Mr. Speaker, I will share my time with the member for Nipissing—Timiskaming.
I am pleased to rise today to speak to the motion from my NDP colleague regarding the Investment Canada Act. The Liberal Party will vote for the principle behind this motion, that we must review the Investment Canada Act so there is more transparency and accountability for the good of Canadians.
In light of the fire sale of Inco, Falconbridge, Stelco and Nortel, the current government is responsible for an unprecedented loss in Canadian industrial leadership.
Take Inco, which was already a leading nickel and copper mining development company in northern Ontario. It was purchased in 2006 by Brazilian company CVRD, or Vale. The merged company, Vale Inco, which had sales in the neighbourhood of $8 billion in 2009, is now the second-largest nickel producer in the world.
Workers at Vale Inco in Sudbury have been on strike for more than 10 months. The parties cannot agree on the nickel bonus or changes to the pension plan. Local workers and the NDP have repeatedly called on the federal government to publicize Vale's agreement when the Brazilian company acquired Inco under the Investment Canada Act. We are especially interested in the conditions of employment and investments.
Then there is Falconbridge. It is another prominent Canadian company that mines nickel and copper in northern Ontario. It was bought by Xstrata in 2006. This Swiss company was recently scrutinized after it announced that it was cutting 700 jobs at its metallurgical site in Timmins.
Next we have Stelco. This major steel producer in the Hamilton area was bought by US Steel in August 2007 for $2 billion. In early 2009, Stelco/US Steel announced that it was shutting down its Hamilton and Lake Erie steel plants, putting some 700 people out of work. Stelco/US Steel then said that excessive production costs were behind their decision to shut down these two steel plants and move their steel production to the United States.
We were told that this decision was related to American legislation encouraging the purchase of American products and under which US Steel would be eligible for stimulation funding, but only if it produced steel in the United States.
On May 7, 2009, the Minister of Industry sent a demand letter to Stelco/US Steel, calling on it to reopen the two steel plants because the closures went against US Steel's commitment when it bought Stelco. On June 13, Stelco/US Steel reopened the Hamilton steel plant. However, nothing has happened with the plant in Lake Erie.
Let us move on to Nortel. In 2009, after years of turmoil, Nortel sought protection under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. Since then, Nortel has sold off a number of its subsidiaries, including its wireless communications branch, its optical businesses and technologies, and its foreign companies.
Around the time of the sale of the wireless technology division, Waterloo-based RIM and Nortel submitted a proposal to the federal government for a partial merger to create a new Canadian company specializing in wireless technology, a company that would benefit from pooling each partner's leading-edge technology. The Conservative government decided not to approve the proposal and, in defiance of the spirit of the law, even refused to consider the sale of the division.
As a result, there was a transfer of knowledge and intellectual property with respect to Long Term Evolution or LTE wireless technology.
LTE technology is without a doubt the way of the future. It could be worth billions. Major European and American corporations, whose subscribers represent more than 50% of the wireless communications market, have announced that they are beginning to convert their systems to LTE technology.
Now, back to the NDP motion, which raises the issue of whether the Investment Canada Act gives the federal government the tools it needs to protect Canada's interests by strengthening the economy and protecting jobs and our valuable intellectual property.
The Liberal Party supports the NDP motion. The Investment Canada Act must be amended to ensure greater accountability and transparency. However, Liberal opinion may differ with respect to specific amendments.
The Liberal Party believes that the government must play a positive leadership role in creating networks and finding solutions to strengthen Canada's economy. With Inco, Falconbridge, Stelco and Nortel, the federal government could have shown some leadership by bringing stakeholders and business leaders together to create Canadian companies able to compete in the global marketplace. It could have neutralized negative factors, such as the buy American policy. Unfortunately, the Conservative government did not show that kind of leadership.
In short, because of the Conservatives' laissez-faire attitude, Canadian resources and advanced technologies that could have produced billions of dollars in economic spinoffs and created thousands of jobs for the economy are no longer Canadian-owned.
This federal government could have shown some initiative and merged Nortel and RIM to create a new Canadian giant of innovation. But it chose not to.
The federal government should have fought every day in all the offices of the U.S. Congress, the Senate and state governors to challenge the Americans' national preference policy and prevent the US Steel plants in Hamilton and Nanticoke from closing. But it chose not to.
The federal government could have shown some initiative and merged Inco and Falconbridge to create a new globally competitive Canadian mining giant. But it chose not to.
Any other country in the world would have examined those sales and questioned the companies, but the Conservative government stood idly by and did nothing.
Canadians want their government to defend their interests and help build Canadian champions. The Conservatives chose to do nothing.
The Liberal Party is all for foreign investments and encourages Canadian companies to invest abroad. But unlike the Conservatives, who prefer a laissez-faire approach, the Liberal Party believes that the government must play a leadership role in order to create networks and find solutions to enhance the Canadian economy.
This country could do great things with a government that is ready to show some imagination and leadership. Unfortunately, that is not the case at this time.
