Thank you for allowing me to speak today.
I'm not against trade, like Greg and the people before me said. I think trade deals that are good and fair make for good business. I'm not against that. I'm not against growing our Canadian economy and lending opportunities for everyone to grow.
I think today I'll speak mostly on chapter 12, mostly on the labour mobility issue, which seemingly opens the door to weaken the middle class. I believe last year Canadians spoke pretty loud and clear that the middle class are the people that we're trying to bolster up. I think chapter 12, with its language as it is, is very, very broad and very, very weak, and really creates a weakening of the middle class by the weakening of laws, the weakening of safety laws.
I believe Canada was built by bricklayers, not lawyers. When I look at this trade deal, what I see are lawyers who are going to have to be involved in litigation, not bricklayers to build our country, not tradespeople to build our country. It's very, very unfortunate. This country does not need 36 million lawyers to settle trade deals, because the money will run out. If you're not getting your money from the workers of Canada to run the government and run the affairs of the government, it's going to run out. Trust me. I can do the math. It's pretty simple. You guys are all very intelligent people, far more than I am.
When I looked at this and I read chapter 12, I thought of the analogy that my kid was going to school and was mowing my lawn for $20, and that $20 would be paid back somehow by him putting it toward his tuition or, God forbid, giving some board money back to the house. But the way I read this labour mobility agreement, if the kid down the street says he'll do it for $15, then I'm obligated to let him do it for $15. I would have to hire him, or my neighbour would go and get a lawyer and sue me. Right?
I find it very ridiculous that we don't see the value, especially in chapter 12, of either taking out that language, which the United States has done, or making it so it is fair for everyone. I do not want to send my kids to Malaysia to go to work. It's a long, damp commute back on the weekend.
Thank you very much.