House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2015, with 30% of the vote.
Petitions October 19th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, it is my honour to present three petitions from residents in my riding, two of which deal with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The first one calls on the government to support the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, through an increase in the funding and stability of the CBC.
The second petition asks the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to support the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation through increased support for stable and adequate funding.
Business of supply October 19th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the passion of my colleague from northern Ontario. We are all very passionate about the forestry industry.
The truth about the softwood lumber agreement is, although the Minister of Revenue would disagree, we can provide loan guarantees for the forest industry in Canada. There are two Canadian legal opinions on that and they both say, provided there is a commercial rate of interest, that it does not contravene the agreement. That is the first point to talk about.
The other point that my colleague brings up is the black liquor subsidy. I have been very clear on that, as has the NDP. What was needed was a direct answer to the Americans on black liquor subsidies and, unfortunately, we did not get it.
Business of supply October 19th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I am not completely conversant with the private woodlot issue in Quebec. I can only assume that it is inserted in the motion because it is a very important and perhaps even a controversial issue in Quebec. I have no problem voting for the motion if the member believes this is good for ordinary working families in Quebec.
There are private woodlot issues elsewhere in the country that do not involve tax credits or other things. We have a bit of a problem in northwestern Ontario. Because many private woodlots are close to the border, wood is cut and then sent directly to the United States for processing. I personally believe that is a problem.
With regard to Canadian wood, whether it comes from crown land or from private woodlots, we should make every effort to process that wood in Canada, first, before it is exported.
Business of supply October 19th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I thank my Bloc colleague for bringing the motion forward. It is an interesting motion. I will be supporting the motion. I will be suggesting to my colleagues in the NDP that they support the motion and I would suggest to the government that it also supports the motion.
It is an interesting motion, not necessarily for what it says but also for what it does not say. I would like to begin by speaking about what it does say. Part of the motion reads, “--with assistance which is similar to that given to the automotive industry--”. That is an interesting thing to say in the motion, and I would like to spend a few moments with some statistics regarding the forestry industry and the automotive industry in Canada.
Let me say at the outset that it is wonderful that the automotive industry is restructuring. I hope it is on its way up. It will be competitive and remain competitive for many years, and it is wonderful that it has received the support it has.
By contrast, the forestry industry has not received support. Indeed, the Government of Ontario has said quite frankly that forestry is a sunset industry in the province of Ontario. I dare say the government believes the same thing. That is most unfortunate because when we look at the statistics, it is quite surprising to see the contribution that forestry has made to the Canadian economy. For example, the total revenue from forestry is about $84 billion a year. The total revenue from the car industry just before its troubles was about $94 billion a year. The total exports are also in the tens of billions of dollars for both the automotive industry and the forestry industry.
The interesting statistic is the percentage of the GDP contribution. Forestry is about 3% of the total GDP. The auto industry is also about 3% of the total GDP. In terms of direct jobs, there are more than twice as many jobs in the forestry industry, about 300,000, as opposed to the automotive industry, which is about 135,000 before its most recent troubles. Most telling, when we put the direct jobs and the indirect jobs together, we are looking at almost 900,000 direct and indirect jobs in the forestry industry, as opposed to about 440,000 direct and indirect jobs in the automotive industry. We could probably say that both of these industries in terms of dollars are somewhat comparable.
I am pleased to see in the motion put together by the Bloc that it talks about the automotive industry and about assistance that is similar to the automotive industry because they are much the same.
Another point I would like to make is this. When we look at not just the total GDP but the total GDP of manufacturing, the forestry industry is about 12% of the Canadian manufacturing GDP. The auto industry is also about 12% of the total manufacturing GDP. I am glad to see that in the motion.
Unfortunately, there are a number of things missing in the motion and I would like to address them. It is interesting that the government talks about the billion dollar package for the forestry industry. Back in June I made my views quite clear on it, that while any support from the government for the forestry industry was welcomed, it was not exactly what was needed in terms of black liquor subsidies, and that I would continue to work to ensure that we had a forestry package to reposition, over the next couple of years, the forestry industry, and I clearly illustrated that it was very valuable to Canada's economy.
It is interesting that there was a round a recent announcements. For example, $33 million for AbitibiBowater was announced in my riding, in which it has two operating mills. They are not operating at capacity, naturally, but I do not think any mill anywhere in Canada is operating at capacity. The $33 millions is part of the $1 billion forestry package announced by the government in June.
Unfortunately, there is a clarity issue. First, no strings are attached to it. In other words, AbitibiBowater does not have to spend that $33 million on AbitibiBowater in Thunder Bay or, indeed, on AbitibiBowater in Fort Frances. As we know, AbitibiBowater is in creditor protection.
Second, there is also no indication as to when and how this money can be used to keep people working in northern Ontario and in particular in my riding. What I am endeavouring to do is to ensure that the forest industry, in my riding, in northwestern Ontario across Canada, as this repositioning and reconstruction happens, is absolutely in a position a year, or two or three years from now to compete on the world stage. Unfortunately, the government is falling short. It would have been nice to have a little more clarity on that issue in the motion.
We have another round, if I am not mistaken, of corporate tax cuts coming early in the new year. Unfortunately, those tax cuts, although some on the government side might claim that they will help the forestry industry, only help if companies are making money. If companies are not making money, or if they are in creditor protection or bankruptcy, they do not help.
We need to ensure that the forest industry has the ability to move forward. Tax cuts are not the way to help the industry at this point in time. I guess the tax cuts will be good for big oil and gas, banks and those sorts of industries, but they will not do anything for the forestry industry. That is most unfortunate.
The softwood lumber agreement has already been mentioned a couple of times. A minister of revenue claimed that the federal government could not provide loan guarantees. He said that they would contravene the softwood lumber agreement. He also had strong objections because he was worried that various American organizations, lobby groups and others would sue the government or would go to the World Trade Organization, which might impose fines as has recently happened.
Those tens of millions of dollars will be paid by the taxpayers. The latest fines in the softwood lumber agreement, and there are bound to be more, the taxpayers will pick up the tab. Why? Because forest companies do not have any money, and they could not pay the fines anyway.
Given what I have said about the motion and, unfortunately, what is not in the motion, the motion could be improved. Therefore, I wish to move the following amendment: That immediately following the words “urgently to” add “proposed to end the softwood lumber agreement in order to be able to”, and after “private woodlot owners” add “and negotiate an immediate end to the U.S. black liquor subsidy, including introducing compensatory benefits to Canadian producers retroactive to January 1, 2009.
Business of supply October 19th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, opposition days are very important. They are an opportunity to get the government to act on things that are very important to the opposition.
Naturally, this is a very important part of what I do as the NDP forestry critic, and I thank the hon. member for bringing this motion forward. I would also like to tell the member that I support the motion.
However, if this is an opportunity to get the government to act, it seems to me that the opposition motion should be more substantial. In other words, it should talk about such things as employment insurance, protection for older workers to bridge the gap between the time of being laid off until retirement, if they are only a year or two away from retirement, loan guarantees which have already been talked about, pension guarantees and reform.
Why does the member's motion not have more meat to it?
Points of Order October 8th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I must have missed presentation of petitions. Am I in the wrong spot at this time of the day?
Economic Recovery Act (stimulus) October 6th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that the hon. member used the Tim Hortons card. It always comes out.
I just want to change my tack a little bit. We have businesses in my riding. In particular, the member may have heard of the Persian Man. Of course Thunder Bay is very famous for Persians, in direct competition with the company he just mentioned. The government's support of HST in Ontario will cause hardship for many, many small businesses and for the consumers in my riding.
The hon. member talked about recovery, which in his books really means consumer purchasing, I wonder how he thinks the HST will help that.
Economic Recovery Act (stimulus) October 6th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, my colleague had some interesting comments to say about an earlier tax freedom day for Canadians. We notice he did not say anything about tax freedom day for corporations because he would not want it to interfere with New Year's Day celebrations.
I would like to ask the member a question about small business. He talked about recovery. If he were to follow the NDP plan to reduce small business taxes to zero, in other words move some of those large corporate tax breaks for those most profitable corporations in Canada over to small business, which I am sure the hon. member would agree is the engine for growth in this country, I am wondering if that is something he might consider.
He talked about bolstering the CPP and recovery. It seems to me that helping small business would be a perfect way to help with this recovery.
Business of Supply October 1st, 2009
Madam Speaker, the member is very angry and I suppose he should be angry because his party used to have EI as a top priority and it no longer does. In fact, now it appears the top priority of the Liberals is playing chicken over an election that their party is clearly too divided to even fight. Members of his party have indicated that $1 billion for EI is crumbs. I would like to ask the member if he believes that $1 billion for the unemployed in this country is crumbs?
Business of Supply October 1st, 2009
Madam Speaker, I listened with great interest to the hon. member talk about rural Canada and talk about taxes.
It is interesting that he also talked in particular about the beef industry. I would like to ask the hon. member a question to do with taxes and that industry.
He and the Liberal Party have already said they support harmonized sales tax in Ontario. As the hon. member probably knows, beef cattle change hands three or four times before they go to market. There is no tax on them right now. Now they will have a 13% tax every time those cattle change hands.
I would like to know from the hon. member, who aspires to be in government, and I am assuming aspires to be the minister of agriculture, how he can possibly say that he will help farmers when he is happy to charge them 13%, 13%, 13% and 13% again.