Mr. Speaker, Canadians have paid dearly for the softwood lumber sellout of the government. Thousands upon thousands of jobs have been lost. Over $1 billion, revealed yesterday in testimony, has either been incurred or is anticipated in arbitral awards.
Now we find out that teams of lawyers are being paid by taxpayers to defend Canada under the softwood sellout. So much for an end to litigation.
My question for the government is very simple. How much money in lawyers' fees are Canadian taxpayers having to cough up for this botched deal and this bad softwood lumber sellout?