Madam Speaker, it is of course a bit intimidating to rise just after my colleague from Hochelaga—Maisonneuve who is always so eloquent, funny and lively in his speeches. However, with all the humility that I am known for, I will try to vie in skill with him.
I think that on this file the Bloc Quebecois has once again acted as a catalyst for common sense. For months now the Bloc Quebecois has pushed for a return to a common law between Canada and the United States, this common law being free trade.
The softwood lumber industry is a vital industry for Quebec as a whole. More than 30 000 jobs in Quebec alone are related to the lumber industry.
In 1999, 20,430 people were employed in the sawmill industry and 10,000 in forestry management. The lumber industry injects more than $4 billion each year in Quebec's economy. It is therefore very important.
This important segment of Quebec's industry and economy has been adversely affected by federal government policies.
It is well known that Quebecers strongly support free trade in principle. For that matter, it is very interesting to see the Liberals joining a free trade position, and I am pleased to see that, while Quebec sovereignists supported it long before them. I remember that in 1993 the Liberals were campaigning against free trade, while we were strongly in favour of this politico-economic philosophy.
The Bloc Quebecois, which supports free trade as Quebec does, has seen the federal government set its interests aside to sign an agreement with the Americans. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Solicitor General boasted, saying that Canada stood up for the interests of Quebec and that, thanks to Canada, Quebec's interests were protected. In this case, we can see it is not true.
Quebec producers were subjected to a countervail tariff of 6.51% even if they were not subsidized. Is this what you call standing up for Quebec? Is this a government really concerned by Quebec's interests? I wonder on what planet the Parliamentary Secretary to the Solicitor General lives. The fact is that this government's action has been detrimental to the interests of Quebec. The subsidy rate for Quebec exporters was actually one-tenth of 1%. A countervailing tariff of 6.51% was imposed on the Quebec industry.
Non-subsidized exporters in Quebec bore the brunt of quotas, when in fact they should have been exempted, as was the case in the maritimes for instance. Many rallied to the position of the Bloc Quebecois, among others the Canadian Alliance, which is now supporting us, as does the federal government—and I am glad it finally did, because its position was not clear.
Members know as well as I do that the position of the Minister for International Trade was not clear. On February 22 and 23, there was talk about free trade being a long term goal for Canada and the need for a transition period.
On February 22 the Minister for International Trade said:
Now the matter is how we will live the transition toward free trade.
The 1996 lumber agreement is due to expire in a few days and only a month ago we did not even know what the federal government's position would be. Thanks to the work of the Bloc Quebecois and other organizations, the federal government finally listened and rallied to the common sense, deciding to come back to the common law which the free trade agreement between Canada and United States is.
For once, and this is rare, I cannot but congratulate the federal government for having listened and rallied to the Bloc's position, which is based on common sense, not only on the economic interests of Quebec but also on those of the rest of Canada, and for supporting the Bloc Quebecois motion. This motion will ensure that exporters from Quebec and Canada have access to the large U.S. market without any tariffs or other barriers.
