Madam Speaker, I am proud of our country and so are my constituents in Hamilton Centre, but that pride is diminished when the Conservative government does not even buy Canadian flag pins that are actually made in Canada.
We can and do make flag pins here but the government screwed up and bought pins made in China. Is the recession over? Suddenly we do not need to support Canadian manufacturing jobs anymore?
Canadians also believe in fairness. However, when it comes to Canada Day, the Conservatives chose to play cheap politics with our national pride.
From federal funding of $3.8 million for July 1st celebrations, they gave $3.2 million to Quebec in an apparent transparent attempt to buy votes. That left a mere $600,000 for the rest of Canada and only $100,000 for Ontario, our most populous province.
This is not complicated. The government should buy Canadian flag pins from Canadian manufacturers and share the celebration funds equally. It must stop shipping our jobs overseas and stop playing politics with our Canada Day.