Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of things that I am good at and singing is not one of them.
I did not know there is a housing slowdown. If I look at my own city, there is a housing boom. In the last five to eight years there have been many condominiums and houses built all across the greater Toronto area. Certainly, there is no shortage of builders in need of workers and lumber. I do not understand where this is coming from. What does the member mean that there is a housing slowdown? I have not noticed that there is one.
The other thing that we know is that we are entitled to $5 billion. We know that especially after a court decision that was so clear. It was not the first or second decision. There has been court decision after court decision that has said the $5 billion belonged to Canadians. It does not belong to the bullies. The coalitions have been bullying us and we are now paying money to the bullies. This is their reward for bullying us. That does not make any sense whatsoever.
Really, we are rewarding them with $500 million for causing our lumber industry to suffer and layoff workers over the years. Instead of pushing back, we give up and say, “Thank you for bullying us, take this $500 million and take the $450 million for your President who has given you so much strength to bully Canadians”.