Mr. Speaker, I have the good fortune of sitting in front of my esteemed colleague, who is an academic and economist by profession.
I was a little troubled by his comments on the possible role of a trained economist in politics. The current Prime Minister is a world-class economist. He was the governor of two central banks. I do not know of anyone else in the history of Canada, or perhaps anywhere else, who has done the same. This is someone who has had an international career and who knows how finance and economics work. My colleague seems to be saying that someone like that who enters politics is not a good politician by definition. I am a little confused, because he and I have somewhat similar backgrounds. We are not professional politicians. We have done other things in life.
Why would a trained economist not have a place as a politician in Canada?