Industry committee  The only thing that could be done would be to accept the measures suggested by the Canadian International Trade Tribunal. That would already be a good start. In addition, we know that bicycles sold in Canada have value-added. Although the workers in that industry often earn only $12 or $13 an hour, we can't claim to compete with those who are paid an hourly wage of 60¢.

Industry committee  There's no magic solution. We have to live with the situation we have. As I said, there's the variety of businesses that make up the manufacturing sector. Of course there are the giants, like the big automotive companies, but there are a lot of small and medium-size businesses that are often poorly equipped to deal with shocks like the ones we're experiencing.

Industry committee  On the other hand, every sector has its own problems. Right now, a lot of players in the pulp and paper industry—those sectors intersect one another—are drained. We need resources to modernize a number of facilities. They were modernized in the early 1980s, as you no doubt remember, because there was a wave of modernization.

Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Rajotte. My name is Pierre Laliberté and I am a policy advisor to Henri Massé, President of the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec. As you know, the FTQ represents nearly half a million workers in Quebec, two-thirds of whom work in the private sector.