Mr. Chair, I was not sure it would be my turn at this point, but I am pleased to rise to speak.
Once again, we are having this take-note debate. This must be the third time we have had such a debate in the evening since I became a member of Parliament. However, I am sure there have been many more for a crisis that has been going on for 40 years. Unfortunately, this crisis is so recurrent and repetitive that it has become a bit like background noise. It is as though it no longer elicits a reaction, and the government simply shrugs its shoulders, which is unfortunate. It is extremely unfortunate, because people and families are affected. There are regions that are affected. Then there are the consumers who are affected. There are folks who will suffer as a result.
I often give talks at high schools in my riding. I often use forestry as an example. People ask me what influence the federal government has. They often feel that municipal government has more influence in their life. When the garbage truck does not show up, they call their city councillor and the problem is solved the following week. I often use the example of lumber to show that the federal government does have a role to play. Lumber tariffs seem distant, foreign and very remote, but in fact, they have repercussions here. They make lumber more expensive and unaffordable, forcing companies to lay off workers here at home. It means someone coming home before Christmas and telling his family that he no longer has a job, that he will not be able to buy them gifts and that he is going to have a hard time making ends meet at the end of the month.
This has been going on for 40 years. I have been a member of Parliament since 2019, and I have seen a lot of missed opportunities in my time. I remember our first debates on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. We examined the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA, which was meant to replace NAFTA. The dispute settlement mechanism issue was left unresolved. The Americans know they are going to lose the legal proceedings. They know it full well. They know they are going to fail. They are playing the long game. Their strategy is to force us into bankruptcy, to block us by slowing our competitiveness and preventing us from modernizing as we should while they make gains on their side. They are biding their time. That is why we need cut-off dates for legal proceedings under CUSMA.
The Trump administration brought back the tariffs, but I remember a take-note debate we had back when the Biden administration increased them in 2021. Several colleagues were there at the time; some are still here. We wore masks back then, but it was the same colleagues. Despite these new tariffs, there was no mention of the issue in the Minister of International Trade's mandate letter, published a few weeks later. That just shows how lightly the issue was taken.
We saw the minister rush off to Washington to talk exclusively about the auto industry because there was a plan by the Biden administration that would harm our domestic industry. Softwood lumber was not on the agenda. When other tariffs were announced later, I remember being invited to the World Trade Organization summit. I did not go, but I was invited by the international trade minister. Softwood lumber was not on the list of topics she wanted to discuss either.
The result, as we can see today, is that we have assistance programs that are woefully inadequate. This is part of a general philosophy of complete indifference, as evidenced by the constant delays.
I remember asking the Minister of Industry some questions a few weeks ago in the House. She told me that she knew that the forestry industry was important in my riding. There is no forestry industry in my riding. My riding is an hour away from hers. There is no forestry industry in Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton. It is an hour away from hers. I asked those questions in my capacity as my party's trade critic.
I am being told that my time is up. There are so many other things I wanted to talk about this evening, but there are still questions and comments.
At some point, the government has to recognize the problem and take it seriously. That is what matters.