Mr. Chair, I would like to thank you for this opportunity to speak briefly tonight on a matter of the greatest importance, to this government of course, but also to all Canadians: the softwood lumber dispute.
It is all the more important for my region of Madawaska—Restigouche, in northern New Brunswick, where the economy is very much linked to the forest industry.
Members of Parliament are never off duty, when it comes down to it. Representing one's fellow citizens has no time limits. I note that it is 1 in the morning in my riding in New Brunswick.
It is very important to ensure that our fellow citizens' interests are defended. That is why I decided to speak to the House tonight about softwood lumber. This is, of course, a very important issue in my riding, where there are paper mills and hardwood sawmills, as well as many, many softwood lumber mills. Softwood lumber is, therefore, a very important element in our area.
The Americans are our neighbours geographically, and our friends. Where I was born, there is nothing but a bridge between my town and the State of Maine. Other parts of my riding are also separated from the U.S. by nothing more than a bridge. So the Americans are considered not just neighbours and friends, but also family. Even so, we have to ensure that the agreements signed in the past are respected now, and will be in the future. We have to get that important message across to the people in our ridings. It is important for Canadians to be heeded and respected. I feel it is essential to see that people understand that clearly.
Last month, I became a member of the Liberal forestry caucus. We Liberals can be proud of taking the initiative to strike such a committee.
We saw a need for it and we created it, because we knew how important forestry is to all Canadians. Certainly, I joined this committee to stand up for my constituents and all Atlantic Canadians.
Initially, I wondered how I could best serve my constituents and the people working in the forestry sector. Clearly, there are businesses involved, but it also consists of people, human resources, the individuals who help keep it going.
As the saying goes, a prophet is not without honour, save in his own country. Of course, the softwood lumber crisis facing the forestry industry was not something I was extremely familiar with. But I knew that it was important to go and meet the representatives of the forestry industry in each business, in order to understand the situation. Having done that and having talked with business people, entrepreneurs and factory managers, I had considerably improved my basic understanding of the importance of the forest industry, its situation and the various challenges involved, as they related to my riding, Madawaska—Restigouche.
I was asked to face various challenges in light of the current situation. People said to me, “Please, as our representative, pay careful attention to what your government is going to do. Do not put us at a more of a disadvantage than we are at already”. Obviously, this is related to the softwood lumber mills. People are asking us to be careful, because, clearly, we in the Atlantic provinces are in a unique position and we do not want to end up in a worse situation in the future.
I must mention one more thing. I belive that it is not talked about enough. I was extremely proud, over the past few weeks, to hear people in my riding say they really believed that the Prime Minister was truly defending their interests when he was in New York.
My constituents have commented that the Prime Minister stood up and said what needed to be said to defend the interests of the people of the riding.
When I heard about that, I thought it was fascinating. Often, as members of Parliament, the feedback we get tends to be more negative. It was therefore fascinating to see that people took the time to come and see me to say that our Prime Minister had done an outstanding job in defending the interests of both the industry and those who depend on it for their livelihood.
The people who work in the forestry industry have really felt included in the position taken by the Prime Minister. And this was not true only for the riding that I represent. I am convinced that, across the country, the reaction was the same: this was very good and the Prime Minister deserved to be praised for what he had done, for having so clearly and so directly defended the interests of our great country.
I touched on the subject earlier but signing agreements and resolving issues are not one-sided processes. We have to come to an agreement with another person or group of persons, or even several groups or persons. To make additions to an agreement, everyone has to agree and sign off on it. One cannot just come out and say, one year, two years or five years after the agreement came into force, that the agreement no longer suits them. Agreements are signed knowingly and willingly. It is also knowingly and willingly that the parties have to comply with the agreements they have signed.
The Liberal government is complying with agreements like NAFTA which it has signed in the past. Efforts also have to be made to ensure that our trade partners do the same. That is very important. This is one way of evolving in our society, by ensuring that each party complies with the terms of the agreement.
If we look at the export situation for a riding like mine, or for the entire country, we see that we may have made a mistake by putting all our eggs in one basket. Some 89% of our wood exports goes to our friends the Americans. Perhaps in the future we should do things differently. We may be too dependent. It would be good to do things differently and to seek out new markets.
North America is certainly quite vast and its population is large. We certainly have friends elsewhere and business opportunities available to us in other countries. One fine day, we should diversify our clients and the different companies we could do business with. That way, in the future, we will limit the impact of situations like the one we are in now.
The people in my riding have suffered. In other ridings, this may not be the case. Nonetheless, the entire softwood lumber situation should make us question the stability within the forestry industry. In the future, we must position ourselves differently and look at diversifying our markets. That way, we could certainly guarantee a better future for our constituents.
What is more important, we must respect our agreements.
In closing, I come back to the fact that the Prime Minister rose and clearly indicated the position of the government and the citizens of Canada. We should all be proud. We are showing our friends, our American neighbours, that our position and the agreement we have signed over the years must be respected
We are asking our neighbours to respect the agreements, just as we have.
