Hon. Jacques Saada (Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec and Minister responsible for the Francophonie, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, with all respect for the proposal by the Bloc Québécois, I feel we have an obligation to make sure that any potential measures would not confirm the Americans in their position of imposing duties. Extreme prudence is therefore required concerning this initiative.

That said, the main problem we have to address in connection with forestry is not the softwood lumber issue. There is a whole series of problems. We started with one of the key elements, which is Bill 71. We will then address the others in conjunction with the other provinces.

Hon. Jacques Saada (Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec and Minister responsible for the Francophonie, Lib.)

Those figures strike me as absolutely incorrect, although I will not challenge them today. Nevertheless, Quebec's forestry sector is suffering for many reasons, among them the softwood lumber crisis, reduced access to the resource, and international competition.

We have already taken action on one front, with mitigation measures to help the Government of Quebec following the adoption of Bill 71, in response to the Coulombe report. We intend to continue our efforts to assist Quebec's forestry sector, as we are trying to do Canada-wide.

Hon. Jacques Saada (Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec and Minister responsible for the Francophonie, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, I would invite the hon. member to have another look at our press releases. Today's announcement has nothing to do with softwood lumber. It is specifically intended as a response to Quebec's request for assistance in connection with the reduction in wood supply legislated by Quebec's Bill 71.

I think it is interesting that the Bloc Québécois is questioning this after voting against Bill C-9 and a budget increase.

Hon. Jacques Saada (Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec and Minister responsible for the Francophonie, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, the sector in which we intervened this morning in reaction to Bill 71 relates specifically to resource reduction. It is intellectual dishonesty to link the two things.

The purpose of our announcement this morning was to provide a response to the Government of Quebec's request for assistance in managing the resource in keeping with the fundamental principle of sustainable development. There is no connection whatsoever with softwood lumber.

Hon. Jacques Saada (Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec and Minister responsible for the Francophonie, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, the Uniboard plant did in fact announce the loss of 214 jobs in that region. This is very significant and most regrettable.

This is a problem that goes beyond just lumber. It is an industrial problem. The company produces particleboard for building furniture. The Chinese competition has affected this entire market.

My offices are already active on two fronts. First, in the short term, we are supporting local employees by trying to place them in other companies in the region. Our second plan of attack is much broader. It consists in trying to see whether we could support a regional and trans-regional initiative for producing other products with these same resources.