Thank you, Madam Speaker. First, I would like to congratulate you on your appointment. I am sure you will do well and that you will have the cooperation of all the MPs in this chamber. Before I begin, I would also like to advise you that I will be sharing my time with the member for Laurentides—Labelle.
First, I would like to thank the citizens of my riding of Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, who elected me for a third time as their representative here in Ottawa.
The Speech from the Throne is an important exercise for the Canadian parliamentary system. It lays out the path that the government will take in the following months and it identifies its priorities.
Yet, there was nothing in the throne speech about various issues that are a priority for a good number of Quebeckers. Even worse, the Conservative government tabled an ideological throne speech, without giving a thought to the fact that it is in a minority position.
On October 14, Quebeckers sent a clear message to the Conservatives by electing a strong majority of Bloc Québécois members. Quebeckers asked us to continue our work and to represent their interests and values in Ottawa.
Citizens have much to be concerned about in the throne speech given the situation uppermost in the minds of the residents of Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean. The Conservative government has completely missed the boat. The throne speech does not address the needs that Quebec considers to have priority.
There is no commitment to improving the employment insurance plan or establishing a support program for older workers. Above all, there is nothing new in the way of assistance to the forestry sector, which has been in crisis for a few years.
I would like to take this opportunity to give a brief overview of the situation in the forestry sector in Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean and in my riding of Chicoutimi—Le Fjord. Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean is one of the largest forested areas in Quebec. It covers 85,688 km2, which represents 17% of Quebec's forests. In this region, 23 of 49 municipalities are dependent on the forestry economy and are deemed to be one-industry towns. Essentially, more than one-third of jobs in the manufacturing sector are related to forestry.
For the past few months, the sawmills in Saint-Fulgence and Laterrière in my riding are only operating in order to produce wood chips for paper mills. Meanwhile, another sawmill in my riding, in Petit-Saguenay, is down to one shift. A number of sawmills in the riding of the new Minister of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec), the member for Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean, have also halted production. That is the case for Louisiana-Pacifique Canada Ltée in Chambord, which closed its doors for two years. And the Arbec sawmill, which closed. And the sawmill in Girardville, which is down to one shift.
We are not strangers to bad news. A number of communities in my area and in my riding have already been hard hit by the forestry crisis in recent years.
The situation in my riding is no worse than elsewhere in Quebec, but it is representative of a number of ridings which are home to many seasonal workers from the agriculture and forestry industries, among others.
For example, the Speech from the Throne could have been an excellent opportunity for the Prime Minister to propose measures to improve employment insurance. The Bloc Québécois has long been proposing the elimination of the two-week waiting period before people can quality for employment insurance benefits. This would cost next to nothing.
Benefit rates need to be increased and the qualification period must be reduced to 360 hours. But unfortunately, the Speech from the Throne does nothing to improve the employment insurance system.
As for measures to help the forestry sector, the Bloc Québécois proposed concrete action, but the Conservatives decided once again to ignore those workers. When I heard the throne speech last Wednesday, I was very disappointed because it did not contain any measures to help the forestry sector. The logging crisis that is affecting my region, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, and many other regions in Quebec is far from being resolved. Many expect 2009 and the years to come to be even more difficult.
Given the growing supply of wood from China and the real estate crisis in the United States, many businesses have had to resort to massive layoffs or have shut down altogether. As a result, if the Conservative government does not do something about it, the situation will become even more devastating.
Since 2006, the Conservative government has left the forestry sector to fend for itself, thereby jeopardizing thousands of jobs. Yet the Bloc Québécois has proposed real solutions to help the industry.
First, the government has to bring back the fund to diversity forest economies. When the former Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec cut diversification funding for the regions hit by the forestry crisis by $50 million dollars, he caused a major setback for the industry. One of the things that program did was provide assistance to communities and workers affected by the crisis. It was a mistake to slash that kind of assistance. The government could have used the throne speech as an opportunity to announce that it would bring back such a program, but with even greater financial support.
Second, the Bloc Québécois has proposed that a loan and loan guarantee program be created to help finance investments in production equipment. This would provide support for businesses that wish to update their production equipment or simply enable their businesses to expand.
Third, the Bloc has suggested that taxes be reduced for businesses in the manufacturing and forestry sector to help them develop new technologies, or that tax credits be given to encourage hiring. Once again, the Speech from the Throne offers no such measures.
And fourth, the Bloc has for several years been calling for an income support program for older workers. These workers are in a state of despair because there has been no assistance for them. Entire communities are being affected by these lost earnings. The Government of Quebec has made efforts to help older workers, but those efforts will be inadequate as long as Ottawa does not do its part.
These four measures are aimed at helping the forest industry to make the transition toward secondary and tertiary processing and promoting the use of wood in commercial and public buildings. This transition will lead to high value added manufacturing, increase the demand for wood on the domestic market in Canada and Quebec and reduce wood exports.
In conclusion, I call on the two Conservative members from my region, the members for Jonquière—Alma and Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean, to follow my lead, get involved and defend the forest industry in my region, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, which is bearing the full brunt of the forestry crisis, in order to make an improvement in the situation. It is their duty to convince the Prime Minister to take steps to help my region, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean.
