Mr. Speaker, after putting the axe to the "welfare state" the government is replacing it with the "entertainment state" as we can see from Team Canada's trip to Asia! Yet, taxpayers are served a lot of warmed-up dishes. For example, we witnessed yesterday with some surprise the "re-signing" of an agreement between Bombardier and Power Corporation to work in China, something which had already been signed in April.
I should also mention the contract for the subway in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, "announced" with fanfare last week when it had, in fact, been signed at the end of September. How can the government take credit for it when the cars were already under construction at the UTDC plant, in Ontario, long before Team Canada's trip? The government is hopping on the train while it is already moving!
Of course we are all pleased with the contracts signed in Asia by Canadian and Quebec companies but we denounce the fact that the government is trying to take credit for it, for purely partisan reasons. As Confucius would have said "Travellers from afar can brag with impunity".