Mr. Speaker, some individuals delight in insinuating that the political situation in Canada and Quebec is the cause of the instability affecting the Canadian bond market.
It is important to set the record straight and to say that nothing could be further from the truth. Japanese investors sold off large numbers of Canadian bonds which they owned in March, after the budget was tabled and well before the Leader of the Official Opposition made his trips abroad. The bond divestment was prompted by the negative reaction of financial markets to the Liberal government's budget.
Mr. Masakazu Mizutani, Vice President and Treasurer of the Bank of Tokyo in Toronto, confirms that investors have eased up considerably on their sales of Canadian bonds and that today, "they do not have many left to sell".
In short, the hike in interest rates and the massive divestment of Canadian bonds in March are the result of ill-conceived budgetary and monetary policies on the part of the Liberal government.