Mr. Speaker, here are some facts for the hon. member.
The number of investment arbitration cases has surged in the last two decades from 38 cases filed in 1996 to 450 known investor state cases in 2011.
Ontario has just been sued by an international company over its decision to try to generate a local wind farm technology sector.
Quebec has just been sued over its decision to put a moratorium on fracking in its province.
Newfoundland was sued successfully by Mobil when it tried to have that company invest in R and D in that province.
Those are examples of Canadian taxpayers being on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions. Those are facts and realities.
The hon. member can only babble and gab on with generalities and name-calling. He cannot seem to respond directly to the issue before us, which is this: why is the government putting investor state provisions in agreements that subject taxpayers to damages when the government should be simply making policy in the interests of Canadians? Will the member answer that direct question?