International Trade committee  A large market and less strain on businesses mean you get a better price all over, which of course means that people are better off than they would be if they had to buy more or less all their consumer goods in a strained market where a monopoly would make prices...or they would not be able to buy at the competitive prices in the world. Being a social democrat, I say that free trade and access for people to goods at reasonable prices is one of the cornerstones of being a strong social state.

International Trade committee  There are certain trends becoming apparent on the world stage, especially given globalization and the existence of a number of free trade agreements. There is some level of pressure being felt worldwide and the pendulum is swinging towards the right. I know that in Latin America, there are other trends being observed.

International Trade committee  We think the results have shown that the free trade agreement with Canada is one of the best that Chile has signed. That is our position. We want to increase it, but we don't regret this step. To your question, Mr. Julian, the first thing is value-added exports.

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2  The Coast Guard, the military, the ferries and the laker fleet need replacements. There are $22 billion of opportunity. What is the government hinting at? Free trade deals with EFTA and Korea, which would put the death knell on our industry. I encourage the government to very quickly announce the shipbuilding policy on replacements for our fleets so our families and our workers across the country can go back to work.

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to enter the debate on this very important issue. I would remind the House of words that were spoken by a gentleman for whom I have great respect, who is now the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development. He used to be the finance critic for the Reform-Alliance-Conservative party.

Prebudget Consultations  Not only is it important that people can get in to be schooled, but they also have to get a quality education. The other thing we need to address is skilled trades. When we speak of post-secondary education, we mean education in all its forms, not just what we get at college and university but the type of education that one would get after high school, because we need to encourage more skilled trades in this country.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I support the amendment. I think it's effective and makes the motion itself more specific and allows the government to take measure. I would hope we have four-corner agreement from all four parties around the committee table, because of course Mr. Menzies was very clear in the last federal election campaign that Canada should be following the successful example set by the U.S. and the European Community on this.

Softwood Lumber Products Export Charge Act, 2006  Mr. Speaker, as usual I very much appreciated the speech by my colleague from Berthier—Maskinongé. I always enjoy his presentations because of his eloquence. However, I do not understand the Bloc's logic because everything he said today is very straightforward and quite legitimate.

Shipbuilding  Mr. Speaker, the government very quietly is negotiating trade deals with Korea and the EFTA countries of Europe. Unfortunately for the shipyard workers and their families in this country, it appears that shipbuilding is on the government's radar map in order to destroy it in this country.

Softwood Lumber Products Export Charge Act, 2006  Mr. Speaker, it is quite a sight for Canadians who are watching to see the Liberals and Conservatives fighting out who has the worst deal. It was the Minister of International Trade, the soon to be ex-member for Vancouver Kingsway, who had the deal with the Liberals, took it across the floor to the Conservatives and received about 3¢ on the dollar better.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll move first the motion on the apparel industry: The Committee calls on the government of Canada to stem the current market disruption, in specific categories, in the Canadian apparel industry, by immediately invoking Article 242 of China's accession protocol to the WTO and putting in place restrictions or safeguards on the growth of specific categories of apparel imports from China.

International Trade committee  Thank you. I would like to move on, then. In a sense, would it be fair to say that you're more concerned with the nuts and bolts of import/export and trading relationships rather than the overall strategy?

International Trade committee  Coming back to the nuts and bolts, then—the issue of the physical infrastructure that you raised, and the very compelling figure you mentioned, that the port of Vancouver is looking at three times the trading volume by 2020—what would be the list of the three top issues, either in human resources infrastructure or actual physical infrastructure, that you believe the federal government needs to address?

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to each of the witnesses. We've had uniformly excellent presentations through each of our hearings, and that excellence continues today. We thank you very much for coming. I have four specific questions that I'll put out there, and if I have any time, then I'll come back to supplementaries.

Transport committee  This is the current wording of the national transportation policy. We're not talking about argumentation; we're not talking about adding elements that are not already there. This is what currently constitutes the national transportation policy. That's the wording from 1996. If we're amending a transportation policy, we have to know what we're losing.