulated. It needs to be a priority for the federal government, and we have not seen any action on it.

We have seen mill closures in our communities. Right now, Port Alberni does not have the highest median income in Canada; it has the highest poverty rate in British Columbia. Even people working in the forestry sector who have those few jobs in raw logs, almost the only jobs left in our community, are saying that this is not right.

We need action on investment in our technology so that we can process our fibre, and we need to stop raw-log exports at the speed it is going right now in our communities.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I would also point out to the government that while we wait for a softwood lumber agreement, we are essentially pitting one region of this country against another in terms of the tariffs that have been imposed on individual regions. In some parts of the country, it is as little as 3% in tariffs, but in other parts of the country we are looking at 24% to almost 25% in tariffs. That is extremely detrimental. I know that the folks up in northern Alberta definitely do not feel that the government has their backs when it comes to softwood lumber. They are looking forward to a response and an agreement soon.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House know how important and vital the lumber industry is to communities and workers across this country and that support is needed. The member mentioned that in his speech.

The government has invested $150 million over four years to support clean tech, and it has also invested $867 million for a softwood lumber action plan. This, together with our 2017 budget, is an unprecedented level of investment in forestry.

Would the hon. member not commend the government for making these investments and recognize that this is a priority for us?

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Mr. Speaker, what the people in my riding continually address is that they do not want subsidies. What they want is a fair playing field so they can compete in the international market. That is what they are looking for.

They feel penalized by the Americans with these high tariffs, and they want to ensure that the government has their backs. They do not want the government to pat them on the back and give them a handout. They want it to go out into the international community to defend our products and allow us to fight for our space in the marketplace.

[Denis Lemieux, Liberal, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to let you know that I will be sharing my time with the member for Surrey Centre.

I would also like to thank the member for Richmond—Arthabaska for moving today's motion, which is timely and important, especially for my province's forestry industry in light of the impact that the softwood lumber dispute with the United States continues to have and the many ways in which our government is helping the industry transform at the dawn of the clean growth century.

Quebec's forests have helped define our province and its people for quite some time now, and with good reason. Two-thirds of our province's territory is forested, and thanks to prudent management and the natural diversity of our forests, the Quebec forestry sector has carved out an important place in our social, economic, and cultural traditions. Surprisingly, despite these deep roots, it was not until the 1820s that a provincial forestry management regime was created with the collection of royalties on softwood lumber harvested on crown lands. At the beginning of the 20th century, our forestry sector changed course somewhat with the development of pulp and paper.

Its spinoffs extend to every corner of the province today. This industry employs approximately 65,000 Quebeckers and exports nearly $10 billion in forestry products every year. From softwood lumber to cardboard and veneer, as well as pulp and paper, the forestry sector is the main employer in many Quebec municipalities. Softwood lumber is essential to this sector. In Quebec, about one in six forestry workers is employed by the softwood lumber industry, which generates nearly a quarter of all Canadian softwood lumber exports, which nearly all go the American market.

That is why the imposition of anti-dumping and countervailing duties, which total an average of 26.75%, is a serious threat to our province's softwood lumber industry. That is why our government is doing everything in its power to resolve this issue and negotiate a deal that is fair for all.

We will vigorously defend Canada's softwood lumber industry against these unfair duties, including through litigation, and we expect to prevail as we have in the past. At the same time, we continue to support Canada's softwood lumber sector by introducing an $867-million action plan to strengthen the industry, support its workers, and diversify the uses and markets for Canadian wood and wood products.

This action plan includes loans, loan guarantees, and other financial services for the industry under the Business Development Bank of Canada and Export Development Canada; access to the work-sharing program to help employers and employees protect existing jobs; funding to provinces to help affected workers; new funding for the indigenous forestry initiative to support indigenous participation in economic development activities; extending the investments in forestry industry transformation program and the forest innovation program to support the development of next-generation Canadian wood products; and access to the expanding market opportunities program, which increases market opportunities for Canadian wood and expands wood use in construction.

We firmly believe in the Canadian forestry industry's abilities. We are determined to help the industry and its workers meet the challenges they are facing and come out stronger than ever. Our confidence in the industry comes from its ability to innovate and adapt to the clean growth economy. As the Minister of Natural Resources mentioned, there can be no global solution to climate change without the forestry sector. Why? The reason is that it is the only resource sector that takes carbon out of the air. Canadian forests are the lungs of the planet. That is why we are making strategic investments in this industry, including in several initiatives in Quebec that are the first of their kind in North America and the world.

For example, through the investments in forest industry transformation program, we have already made significant investments three Quebec projects that help support a side of the forestry industry that is perhaps less well known and that achieves some rather unexpected results. In Thurso, we invested $9 million in the Fortress Speciality Cellulose mill to support the creation of the first mill in North America that uses birch to manufacture dissolving pulp, a substance that is used in a wide variety of applications, such as automotive components, clothing, and even medical equipment.

This investment will save over 300 jobs, reduce energy and production costs, and is just one more example of how economic prosperity and environmental protection go hand in hand.

Similarly, in the Masson-Angers sector, we invested $10 million to help S.E.C Papier Masson WB implement a new technology for producing a wood fibre for the production of wood-plastic composites, the first project of its kind in North America.

These wood-plastic composites will replace non-renewable polymers and will have a wide range of applications, such as the inside panels of car doors.

With these investments, the plant will be able to maintain over 110 local jobs and create new ones, while reducing its energy consumption by 15%.

The third investment is in a company called Bioénergie AE Côte-Nord Canada in Port-Cartier, where our $44.5-million contribution will help with the construction of a commercial facility, the first of its kind in the world, that uses a technology specifically designed to convert forestry waste into a sort of renewable fuel.

This fuel will be a greener alternative to fossil fuels, and could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90% compared to conventional fuel sources. It will have many different applications, including heating and transport.

With our government's support, forestry companies like the three I just mentioned invest in research, develop new products, and find new marketing opportunities. The Origine project in the Pointe-aux-Lièvres eco-district in Quebec City opened just last month thanks to a $1.2 million investment from our government. It is the highest residential condominium tower made of solid wood in North America. This 12-storey structure built on a one-storey high concrete footing is mostly made of cross-laminated timber panels, a technology that pushes the technical limits of wood construction and takes wood to new heights. By the way, all the wood used in this project stores 2,065 tonnes of carbon.

That is our vision for the forestry sector of tomorrow, a vision in which forestry is a high value-added, high-tech sector, a leader in innovation, and a key player in the fight against climate change.

Unfortunately, the motion before us makes no mention of these kinds of initiatives. Instead, it is all about finger pointing and, in my view, all comes down to petty politics.

I will vote against the motion because we have much more important things to do. We want to support an industry that, through innovation and clean technology, and given the worldwide trend and the urgent need around the globe for everything having to do with wood, will help Canada pave the way for the low-carbon economy of tomorrow.

I am proud to say that Quebec is front and centre in these efforts.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his comments.

I am glad he mentioned just how much has been invested in innovation, and I would add that these kinds of investments did not just happen over the past two years. For 10 straight years, the Conservative Party invested in Quebec's forestry industry. We are the reason that these projects are now coming to fruition and playing a major part in innovation throughout the regions of Quebec.

My colleague stated that this motion is not important and that we are wasting our time. There is a byelection this coming Monday. Is he trying to tell people in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean that forestry is not important for their region?

[Denis Lemieux, Liberal, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. Obviously, the forestry sector is important for my riding. It is written in my DNA.

I remind my colleague that I am a mechanical engineer who dedicated 25 years of his life to the development of the forestry sector. About 7 or 8 years ago, I submitted an investment proposal of around $20 million in solid biofuels to the minister responsible for my region at the time.

What feedback did I get? No one returned my calls. I will not take any advice from the party opposite on this matter.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Madam Speaker, as I mentioned earlier in the House, my community has seen raw log exports go up tenfold in 10 years. Under the previous Conservative government and now under the Liberal government, we have the highest poverty rate in British Columbia. We used to have the highest median income in Canada. We used to outpace how Fort McMurray is doing today. We were thriving, but we processed our wood in Canada, instead of putting our wood on ships and sending it out of the country. We have seen mills close and the current government doing very little to protect those jobs. It is federal jurisdiction, because most of the forestry is happening on private lands.

As I said earlier, even people working in those forestry jobs exporting raw logs do not want our wood getting shipped out without it being cut. I want to hear from the member what he will do to stop the shipment of wood out of our country and to create jobs here in Canada now. People cannot wait. A third of the kids live in poverty in my community right now, and it is because of the economy and the fact we are shipping our fibre out of our communities.

[Denis Lemieux, Liberal, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for giving me an opportunity to explain what I do on the ground to help my region, Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean.

This week, I met with Unifor representatives to discuss the imminent reopening of the waferboard plant in Chambord. Members know that I always speak positively about the forestry sector because I have 25 years of experience in that area, as opposed to some of my colleagues opposite who are always talking it down whenever they speak in public.

This kind of attitude is making it increasingly difficult to encourage our young people to become involved in forestry and receive training in that field. My daughter and her spouse, who are both civil engineers with forestry training, wonder if they will have to leave the region and find work abroad because they are afraid of not being able to hold on to their jobs.

Eventually, my colleagues will have to realize that their negativity has an impact on the future of the forestry sector in Quebec and Canada.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his last comment in particular about always being positive about forestry and softwood lumber and to engage our youth in this area, because it is so important.

In terms of the investments we have made, we know that our government has invested $860 million in the softwood lumber action plan and that this industry is responsible for over 200,000 jobs. How have our investments created jobs for the middle class?

[Denis Lemieux, Liberal, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague. In addition to the investments we are making and the enthusiasm we are creating, there is one man in my region, mayor Gilles Potvin, who encourages economic development and supports my positive message. He launched the “We Are the Forest” campaign throughout Lac-Saint-Jean to show that, contrary to what we keep hearing from the parties opposite, Quebec's forestry industry has a very bright future.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Madam Speaker, it is impossible to overstate the importance of the softwood lumber industry to our country, the Canadian economy, and the many communities that depend upon it. There are more than 600 softwood lumber mills in Canada. Many of them are in remote or indigenous areas and communities, including in my riding of Surrey Centre. In fact, I am told that my riding has among the most softwood lumber employees in the country. A lot of these mills are family-owned, and some of them are particularly small and vulnerable operations. Together, these mills are a major employer, providing jobs for some 38,000 Canadians, along with another 32,000 jobs for those working in the forestry and logging operations at the core of timber supply. The result is that last year, Canada's softwood lumber industry generated more than $10 billion in exports, more than three quarters of which were sold south of the border.

When my father Mohan Singh Sarai arrived here to make Canada his home so many years ago, he arrived in British Columbia, which was home to a thriving and vibrant forestry sector. My father found well-paying employment in several lumber mills, from Boston Bar to New Westminster. Later on, my brothers Par, Raj, and Paul; many cousins; and several uncles all found work in sawmills. In fact, I even married the daughter of a sawmill worker from Fort St. James. My family story is not unique. It is the story of tens of thousands of families who make their home in British Columbia and in many regions across Canada.

The member opposite is right to be concerned that the U.S. Department of Commerce, decided earlier this year to impose anti-dumping tariffs and countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber, totalling an average of 26.75%. For the hardest hit, those tariffs and duties climbed almost 31%. That is simply unsustainable.

The countervailing duties, which average just a fraction under 20%, expired at the end of August. The U.S. has indicated that it will render its final decision on them by mid-November. That is why our government plans to continue fighting vigorously for the softwood lumber industry and those whose livelihoods depend on it, including through litigation, if need be. This is the fifth time that Canada has had to defend its softwood lumber industry against U.S. claims in the last 35 years. Independent trade panels have repeatedly found U.S. claims to be baseless. We have prevailed in the past, and we will do so again.

Unfortunately, the motion before us, however well intended, is flawed in two key ways with respect to softwood lumber. First, it accuses our government of failing to negotiate a new deal on softwood lumber with the United States. If the member for Richmond—Arthabaska is suggesting with his motion that we should just accept any terms with the United States for the sake of a negotiated settlement, then he is simply wrong.

We do not want just any deal for Canada's softwood lumber; we want the right deal. We want a durable and equitable solution that is fair to softwood producers, downstream industries, and consumers on both sides of the border, nothing more, nothing less. We continue to work toward that end, which is why the motion before us is also flawed in suggesting that the softwood lumber file is not a priority of our government.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of International Trade speak regularly with their American counterparts in an effort to solve this impasse on softwood lumber. In the meantime, we continue to demonstrate our commitment to Canada's softwood lumber industry in the most powerful way possible, by stepping up to the plate for its workers and their vulnerable communities with an $860 million softwood lumber action plan.

I would like to highlight some of these measures. Under our plan, the Business Development Bank of Canada and Export Development Canada have made a combined $605 million in financial products and services available on commercial terms to help viable companies make capital investments and diversify into new markets. There is also more than $160 million to help the Canadian forest industry expand both its product lines and market opportunities.

As well, we continue to work with the provinces to ensure that affected workers have the support and adjustment services they need and deserve. This includes almost $90 million in new funding to extend work-sharing opportunities to help companies retain their employees and assist affected workers who are upgrading their skills for jobs in other fields. Finally, there is $10 million for the indigenous forestry initiative to help indigenous communities pursue economic opportunities in the forest sector. This is real action. It is meaningful support and reflects the priorities we have placed on an industry that has helped to shape our country and define our people.

This motion fails to recognize any of that, but I am pleased to note that Canada's softwood lumber producers, their workers and communities, are appreciative of our efforts. Look at some of the media coverage our action plan has earned, headlines such as, “Forestry Industry Embraces Canada's Nearly $870M in Softwood Aid”, or comments such as this one from New Brunswick's softwood lumber association, “We appreciate the federal government's focus on this issue.” The British Columbia Lumber Trade Council has said that everything we can do to expand markets for our products around the globe helps us decrease our reliance on the U.S. market. We agree.

That is why the Minister of International Trade was in China in the spring to promote the use of Canadian wood in home construction while his parliamentary secretary travelled to Vietnam, Singapore, and Brunei to pursue new export opportunities for Canada's forestry sector. That is why the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development has been in the U.K. and mainland Europe to sell Canadian wood and wood products and why the Minister of Foreign Affairs followed up on those efforts with her own trip to Europe. That is why the Minister of Natural Resources recently renewed a memorandum of understanding with China to use Canadian wood in sustainable eco cities.

Our efforts and industry's resilience have us headed in the right direction. Together we are going to ensure that Canada's softwood lumber industry emerges stronger on the other side of this. In fact, it is already happening. As the Minister of Natural Resources has previously indicated, the uptake of our softwood lumber action plan has been limited to date as Canadian producers continue to find ways to overcome this unwarranted trade action by our neighbour. It also helps that softwood lumber prices are currently well above their 52-week highs.

It does not mean we can let our guard down. There have been some mill closures and job losses. Even one job is one too many, so we will continue to work closely with the industry, provinces, and communities. We believe that the long-term future of Canada's forest sector is bright, built on some of the world's leading sustainable forestry practices, ongoing technological advancements, and a global urgency for wood and wood products that can help lead in the fight against climate change. Today's motion is remarkably silent on many of these fronts, and I will not be supporting it.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Madam Speaker, I wish I could share my colleague's optimism about his government's support for the softwood lumber industry. Does he really believe that his government is making the softwood lumber industry a priority when it was not even mentioned in the ministers' mandate letters? How can he really believe it is important to the government when it is not even mentioned in those letters?

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Madam Speaker, I am very confident. Our Prime Minister spoke several times with the previous president of the United States, with the current president of the United States, and trade commissioners. I just met with the premier of British Columbia, the newly minted one and the previous premier, and both have been very satisfied with the federal government's efforts in this matter. I have met with COFI, the Council of Forestry Industries, in British Columbia. It is very pleased with the way our government has taken a stand and upheld its interest. I have spoken to owners of sawmills in my riding and a number of them have been very happy with the direction we are going and the support the government has offered to them, their industry, and their workers.

I am very confident that our government is doing an excellent job and I completely disagree with my colleague's comments that the government is not taking this seriously.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Madam Speaker, in my community in the Alberni Valley, we have seen raw log exports go up tenfold in 10 years. We now have the highest poverty rate in British Columbia. This is after 10 years of a Harper government. Now the current Liberal government says it has a plan of real action. This is what real action looks like right now: jobs leaving forestry communities. If we want to support this motion, which is support for forestry workers, that is creating jobs in forestry communities; that means stopping raw log exports and investing in research and development, marketing, and retooling in that sector and obviously coming up with a softwood lumber agreement, which is urgently needed.

I want to hear from my colleague and friend across the way. What does it take to create a sense of urgency when we had a community like the Alberni Valley and Port Alberni that had the highest median income in this country in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, sending buckets of money to Ottawa, and right now the communities are being left with nothing? There is no help, jobs are leaving our communities, mills are closing, and one-third of the children are living in poverty. What is it going to take to get real action?

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Madam Speaker, my colleague from British Columbia is right. Port Alberni has been a booming town and a valley where the forestry sector was very strong. It was very diversified. It has struggled, and we need to do more to help that industry grow. I know a lot of pulp and paper mills have also closed, and it is a place that is struggling to merge with the new emerging markets, but a lot can be done. I am confident that our government is committed to working with the forestry sector in that market and to ensuring that job growth is there, so that we get the most for the industry, that it is sustainable, that it grows, that it prospers, and that his area as well will prosper once again.

The softwood lumber industry has been a tough sector, and the previous Harper government neglected that. It is time to take action on it, I agree, and we will be lobbying as much as possible to make sure it is a healthy sector in the member's region.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Madam Speaker, the motion talks about the damage Greenpeace is doing to the forestry industry. We have a mayor in Saint-Félicien in Quebec, in the Saguenay Valley, who says that Greenpeace wants their total death. I wonder what the member can tell us the government is going to do to stand up to Greenpeace to end the lies from Greenpeace and end the attack on Canadian jobs in the Canadian forest industry.