Dick Harris

[Forestry Industry, March 11th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, we know that Canada's forest sector is facing some big challenges. This is an industry that hundreds of thousands of Canadians depend on for their livelihoods.

Canada's economic action plan contains some huge measures to provide support for the forestry industry, especially for forestry workers and their families, who have been hard hit by this global economic downturn.

Can the minister inform the House how these measures are being received by the forestry workers and the communities on the ground?

[Business of Supply, March 10th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak today. I hope I can be heard over the roar of approval from the American southeastern softwood lumber producers as they listen to the NDP talk once again about scrapping the softwood lumber agreement.

There are visions of prosperity going rampant down in Georgia and those southern states. Without a softwood lumber agreement, they could simply impose whatever punitive penalties they wanted on Canadian products coming across the border. Given the recession in the U.S. housing industry, those folks down there, who cheer for the NDP on a daily basis, could probably supply almost all the softwood lumber for constructing houses down there. As that cheer for the NDP gets louder about killing the softwood lumber agreement, I will try to talk about some positive things that our government is doing.

There is no doubt that the forestry industry has some serious challenges. The member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley did not mention that the current softwood prices are somewhere in the neighbourhood of $155, $158. Some of the mills were selling it off for $130 just to get it out of their yards.

The member also knows that the break-even point is somewhere in the high three hundreds for a mill to be profitable. Yet that is fault of the Canadian government. He chooses to blame the government, not the fact that there is a recession in the U.S. The housing starts are down the tube and the price is at a point where the mills in Canada are losing money on every stick.

Notwithstanding the so-called disparities in the softwood lumber agreement, about which the member talked, if the prices are at $158, no mill in Canada will make any money anyway, even if there were no tariffs.

The government has a role to play and Canada's recent economic action plan will help industrial sectors like the forest industry. We are investing $8.3 billion to help retrain and upgrade the skills of our workers in the forestry industry and other industries. That is our Canada skills and transition strategy to address the most pressing needs of workers who are facing layoffs so they can transition into a different type of employment.

That is good news. There are $8.3 billion going into that program. The NDP does not like good news, let us remember that. Also, let us remember that NDP members have not read the budget, yet they said they would vote against it. The NDP members will vote against the $8.3 billion to retrain and help upgrade the skills of our workers in the forest industry.

Canada's economic action plan will also temporarily provide additional support to workers and the unemployed facing transitions through some tough economic times. I am proud to talk about some of the measures we are taking. This is all good news.

Of course the NDP will not like it, but we will provide nationally the benefits for the current five week pilot project that has only been provided in the highest of unemployment areas. We have increased the duration of the EI benefits by another five weeks, raising it from 45 to 50 weeks at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion. The NDP voted against the extension of the EI program. We are not voting against it. We are supporting it. We brought it forward. That is in our budget, but the NDP does not care about that because it is good news and NDP members do not like good news.

We are providing another billion dollars over two years for provinces and territories through the existing labour market development agreements for skills training. They have a closer contact with the real needs of the workers in their communities. That is good news, but the NDP is voting against that as well.

I would like to wrap up by talking about the work-sharing program. We are extending it by 14 weeks. We are allowing mills in the forestry sector that have had their work-sharing program expire to have another whole year, another 52 weeks. NDP members are voting against billions of dollars in that program as well. I would like them to tell that to the workers who are facing layoff in the forestry industry--

[Canada-EFTA Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, March 6th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, stopping all free trade would be bad news for Canada, and we know how the NDP feels about bad news.

The member for Kings—Hants made some excellent points. I take a bit of issue with his references to the Conservative government not promoting trade with China as much as we could. If the member looks at the global economy, I'm sure he will realize that purchases are down in China as well as every other country. Even though its economy has grown, China's purchasing has slumped a bit, and that is a natural thing.

It is important to recognize that our trade with China is strong. We are selling a lot of forest resources to China now. We are doing everything we can, but we are not going to trump human rights in respect to trade.

[Canada-EFTA Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, March 6th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, when the shipbuilding industry was at committee, I asked them point-blank if shipbuilders in this country can compete with shipbuilders around the world. The response was that yes, they could. They said they have the ability to build ships that are as good as any in the world, and I believe that.

We have done a number of things in Bill C-2. We have provided for the structured financing arrangements and we have put in the 15-year tariff phase-out. Through the budget, we are putting $43 billion into the shipbuilding industry in Canada. It is all good news. Why does the member for Burnaby—New Westminster want to destroy Bill C-2 and see it not go ahead?

[Canada-EFTA Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, March 6th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca for those two excellent questions. I know that the member certainly does like good news when it comes to the shipbuilding industry. He is looking for a revival of that industry in his riding, and good for him.

I will certainly bring those two points he has made to the minister's attention and work with him and members from all parties who want to see the shipbuilding industry complete this revival and once again make Canada a world force to be reckoned with by competition around the world.

That is exactly what Bill C-2 is trying to do. It is unfortunate that the NDP is opposing it so strongly. The Liberals and the Bloc are supporting it. They know a good-news story when they hear it. Unfortunately, the NDP does not like good-news stories, so we expect them to oppose it.

[Canada-EFTA Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, March 6th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, for the member for Burnaby—New Westminster's edification, of course I was working on the softwood lumber agreement all through the completion of it. I certainly had an understanding of it. Even before the text came out, I knew all the salient points. I knew it was a good agreement.

As a matter of fact, during the committee stage I had to assist the member for Burnaby—New Westminster in many cases to understand the softwood lumber agreement. I do not take a back seat to him at any time.

The fact is that the government has put a $43 billion commitment into building new vessels for Canadian waters. They are all going to go to Canadian shipyards. The shipbuilding industry is going to get a huge infusion of cash from that money. We have protected the shipbuilding yards on the tariffs. It is a 15-year phase-in.

Many things are going to be good from this EFTA deal, but then again it is good news, and of course the NDP and the member do not like good news, ever.

[Canada-EFTA Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, March 6th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I had just spoken about a very important part of Bill C-2, and I think it is worth going over it again. It is that Bill C-2 does not introduce any new obligations on Canada in the area of government procurement, whether for ships or for any other products. Accordingly, federal and provincial governments in Canada will continue to have the right to restrict their bids to Canadian shipyards in the purchase, lease and repair of vessels of all types.

This is good news for the shipbuilding industry in Canada. This is good news for Canada's economy. This goes along very well with the recent announcement by the government that it is putting more than $43 billion into the procurement of maritime vessels over the next 30 years. That is good news for the Canadian shipbuilding industry, and the industry is rejoicing about that huge government infusion of cash.

That is good news for the economy of Canada. That is good news for everyone but the NDP, because the NDP does not like good news. It cannot survive with good news. Whenever there is good news happening, NDP members do whatever they can to try to carve out some little portion of it to make it into bad news, because that makes them happy.

That is why the member for Burnaby—New Westminster does not like Bill C-2 at all. As a matter of fact, he does not like any free trade agreements. If people listened closely when he was talking about the softwood lumber agreement, which he wants to rip up, they would have heard huge applause coming from the American softwood lumber dealers in the southeastern part of the U.S.A. They were cheering him on. They want to rip up that softwood lumber agreement, go back to the courts and stop any sales of Canadian wood to the U.S. That would be the best thing for them. They were cheering the member for Burnaby—New Westminster. They do it regularly whenever he talks about scrapping the softwood lumber agreement.

The government continuously encourages the use of Canadian shipyards for building ships through the structured financing facility. That allows shipowners who buy their ships from Canadian shipyards to reduce their interest cost on their financing. The government has put an additional $50 million into that fund, and that is good news for the shipbuilding industry. It is bad news for the NDP, because that party does not like good news and has trouble with it.

The government also recognizes the importance of Canada's domestic government procurement market for our shipbuilding industry. We are taking steps to address the many challenges faced by Canada's shipbuilding industry by buying down the interest rate of the loans that shipowners are using to purchase ships from Canadian shipyards.

The government has shown its support for our ship industry. In budget 2009 we invested $175 million on a cash basis for the procurement of new Coast Guard vessels and to undertake some life extensions and refits.

I could go on, but I want to remind members that Bill C-2 passed second reading by a vote of 258 to 36. That vote was a clear show of support for this agreement in the House, except from the NDP, which, as I said, does not like good news.

I would like to ask all members of the House to continue to support this government and its efforts as we continue creating a strong competitive economy for Canada today. It will give our children the opportunities they need to succeed in tomorrow's world. Bill C-2 is an example of that.

We appreciate the support of the Liberals and the Bloc in getting this agreement. We have been trying to do it for 10 years and finally we have an opportunity. Notwithstanding the NDP, which does not like agreements such as this one, we are going to get this passed.

[Canada-EFTA Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, March 6th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it is indeed a great pleasure to contribute to this debate on a subject of huge importance to the economy of Canada.

In January 2008 Canada, along with Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, collectively known as the European Free Trade Association, or EFTA, signed the Canada-EFTA Free Trade Agreement.

In today's economic times, we have to continue to open doors for our businesses in global markets, in contrast to the NDP's desire to close doors and try to make it as a stand-alone trade zone within Canada. It is simply impossible to do that.

The November 2008 throne speech underscored the importance this government places on trade and investment and reaffirmed our commitment to actively pursue trade negotiations and partners around the world. The Standing Committee on International Trade has reviewed Bill C-2 and has now reported back to the House with just one minor technical amendment.

The opposition, the NDP, proposed to vote 16 amendments to this bill, claiming that Bill C-2 did not effectively recognize Canada's shipbuilding industry, as we just heard from the member from Burnaby. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The government is fully aware of the views of the shipbuilding industry. We negotiated and consulted extensively with stakeholders in the industry to ensure their concerns and interests were fully understood and considered during the negotiations.

Government officials also consulted with the provinces and the territories on the treatment of ships in the Canada-EFTA Free Trade Agreement, and today we are about to sign a free trade agreement that we can be proud of. It is a deal that addresses Canadian shipbuilding concerns in a number of different ways.

For example, it contains a 15-year tariff phase-out on the most sensitive shipbuilding products, and a 10-year phase-out on all other sensitive shipbuilding products, protecting our shipbuilders in Canada. These phase-out periods include a bridge period of three years, during which tariffs will be maintained at the most favoured nation level. These provisions give our shipbuilders considerable time to adjust to a duty-free environment.

This is important. Fifteen years is the longest tariff phase-out period for an industrial tariff in free trade agreement history in this country. These provisions respond directly to the concerns vocalized by the shipbuilding industry and by the NDP.

On rules of origin, the provisions under the EFTA are those sought by the Canadian industry. They are consistent with those in Canada's other free trade agreements. The EFTA also contains specific provisions for the collection of customs duties in accordance with the tariff phase-out program on the value of repairs and alterations to ships that are temporarily exported from Canada to EFTA countries.

We have ensured that this new agreement does not introduce any new obligations for Canada in the area of government procurement, whether for ships or any other products. Accordingly, and this is important, federal and provincial governments will continue to have the right to restrict their bids to Canadian shipyards for the purchase, lease, repair or refit of all types of vehicles.

That is very important. That is something that the NDP does not recognize exists in this contract.

Separately, this Conservative government has announced more than $43 billion--that is billion--for the procurement of maritime vessels in the next 30 years. These are vessels that the government will purchase.

Furthermore, the government continues to encourage the use of Canadian shipyards through the renewed structured financing facility--

[Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, February 27th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. If the House gives its consent, following the introduction of my bill to change the name of my riding, I would like to move that notwithstanding any standing order or usual practice of the House that Bill C-329, An Act to change the name of the electoral district of Cariboo--Prince George be deemed read a second time and referred to a committee of the whole, deemed considered in committee of the whole, deemed reported without amendment, deemed concurred at the report stage and deemed read a third time and passed.

[Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, February 27th, 2009]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-329, An Act to change the name of the electoral district of Cariboo--Prince George.

Mr. Speaker, my riding of Cariboo--Prince George is located in the beautiful central interior British Columbia. The current riding name, Cariboo--Prince George, reflects the vibrant city of Prince George, which holds a growing population of 72,000 and is the hub for trade and travel in all four directions outward from that city.

Mentioned in my riding name also is the Cariboo region. The Cariboo region, once called the land of dreams and instant riches because of the famed gold rush days, has an unmatched rugged beauty. It hosts towering coastal mountains, valleys, ranges and pristine rivers that attract tourists of all stripes from all around the globe to its unique splendour.

Still, there is something missing. There is a vital part of my riding that the current name fails to recognize, and that is the Nechako Valley, with the mighty Nechako River running through it, which has shaped much of riding. The Nechako Valley indeed has been there longer than the communities--