Madam Speaker, first of all, I welcome this opportunity to mention that our new Minister of Labour has done an outstanding job regarding this strike.
It is not often that a new minister finds herself or himself with such a heavy agenda so soon after being made a member of the government. The fact that our Minister of Labour has acted so quickly and effectively in dealing with this strike is a great tribute to her.
I have a problem with the Bloquistes opposing this bill. I find it quite strange that, last week, when we legislated the resumption of work on the west coast, they did not seem to be very interested.
I also noticed that the hon. member for Longueuil dissociated himself from his party. He said his phone had been ringing off the hook with nothing but calls of support and that he even received calls from staunch sovereignists and mayors who wanted to congratulate him. Clearly, this is clearly how the people of Quebec feel because the economic impact the strike is having on Canada and Quebec is extremely serious.
I wonder why the members of this political party, who claim that definitely the only thing they were prepared to agree to as a party was sovereignty for Quebec, all of them but one agree with this strike action. Clearly, they are now sending to the people of Quebec the signal that a sovereign Quebec would be run by the unions. They do not care what the ordinary people of Quebec think.
The effects in Quebec and the effects across Canada of this strike have to be dealt with. There is an old African saying that when the elephants fight the grass gets hurt.
It is just fine for these people to come in and talk about the sanctity of labour relations. We think that is important too. In fact nothing would have been more desirable for the government than to see the parties to this dispute find their own resolution of it. That is why we waited; it was in order to see that the best possible efforts could be made.
In the face of a national rail strike, the Bloquistes know that governments in the past have always been obliged to act. The effect on the economy is such that we simply must act in the interests of all Canadians whose jobs and livelihoods depend directly and indirectly on the rails. Listen to the impact.
One of the main industries being affected is the aluminium industry.
The aluminum industry is the most important industry for the economy of Quebec, particularly for its rural areas, and it depends on rail transport.
Thirty thousand people are employed in that sector. It produces $8 billion annually in shipments. Two-thirds of all outbound shipments of aluminium are shipped by rail. Over three-quarters of the industry's inbound shipments, such as the chemicals that are used in the industry, are transported by rail, 90 per cent of the shipment by rail and $4.5 billion annually comprising exports to the United States. Alcan and Reynolds are now operating at only 70 per cent of capacity. Their plants are in the province of Quebec.
In the automotive sector, earlier this week Ford had to lay off 3,500 workers at Oakville; 2,500 at St. Thomas; and 400 at Windsor due to the strike. Most of them are back now but operating at half capacity. All the auto manufacturers are experiencing difficulty moving finished vehicles. Trucks are used to bring in most inbound shipments, 85 per cent, although rail is used for some essential bulk inputs such as body metal and plastics. This industry itself accounts for over $50 billion annually in output and employs about 150,000 people.
The chemicals industry, especially commodity chemicals, is a major user of the rail system. Seventy per cent of outbound shipments, about $15 billion annually, is sent by rail from Alberta to Ontario and British Columbia, from plants in Ontario and Quebec to the United States, to maritime ports for shipment overseas. Chemical shipments amount to about $20 billion annually. The industry employs 80,000 Canadians.
The fertilizer industry, potash and chemical fertilizers, is a major rail user. Two-thirds of the fertilizer shipments, about $1.25 billion annually, travel by rail. The industry is located mainly in Alberta and Saskatchewan with 6,000 people employed and shipments worth $2 billion annually.
The pulp and paper industry, another very important industry for Quebec, also depends on rail transport.
Along with aluminium it is probably the most vulnerable to disruption of rail service. It employs 100,000 Canadians in all parts of the country. Shipments are worth over $20 billion a year.
The effect of a prolonged rail strike on this industry is crucial. There is one very simple thing we have to understand. I have other statistics. I could keep reading them but it is important to
conclude on this thought. We have built a very prosperous country. Our prosperity has come to a very great extent from the ability we have to extract natural resources, whether from the forests, whether agricultural, whether from the mines or in the past from the sea, and selling them to the world as price makers.
That is no longer so easy for us. Competition on resource prices is extreme. The difficulty we have in getting our goods to market contributes directly to our competitiveness not just in the manufacturing sector but in the natural resource sector.
In the past it was easy for us to collect the rents from our natural resources. The world was willing to pay the prices we wanted and pay for the transportation costs built in. We built a railway in times when transportation costs were not a big factor in the price we could charge for the goods we sold. That world has changed. We are in a world of extreme competitiveness.
The Bloc should understand how important it is to our overall economy that we be competitive not just in the manufacturing sector but also in the transportation sector, and in a real way.
That is the issue we are going to have to deal with over the weeks and months to come in the resolution of this labour disruption. The competitiveness of our transportation system is a crucial element in the competitiveness of both our natural resource and our manufacturing sectors in the world at large.
In container traffic to eastern Canada bound from the Pacific we are only attracting 40 per cent of that traffic on the Canadian rail system. Sixty per cent is using the U.S. rail system. That is a competitiveness factor. We have to understand that other countries get their natural resources to ocean bound vessels with less distance involved than we face. The competitiveness of our transportation sector is crucial.
Time has come for Canadians to deal with the issue of competitiveness in our transportation industry. It has been dealt with in our manufacturing sector. People in Quebec, in Ontario and elsewhere have faced the necessity of difficult downsizing, of coming to terms with needing to rationalize manufacturing facilities, plants, acquiring new equipment, all for the purpose of being able to ensure the continuing prosperity of their firms, their regions, their provinces and this country. Now is the time for the transportation sector as well to deal in a real and continuing and lasting way with this serious issue.
