Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his constructive, non-partisan question.
I would like to quote today from William Watson, an economist at McGill University, who said:
The public works minister followed with another sensible argument: We're a trading nation and if we want to sell our goods in other countries, we have to be open to buying theirs.
Further, Professor Watson said, “If we don't buy from the Chinese, the Chinese may not buy from us”. If every country adopted that attitude, where would we be? How much wheat could Canadians eat? How many Bombardier Challengers or Nortel switches or Chevy Impalas could we buy? Far fewer than we produce today.