Giuseppe (Joseph) Volpe
Liberal
Mr. Volpe:
Mr. Speaker, I wish I could be as kind as my colleague opposite with respect to the intervention made by the member of the third party.
I cannot because I am a little bit concerned that the member created the impression they had some major difficulties with a piece of legislation on which his party spoke but once at second reading, while we in the Official Opposition kept the debate going for as long as we could in order to get the maximum intervention by the textile industry. When we went into committee, on both occasions that we were there we did not have any representation by members of the third party. If there has been concern we would like to know exactly what it is.
Over the course of the last couple of years, as both the minister and the member from the third party have indicated, there has been an enormous loss of jobs because the industry has suffered an enormous downsizing. We have lost some of the major Canadian textile manufacturers.
That has been a problem for the Canadian industry as a whole. Because of that loss, in order for us to address issues that are now related more to the Canadian apparel industry, this kind of legislation, as incomplete as it would seem to be, at least addresses the component of that general industry that is still thriving, the apparel industry. If we can make its product more competitive, then we should support it.
I think it is important to understand that what we need to do is to ensure that-
Subtopic: CUSTOMS TARIFF
Sub-subtopic: MEASURE TO AMEND