Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to explain my support for the Conservative amendment, which seeks to reduce Canada's contribution to this Asian infrastructure bank to zero.
This contribution would take up to $480 million from the Treasury, from the international development budget—I do not think we have repeated that often enough—, to fund infrastructures in Asia. In my opinion, this decision is ill-advised.
We are told that this contribution will promote Canadian interests abroad. Come on. I do not know if anyone around the table really believes that investing in this bank will promote Canadian interests abroad. If we want to put the interests of Canadians first, I think we can do that in many other ways. We can spend $480 million in our economy rather than investing it abroad, especially since those Asian infrastructures will probably operate on a user-pay basis.
I do not think that money will ever come back to Canada. It will go into the pockets of a foreign bank, whose executives are questionable. Personally, I am doubtful about the safeguards. What safeguards does that bank have? Some witnesses have said that the protections against corruption are insufficient.
I appeal to all members of this committee to support this motion, and thank the Conservatives for proposing it. Once again, if we had $480 million to spend in Canada, I would not invest it in that Asian bank. I would invest it instead in our economy, in Canadian entrepreneurs and SMEs, at home, in Sherbrooke, and right across the country.