Today in the Senate, Senator Ringuette again questioned the Leader of the Government in the Senate on the proposed softwood lumber agreement. She urged Senator LeBreton to table the agreement in the Senate and refer it to the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce for study.
On page 19 of its election platform, the Conservative Party promised to help Canadian workers and businesses coping with illegal American trade actions. The Conservatives confirmed they would continue paying the legal bills of Canadian businesses that were fighting American softwood lumber tariffs and support displaced forestry workers. In addition, they promised to invest $1 billion over five years to support Canada's softwood industry.
“The Conservatives have been in office for only 100 days and have already broken all of these promises. How does the Conservative government plan to keep these promises after forcing this agreement on Canada, removing the ability to help our forest industry and its workers?” asked Senator Ringuette.
Senator Ringuette asked the Leader of the Government in the Senate for the third time to table the softwood lumber agreement in the Senate and refer it to the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce for study. She believes that tabling the agreement that was sent to the provinces last week will weaken the Conservatives’ culture of secrecy.
“The Conservative government may be trying to muzzle its caucus, but in reality it is not keeping its promise. The government is trying to hide the hard facts of the softwood agreement from Canadians,” said Senator Ringuette.