House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2015, with 33% of the vote.
Forestry Industry April 29th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to be a token Quebecker, because at least I serve a purpose. Some members have been here for 20 years and serve no purpose whatsoever. That is not true of us.
We will keep on working to support the industry. In 2008, EDC reported $8.9 billion, and in 2009, $11.9 billion. The Bloc Québécois would never be able to do that.
Forestry Industry April 29th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, my colleague asked me what planet I was living on. I would ask him what age he is living in. Gone are the days of 78s, 33s and eight-track tapes. This is the age of MP3s, iPads and iPods. In the world of the forestry industry, more electronic copies than hard copies of The Da Vinci Code and Harry Potter have been sold. It is high time he realized that this is 2010. The issue is markets, and we are going to keep working to create new markets.
Wood in Federal Buildings April 28th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, this morning the president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada in Baie-Comeau—and I believe Baie-Comeau is in the riding of the member who just spoke—said he is not worried about the forced holiday, but he is anxious to see the market recover. It was the president of the plant's union saying that.
We must respect the softwood lumber agreement in everything we do, which is what we will continue to do.
Forestry Industry April 27th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, recently, the president of the Forest Products Association of Canada, Avrim Lazar, gave a speech in our region, Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean, in which he said that to survive the forestry crisis, the industry had no choice but to change its business model to extract maximum value from each tree and to integrate bioproducts and bioenergy into production.
Yesterday afternoon, in our region, the vice president of AbitibiBowater said that this could help people who have lots of ideas. We need more good ideas to reach new markets. That is difficult without clients, and there are not a lot of new clients out there these days. Investing money—
Forestry Industry April 27th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I was extremely proud to announce that our government will invest $100 million in helping regions affected by the forestry crisis in Quebec. That $100 million will help projects like Trebio in the Pontiac, in the Outaouais region, where we made an announcement yesterday about major developments for other regions too. Together, we will succeed thanks to projects like these.
Everyone in Canada—except people belonging to branches of the same party as the member opposite—knows that markets are critical and that we have to work on developing new products. We will keep working on that.
Forestry Industry April 27th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, after the latest budget was tabled, we received a letter from the Forest Products Association of Canada. That letter, which was written on behalf of the association's member companies, thanked the government for the measures announced in the recent federal budget.
What are those companies? AbitibiBowater, Kruger, Tembec, Smurfit-Stone, Cascades and Louisiana-Pacific. That is the entire forestry industry. We do not use workers to score political points. We keep our promises.
Forestry Industry April 27th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, this is unbelievable.
The previous government let the forestry industry operate from 2000 to 2005 with 30% countervailing duties. If we had not acted to fix the agreement with our American partners, every mill in Quebec and Canada would have closed as a result. And now the Liberals are lecturing us. It is unbelievable.
Our government is the one making the biggest investment in the forestry industry. We are proud of that, and we are going to keep on investing in the industry.
Broadband Canada Program April 14th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, as part of our digital economy strategy for Canada, we are taking measures to extend broadband service to all provinces and territories. The 2009 budget directed $225 million to extending the broadband Canada program.
Industry Canada launched an application process that has been very successful. We are taking a final look at these applications and we will announce those selected at a later date, no thanks to the Bloc, which, once again, voted against this project.
Forestry Industry March 24th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, I said it once and I will say it again. Export Development Canada offers three main types of financial products: access to credit, loan guarantees and accounts receivable insurance. Quebec has received more than $20 billion over two years. I remember quite well having recently read a press release from AbitibiBowater's vice-president of finance. It spoke of EDC's extraordinary support. And we must not forget that as of February 28, 2010, $1.4 billion in support had been provided for Canada's forestry industry, and $610 million of this had gone to Quebec. We are working with our partners.
Forestry Industry March 24th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, as my colleague knows, provinces currently have two cases before the London tribunal. They are currently in arbitration, and we will know the outcome later this year.
Let us take another look at Export Development Canada. This apparently does not constitute financial support. What does accounts receivable insurance do? It allows a company to go to its financial institution and obtain credit to keep the company going. In two years, $30 billion has been provided for all forestry products, and $20 billion of this has gone to Quebec.