Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise today on the motion of the Bloc Québécois regarding textile and clothing.
People working in these sectors do not know what tomorrow will bring. Closures are rampant and jobs are disappearing.
In the last several years, we have seen a shift toward low wage countries in the production of clothing and textile. This shift has increased with the elimination of the quota system.
In Quebec, for example, where most Canadian clothing and textile industries are located, clothing imports are on the rise and are increasingly coming from emerging and developing countries, particularly China, which captures alone more than 40% of Quebec imports.
The decline of textile and clothing industries will worsen if the current Liberal government does not act in the short and long term by taking rigorous measures.
Statistics show that clothing manufacturing lost a third of its manpower between 2002 and 2005, a loss of almost 20,000 jobs held mostly by female workers. In my region, Chaudière-Appalaches, this represents a loss of 52% of the manpower.
In addition, since the end of the Multifibre Arrangement, the losses have been mounting. People in this sector are very worried. Worry has become the daily lot of people in my riding, who feel more abandoned than ever by the Liberal Party.
Worst of all, the government's response—that is to say, the response of this party—reveals not only its inertia but a lack of humanity. They simply said that the problem was not as bad as all that and we should just try gradually to keep the system as it is.
Since the start of the year, 500 jobs have been lost in my riding of Mégantic—L'Érable. The vast majority of these jobs, as I said earlier, were filled by women, mothers of families, adolescent girls or mothers raising families on their own. But that does not disturb this government at all.
Plants in the RCMs of Granite, Amiante and Érable are closing, while the government remains arrogantly devoid of all humanity. The loss of 500 jobs is really something. I can name a few of the companies where these job losses occurred: Avanti in the Érable area; Canadel in the Lac-Mégantic area; Confection East Broughton; Confection Patry and Keystone. Those are all companies that closed or moved to Mexico. At the last Canadel plant in the Lac-Mégantic area, 185 people lost their jobs.
The government refuses to offer any solutions. The people in my riding have not given up. A little while ago, there was a petition to pressure the government to do something and get some results or solutions. In three weeks, more than 7,000 people signed our petition. This was an extremely important sign of solidarity to show that the government is an accomplice in this piece of our economy that is unfortunately going down. The workers in our region, in our riding, will just turn to other sectors or lose their jobs.
The plant closings in the textile industry are a trend that is not about to stop so long as the government does not take radical action.
There are solutions. The Bloc Québécois has some to propose to the government, but unfortunately it does not listen.
We already said that we need quota monitoring. China is obviously a major problem. Since the quotas were eliminated there has been a complete invasion. In fact, China accounts for almost 40% of our imports. Until we see an aggressive intervention in this regard, China will continue to invade our market.
Under WTO rules, countries can restore quotas for periods of 3 to 5 years. That could reduce imports by about 7%. That would be an extremely important measure that we should take and it is among the solutions put forth by the Bloc.
There is also another practice that should be stopped and it is the importation of foreign-made clothes without any customs duties. We must act against the invasion of foreign products. The U.S. did it. The EU is doing it for linen. Each country is reacting at one time or another to put a stop to the invasion of its market.
At the end of my intervention, I would like to move an amendment.
I move, seconded by the hon. member for Montcalm and with the support of the hon. member for Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, the following amendment:
That the motion be amended by deleting all the words after the word “particularly” and substituting the following:
“by allowing clothing made with Canadian textiles but manufactured abroad to be imported without customs duties and by creating an income support program for older workers.”
