Mr. Speaker, it is becoming more and more obvious that Team Canada's trade mission in Asia is a vast propaganda effort. The people of Quebec and Canada are led to believe that this mission has generated billions of dollars in contracts for Canada and Quebec businesses.
But the reality is altogether different. Many of these contracts were signed ages ago and Team Canada's mission has nothing to do with securing them. One example of this is the agreement in principle between Bombardier and Power Corporation signed last April.
But there is worse. Several pseudo-contracts rest on nothing but agreements in principle and letters of intent. There are actually three times fewer firm contracts than the government claims, with its far-fetched figures.
As Confucius would say: "A rolling bicycle gathers no moss".