Mr. Speaker, I do not see any connection between his question and the issue we are discussing today. It is a shame, because we are in a difficult situation where people are worried about their jobs, and the government is trying to distract us by bringing up other topics. I would urge my colleague to focus instead on the problem we have brought to the table today and to talk to his colleagues so we can resolve this.
Let us take the “buy Canadian” policy as an example. Before Christmas, the government promised to make buying Canadian a priority. What happened in the end? A few weeks later, the government could have bought Canadian steel to build future ferries in the Vancouver area, but instead decided to give that contract to the Chinese. That is $1 billion going to China.
We could also talk about the renewal of Via Rail's fleet. A contract is coming up. Will it be awarded to Alstom, or will it go to Siemens again, like last time, when the Americans were given $1 billion to build it?
It is important to choose to keep our people employed rather than constantly sending money abroad.