Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday the Toronto Dominion Bank announced that the British Columbia economy is essentially in recession. It is not hard to understand why. For example, a Swedish company, Bolidon Limited, purchased Gibraltar Mines near Williams Lake less than three months ago. Last week it announced that it is permanently closing this mine with a 12-year ore reserve still in the ground. What it really wanted were the Chilean mines in the deal.
Two hundred and seventy-eight people will lose their jobs. The economic spin-off of this closure will only add to the economic devastation felt by the community as a result. The actions of both the provincial and federal governments have had an enormous detrimental impact on my riding of Cariboo—Chilcotin and on the entire province of British Columbia. While the national unemployment rate is falling, it rose by almost .5% last month to 9.7% which is higher than it was when this Liberal government began its economic reforms in 1994.
British Columbians are suffering. What does this government care? British Columbians demand changes—