Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Halifax West for his speech.
His speech falls in line with what we are saying, namely that this is a step in the right direction, but there are not enough resources and data to allow border services officers and the RCMP to do their jobs in the best possible conditions.
However, when the Liberal Party was in power between 1993 and 2005, it did not adequately fund the fight against counterfeit products. In a report by the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology published in 2007, the RCMP stated that in 2005, it laid over 700 charges for intellectual property crimes. However, the RCMP said that it only had enough resources to investigate a small fraction of the cases brought to its attention.
Why did the Liberals refuse to adequately fund this area of enforcement, and are now calling on the Conservatives to do so?