Aaron Gunn
North Island—Powell River, British Columbia · Conservative · Canada
“Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition to provide our beloved police service dogs with the veterinary care in retirement that these valued police partners deserve.”
“Therefore, the petitioners are calling for all police service dogs who have completed three years or more of active duty to have their veterinary care fully covered for all injuries directly linked to their policing service, and 50% covered for the remainder of their general veterinary care.”
“There used to be a promise here in Canada, Mr. Speaker, that if a person worked hard, paid their taxes and followed the law, they could afford a home, groceries and a decent standard of living. Now, after 10 years of the Liberal government, for most Canadians that promise no longer exists.”
“Mr. Speaker, I can tell the House that most people on Vancouver Island know one thing, which is that the economic policies of the Liberal government have been hurting young Canadians the most, young people who can no longer afford homes in the communities they grew up in, whose jobs have been shipped overseas or taken by temporary foreign…”
“Mr. Speaker, I always thought the role of the media was to hold the powerful accountable and to unapologetically seek the truth. Apparently, however, the CBC views it as trying to deceive and trick individual Canadians into bizarre and intentional traps.”
“Mr. Speaker, Canadians are outraged to learn that taxpayer dollars went to deceive and lie to individual Canadians, including RCMP veterans. A CBC production used fake websites, fake names and fake companies to lure them into supposed interviews about their lives after retirement, but it was all just a front, a set-up for some sort of twi…”
The complete record
Every one of 173 lines we hold for Aaron Gunn, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 2 of 4.
“Our security, our unity and our strength of spirit as a nation exist not in spite of our freedom but because of it, and attempts by some to erode that for the benefit and glee of others who would regulate, intimidate and control are misguided and wrong. Over the last 10 years, Liberal governments have consistently introduced legislation that is part of a trend in our country, a trend of increasing the influence of those who would wield the wand of censorship and empowering those who seek to control what we think by controlling what we can see and discuss online.”
“That is the price of denying government the power to regulate the words we speak and, I should say, that is the price of free speech in Canada today. In years and generations past, the price paid to protect this fundamental freedom was much greater, measured not in courtrooms, in parliamentary committees or even on the floor of this House but measured on battlefields around the world by the blood spilled and lives lost to defend it. The question of whether to sacrifice some of our freedom to feel more secure and more comfortable is a question as old at least as western civilization itself, but it represents a false choice.”
“Mr. Speaker, what kind of society and what kind of country do we want to be? Is it one where the government has the power to decide what we can or cannot say, to decide what religious texts we can or cannot read and which opinions we can or cannot hear, or do we want to be a country where citizens are allowed to express themselves freely without fear of persecution or intimidation from the state, where citizens are allowed to voice their opinions, speak their truths and engage in robust political debate, and where we recognize that the price of free speech includes having to occasionally hear things that we disagree with, that are distasteful, that are repugnant and that at times may even contain hate? That is the price of free speech, is it not?”
“Mr. Speaker, three weeks ago, the Minister of Natural Resources claimed that the decision to allow Brookfield Renewable Partners to send Canadian hydroelectricity out of Powell River to the United States, with almost no benefit to Canadians, was out of his hands and instead rested with the Canada Energy Regulator. The only problem is that the regulator told me that it made its recommendation to reject the permit two months ago. Since that time, it has been sitting on the minister's desk. Will the minister commit to accepting the regulator's recommendation and to denying Brookfield this permit?”
“Mr. Speaker, working together is great, but the question was about jobs. In the real world, Liberal rhetoric and platitudes do not create a single job. GDP was flat in November. Real GDP is projected to decline. The Bank of Canada says that business investment will remain weak. Meanwhile, 5,400 forestry workers in coastal B.C. are already out of a job. The government promised to build nation-building projects and create jobs at a speed we have never seen before. My question for the government is this: Where are these projects and where are these jobs?”
“Mr. Speaker, devastated, anxious and fearful of what the future may hold are just some of the emotions, I am sure, that the 25,000 Canadians who lost their jobs last month undoubtedly feel. These are individuals, like all Canadians, who, even when working, were already struggling with the cost of groceries, the cost of rent and the cost of just getting by. Now, not only are they dealing with a cost of living crisis, but they are also out of a job. The Prime Minister promised the fastest-growing economy in the G7. When will his policies deliver anything other than job losses, massive deficits and the highest cost of groceries among our economic peers?”
“I know I speak for all members of the House when I wish the amazing athletes representing Canada the best of luck and all the success in the world. To Nate, Sid, Connor and the boys on the ice, let us go get another gold medal.”
“Mr. Speaker, it was 16 years ago this month when Canadians from coast to coast came together to celebrate the most dominant performance in winter Olympic history, with 26 medals, 14 of them gold, and nothing more iconic, of course, than Sidney Crosby's golden goal, which eliminated the United States and reclaimed Canada's rightful place as the undisputed hockey nation of the world. It was a moment etched into the very memory and identity of this great country, a defining moment of national unity and national pride. Whether people were watching that final game from their living room, at a bar or with the thousands crammed outside of LiveCity in Yaletown, as I was, it was one of those rare instances of pure, unadulterated joy.”
“Mr. Speaker, I have good news. The Canada Energy Regulator has rejected Brookfield's plans to send Canadian hydroelectricity to the United States with almost no benefit to the people who live here, and has instead recommended a full licensing process and review. However, the final decision still rests with the Minister of Natural Resources. Will the minister commit to accepting the Energy Regulator's recommendations and ensuring that Canada's national interests always come first?”
“Mr. Speaker, I have a suggestion, and it is to drop the ideological 30 by 30, which stops forestry workers from doing their jobs. I appreciate my colleague's comments on this issue, and I appreciate the government's promises of support, but forestry workers in my riding and across B.C. cannot eat Liberal promises and they cannot pay their mortgages with a Liberal speech. They need action. They need results. They need the government to actually deliver something. Literally thousands of jobs have been lost. How many more mills have to close? How many more people have to be put out of work before the Liberal government steps up and takes this crisis seriously?”
“Mr. Speaker, last week was a devastating one for forestry workers and their families on Vancouver Island. Just outside Port McNeill, the Atli Chip plant announced it would be permanently closed, and curtailments were announced at the Ladysmith and Saltair locations of the iconic Chemainus sawmill, where my grandfather worked for 30 years. These were good-paying jobs, the type of jobs that built communities up and down Vancouver Island and right across B.C. The government promised to stand with these workers, to have their backs. Instead, mills keep closing and workers are being laid off. When will the government's actions and results finally live up to its rhetoric and its words?”
“Make no mistake; once we cross this Rubicon, once we accept the premise that governments and politicians in the House have the subjective right to determine what we may or may not say, or what religious texts we may or may not read, we have lost the plot. Free speech is a western value, a Canadian principle and a human right, and we must always defend it.”
“Mr. Speaker, what constitutes a free society? What are the identifying characteristics that separate nations whose people live in freedom from those whose subjects live under tyranny and fear? I can think of no guiding principle more fundamental to this question than the existence, or lack thereof, of free speech and free expression: the legal ability to express oneself without fear of government coercion, oppression or use of force. This why I am so concerned by the Liberal government's Bill C-9 , which would open the floodgates and abandon the guardrails on prosecuting and criminalizing speech in Canada, including the reading of sacred and ancient religious texts such as the Bible, the Torah and the Koran.”
“Madam Speaker, I was 21 at the time, if I am doing the math correctly, so I am not familiar with all the ins and outs of what was or was not in the platform back in 2011. What I can tell the member is that we support a pipeline. We support getting top dollar for Canada's number one export, expanding our trade markets, becoming less dependent on the United States, actually getting things done, following the science and the evidence, and not making political decisions that kill individual projects.”
“Madam Speaker, look, the point the Liberals do not understand is that we should not even need an MOU in this country to build things. A private proponent proposed a pipeline and got the project approved by the National Energy Board. The project met all the requisite requirements but was killed for political reasons by the Liberal government. One should not need to go on bended knee to the Prime Minister to beg for a project to get built. We are supposed to be a first world country, not a banana republic. We set the highest environmental standards in the world. If one meets them, one should be allowed to build the project, whether it is a mine, a pipeline or a new housing development. We need to get things done.”
“Madam Speaker, I cannot predict the future, but I will tell the House one thing: It needs to be built. It needs to be built for the national interest of this country. We cannot continue to be an economic dependant of the United States, an economic colony of the United States. We need to take control of our own future and start building things again. Whether it is mines in Saskatchewan, pipelines in B.C. or nuclear power plants in Ontario, we need to get building again in this country. Unfortunately, I think that only with a new Conservative government will it actually get done.”
“Madam Speaker, what it comes down to is that we should be getting the top price for Canadian oil that is possible. We are going to get that top price only if we have access to world markets. If we allow ourselves to be backed into a corner for the Americans to have ultimate leverage over our number one export, we are not going to be able to get the top price. This is why we need to get pipelines built; we need to get a pipeline built to the Pacific and finally create more Canadian jobs, create more Canadian revenues and start building things in this country once again.”
“When it comes to building this pipeline, a majority of British Columbians and Canadians agree, but most importantly, it is in the essential national interests of our country. The truth is that the silver lining to this challenge lies in the solution. We do not need the government to step up in any particular way. We just need the government to get out of the way to give this country back to those who built it and continue to build it, the people. That is why I urge every member of the House, regardless of their province, party or ideology, to vote with us for Canadian workers, prosperity, economic sovereignty, energy independence and building things, including pipelines, in this country once again.”
“It continues a trend of the Liberal government pursuing ideological policies and virtue signalling to one group or another over straightforward, common-sense results. However, there is good news. Canadians are seeing through the spin. In recent polling, 67% of British Columbians believe that new pipelines are important to Canada's economic future, and 54% are confident that pipelines can be built while protecting the environment. Pipelines are the most environmentally friendly and sensitive way to transport this commodity, yet we have the B.C. Premier saying that the pipeline will “never be built”, and the Prime Minister has been unwilling to assert the nation-building and constitutional roles of the federal government to get this project done.”
“Why is it that 24.4 million tonnes of foreign oil are allowed to transit Canada's east coast, including down the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, yet on B.C.'s north coast, this is banned? There is no scientific evidence whatsoever that suggests that tanker traffic in northwestern B.C. presents a greater risk to the environment than anywhere else. In fact, because there is a lack of maritime traffic in general, the exact opposite is true. Here is the kicker: There are already tankers off of B.C.'s coast. Four tankers each day, filled to the brim with American oil, depart Alaska, heading south alongside the very waters where Canadian tanker traffic carrying Canadian oil is currently banned.”
“As long as the world needs and demands oil, as much of it as possible should come from right here in Canada. To do that, we need pipelines. Unfortunately, instead of showing leadership on this file or following in the nation-building footsteps of those who built this country, the Liberal government has done the exact opposite by axing the northern gateway pipeline; killing energy east; and introducing the bill known as the no more pipelines bill, Bill C-69 , and the tanker ban, Bill C-48 as well as the industrial carbon tax. It is a suite of policies compiled by design for one purpose, which is to kill Canada's oil and gas industry to leave our most valuable resource, asset and commodity in the ground. Let us take the tanker ban as one example.”
“(1305) Today, over 90% of our country's oil exports are sold to one country, the United States. Make no mistake, if we do not get these pipelines built, if Canadian oil stays in the ground, which, by the way, I think is the true objective of at least some members of the Liberal caucus, those investment dollars and jobs will go elsewhere. They will go to brutal, repressive regimes, such as Venezuela and Iran, to fund the priorities of their governments, which are to repress peaceful dissent and export terrorism and hard drugs, instead of supporting the priorities of our government, which are health care, education, roads and the support of our brave men and women in uniform. Here is the truth: No one does environmental stewardship and safety better than Canada and Canadians.”
“Meanwhile, as we have allowed our Canadian oil industry to atrophy, American oil output has grown by more than 50%. What are we doing? We have the oil, the know-how, the skill and the determination of the Canadian people. I can guarantee that. All we are missing are the politicians with the courage and vision to get the job done. To be clear, and this is an important point, the world needs more energy. It needs it today, and it is going to continue to need it for decades to come. In fact, the International Energy Agency predicts that global energy demand will continue to grow well past 2050, and more than a quarter of that total energy demand will continue to come in the form of oil. The problem is that that increase in demand is concentrated in Asian markets, markets that, without pipelines, Canada has little to no access to.”
“They argued it would have been politically easier, and undoubtedly more affordable, and on those two points they were right, but it would have come at the expense of Canadian sovereignty and left us a mere dependent, a colony of the Americans. Fortunately, our leaders in that era had the foresight and the passionate devotion to our national interest to see through the railway that we now call the ribbon of steel on an all-Canadian route. Unfortunately, the Liberal government today has essentially accomplished the exact opposite and is moving us in the opposite direction. Let us think about how ridiculous this is. Canada has the third-largest reserves of oil on the entire planet, yet we are still importing oil from repressive, dictatorial regimes, such as Saudi Arabia.”
“At a time of predatory and hostile U.S. trade action, which is a deliberate attempt to destroy our forestry, steel, aluminum and automotive sectors, we are essentially giving our oil to the Americans on the cheap because the Liberal government does not have the political fortitude to get a Canadian pipeline built, a pipeline that would secure our economic sovereignty, energy independence and the leverage that we need over the United States. However, this is not really a new issue. Back when Macdonald was first proposing the Canadian Pacific Railway and undertaking, as I mentioned, what many thought could not be done, there were loud voices, mainly in the Liberal Party at the time, that demanded that the east-west railway be built through the much easier terrain of the United States.”
“In the late 1800s, Canada was a small country, divided by language and having a much larger and more powerful neighbour to the south, yet, in that historical context, we completed what many consider to be one of the great political and engineering feats of the time, the Canadian Pacific Railway. Today, the Liberal government cannot even bring itself to openly support a pipeline. It is content instead to sign vague, indeterminate pieces of paper, promising to one day maybe consider building a pipeline to the Pacific. The consequences of this lack of vision and follow-through are very real. Today, our lack of market access forces us to sell our oil, our number one export, at a massive discount to the United States, a reality that has cost us tens of thousands of jobs and $70 million each day, or $25 billion every single year.”
“From the national railway through two world wars, their determination and perseverance shaped not only the land around them but also those who called it home. What has happened to that tenacity, that fortitude, that resolve, the ability to get things done? Where are our leaders, our statesmen for a new century, those who could live up to the lions of Canadian history, such as Laurier, Macdonald and W.A.C. Bennett? Where are the leaders who can rediscover the boldness and audacity that built this country and couple it with a vision as befitting a nation as vast and bursting with potential as our own? That vision starts with getting back to the basics, with actually building things.”
“Madam Speaker, on July 20, 1871, British Columbia became the sixth province to sign on to the audacious vision that was Canada as laid out by the fathers of Confederation, a vision that was as bold as it was courageous, which was to create a new nation, one that would stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific, through the Rockies, across the Prairies and over the Canadian Shield to unite these small, disparate and insignificant colonies of what was then British North America. It was perhaps the greatest nation-building project the world had ever seen. Over a century and a half later, we owe much of our prosperity, identity and independence to them and those who followed in their footsteps. They built and defended this country from the ground up.”
“Mr. Speaker, devastated, gutted and heartbroken are just three of the emotions I felt after learning that 375 Canadians would be losing their jobs with the closing of the Crofton mill. These are Canadians with mortgage payments and with young families, Canadians who were already struggling with the rising cost of living before receiving this terrible news. The government promised to support our workers and secure market access for our goods. Instead, lumber tariffs have tripled, and thousands of Canadians have lost their jobs. If the Liberals' so-called plan is really working, can they guarantee that no more mills in Canada will close as a result?”
“Mr. Speaker, Canada used to be a country that built things and got things done. It built the Canadian Pacific Railway through the Rockies and across the Canadian Shield. Today, we are governed by Liberals who spend more time building fake backdrops for press conferences than on nation-building projects to secure our sovereignty from the United States. A new pipeline to the Pacific was already approved 11 years ago, and the Liberals killed it. Macdonald did not promise one day to maybe review a proposal and hope a railway got built. He promised a route to the Pacific and he delivered. Will the government do the same, yes or no?”
“Mr. Speaker, maybe if Brookfield proposed a pipeline we could actually get one backed by this Prime Minister . Let us be clear: a majority of Canadians support this pipeline. A majority of British Columbians support this pipeline. As long as the world needs these resources, as long as the world needs oil and gas, until that last barrel comes out of the ground, as much of those resources as possible should come from right here in Canada. Why will the government not take up its mantle of leadership, deliver on what it promised and get this pipeline built?”
“Mr. Speaker, this Prime Minister promised to build Canada strong, yet when it comes to a pipeline to the coast of B.C., a pipeline that could end the U.S. monopoly on Canadian oil and bring billions of dollars into Canada, he transforms into a helpless bystander, hiding behind the NDP premier in B.C., ceding responsibility and abdicating leadership. The Constitution is clear: National pipelines are the sole jurisdiction of the federal government. Failing to act is a betrayal of our national interests; it is a betrayal of our workers, and it is selling out to the Americans. Will they build the pipeline, yes or no?”
“Mr. Chair, as I said earlier, this industry on the coast of B.C. is one sawmill or pulp mill closure away from total collapse. It is barely hanging on. It is losing money at this moment. It has been struggling for a while. If we do not get a trade deal soon, if we do not get access to fibre soon, this is just the tip of the iceberg, and thousands of additional jobs are at risk.”
“Mr. Chair, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for the question. I am sure he knows, in talking to forestry companies, especially in British Columbia and right across this country, that other than the trade issues with the United States, access to fibre is the number one issue that these companies face. It is the number one issue facing the industry and preventing it from going forward and being successful. As far as 30 by 30 goes, that is just another ideological restriction. That is just another source of uncertainty that scares away investment, that scares away companies from making hiring decisions and investing in mills and that scares away what should be one of the most profitable and prosperous industries in our entire country.”
“Mr. Chair, I thank my hon. colleague for the question; that is a great question. The truth is the Prime Minister promised that he would have a deal by July 21, and he did not get one. Instead, the Liberals have gone around poking the U.S. administration in the eye. Their solution to everything seems to be to print and hand out more money. The truth is that this industry in British Columbia, and on the coast of B.C. in my riding, is completely falling apart. Coastal mills are closing, and 5,400 people have been put out of work. If just one more of these pulp mills or sawmills closes, the domino effect could be a collapse of the entire industry. I cannot speak for the Prime Minister on why he is incapable of delivering on his promise and getting a deal. What I do know is that this is what he campaigned on, and he is not getting it done.”
“Mr. Chair, while it would be great to boost some domestic demand for softwood lumber, that is not the problem. This is an export industry. About 90% of Canada's softwood exports go to the United States. That cannot be replaced with domestic demand. We can build all the homes we want, and we are all in favour of building homes here on the opposition side of the aisle, but if we do not fix the issues with access to trade markets and access to the United States, this industry will collapse. It is collapsing right before our eyes. In the process, while we are securing that access, the government should get out of the way and remove this ideological access to fibre that the 30 by 30 United Nations commitment is currently doing.”
“There is no reason why the industry should not have a bright future of growth, success and prosperity, but if the government does not act to secure trade access to the U.S., to diversify our markets and to lift ideological restrictions on access to fibre, the current trend will continue, a trend of decline, of pessimism and of slowly destroying one of the foundational industries that built our incredible country. For the sake of future generations and for Canada, I urge the Liberal government to rise to the occasion, finally do what needs to be done and deliver on what it promised.”
“Every day, I see the effects of all these policies in my riding: people out of work; families cutting back; lineups at the Comox Valley Airport of individuals desperate for work, seeking whatever they can at mines and energy projects hundreds or thousands of miles away; and young Canadians, be it in Campbell River or Port Hardy, whom I talk to, who see no future for forestry at all. All they see is uncertainty and a perpetual downward spiral to nothing. However, it does not have to be this way. Canada has the best forestry workers and the best forestry companies of anywhere in the world. We have an industry that can operate sustainably for generations to come, and we have a product in softwood lumber that builds our homes and is the envy of countries right around the world.”
“There are mass closures that have nothing to do with permitting delays and access to fibre but have everything to do with ideology and ticking the box of bureaucrats and activists in New York, and for what? It is to put our industry and our workers at a competitive disadvantage and to send our forestry jobs to Brazil, to Russia and to the United States, countries with lower environmental standards than our own. This is at a time when forestry in Canada and the 200,000 Canadian workers that it employs face an unprecedented existential crisis due to predatory trade action from the U.S.”
“The Liberals have had more than 10 years, under three different U.S. presidents, to renew or otherwise modify this deal. I would say they have done nothing, except the truth is that they have done worse than nothing, which brings me to the second reason this industry that built so much of our country is in crisis. That second reason is the current government's reckless and arbitrary commitment to close up to 30% of Canada's lands to economic activity, including forestry, as part of the United Nations' 30x30 policy, a policy that risks exacerbating uncertainty around permitting delays and access to fibre, and that was suffocating the industry before the latest tariffs even came into place.”
“The first reason is that the Prime Minister promised he would have a deal with the Americans by July 21 to remove the punitive and baseless tariffs and to provide some certainty for an industry eager to return to its feet. That did not exactly happen, did it? Instead, American tariffs on Canadian softwood, far from being removed, have tripled under the Prime Minister, and his response, beyond some flippant comments like “Who cares?”, is nothing. In fact, to add insult to injury, Canada, one of the most forested jurisdictions in the entire world, is now importing raw logs from the United States. I will just remind Canadians of the backstory to all this. In 2006, the previous Conservative government signed a much-celebrated softwood lumber deal with the U.S. that expired in late 2015.”
“More Canadians work in forestry than in the steel, aluminum and automotive sectors combined, and they are getting killed right now, especially in my home province of British Columbia. On the coast alone, harvest volumes have collapsed to half. More than 5,400 jobs have been lost. Mills have closed and others are curtailed, and we are now harvesting only one-third of our annual allowable cut. It could be about to get even worse, because if just one more major mill closes, if just one more domino in the supply chain falls, the entire industry faces the very real possibility of total collapse, and there are two major reasons why.”
“Mr. Chair, “Who cares?” is what the Prime Minister said when asked when he had last spoken to the U.S. President about Canada's ongoing trade negotiations. The Prime Minister claimed that he had no “burning issue” to discuss with the United States at the moment and that he would speak to the President again “when it matters”. To the over 200,000 Canadians who earn their living in forestry, who harvest our wood, mill our timber, and provide the lumber from which we build our homes, and whose blood, sweat and tears built cities like Campbell River, Powell River and Port McNeill, it matters, and it matters to their families, to their communities and to this country.”
“However, to export this power, it needs a permit from the federal government. That is why I am imploring it today, as the local elected representative, to deny this application. Let us get back to putting the interests of Canada and the Canadian people first, instead of foreign-owned corporations.”
“Mr. Speaker, in Powell River, one of the local communities I represent, two hydro dams provided a clean, reliable and cost-effective source of electricity for over 100 years. Their electricity powered the local pulp mill, created thousands of jobs and quite literally built this amazing and beautiful city. That was until the mill fell into financial trouble and was forced to sell the dams as distressed assets to Brookfield, the company that registers its subsidiaries in Bermuda and has avoided paying more than $6 billion in Canadian taxes. Now we have found out it wants to use these amazing assets not to create Canadian jobs nor to power Canadian homes, but to export all of the electricity to the United States, with no benefit to the people of Powell River, B.C. or Canada.”
“We need to cut through the spin and look at the bottom line of how much the government is borrowing and how that compares to previous generations. As I pointed out, the government has more than doubled our national debt. It is time to get back to fiscal sanity and fiscal responsibility in this country.”
“Madam Speaker, my colleague raises a very good point, which is the fact that what the government is trying to do, and we have seen it happen in corporate Canada before, is move money around into different pots and try to mask the top figure, which is the massive amount of new debt. What matters is that the government is planning to borrow $321 billion over the next five years and put that money on the back of future generations to pay for. If the government moves money around, it does not matter whether it is put into Crown corporations or whether it is called an investment. When a creditor is lending money, they do not care if the money was borrowed to buy submarines that are going to last 50 years or to pay schoolteachers today. Debt is debt. It all comes with interest. It all affects the carrying capacity of our country.”
“We are right up there with the United States, but it has the world's reserve currency, so it has a slightly different set of circumstances to deal with. If the government truly thinks that sub-sovereign debt should not matter in that calculation, as it does in all the international metrics, then it should get up and declare publicly that it is not willing to support or back any provincial governments that may run into problems down the road. Barring that, we need to start looking at total government debt in this—”
“Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for giving me the opportunity to point out something that needs to be raised in this House, and that is how bad the deterioration of the fiscal situation has become in this country. The truth is, and I believe my hon. colleague will know this, that Canada's federation is structured differently than other countries in the G7. We hold massive amounts of what is called “sub-sovereign debt” in our provinces. Historically speaking, the federal government has backstopped those provinces if necessary. Looking at total government debt, according to the International Monetary Fund, the IMF, Canada is the seventh most indebted country in the entire world. We are right up there with Italy and France.”
“It is unethical, it is unfair, and it is something I hope all parliamentarians will join me in fighting and voting against.”