Mr. Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, NDP): Mr. Speaker, on November 9, 4,800 Canada 3000 employees came to work to find they had no jobs. As we speak hundreds of these employees are outside the House of Commons demanding positive, concrete steps to bring some sense of order to Canada's airline industry.

    In the absence of any ideas coming from the government benches, will the Minister of Transport at least assure these workers that the government will implement the workforce stabilization proposal put forward by the airline unions and the Canadian Labour Congress?

    Hon. David Collenette (Minister of Transport, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, it is indeed regrettable what happened to Canada 3000. The bankruptcy was something that no one wanted. In fact it was this government that offered $75 million by way of loan guarantees.

    However, before we dispensed with the taxpayers' money, we wanted to make sure there was a viable business plan so that money would not just disappear and Canada 3000 would not come back six months in the future and ask for another $75 million.

    All those things were analyzed and unfortunately Canada 3000 could not put forward a business plan to bring profitability to that particular airline.