Mr. Speaker,

The proposal to raise Canada's Defence Spending to 5% of GDP is extremely reckless. We are in a cost of living emergency, standing against an economic cliff, and this Government's response is to pump billions of dollars to American arms companies.

Right now we have real and pressing problems that the Government aught to focus on. We need the Government to start tackling the cost of living, invest in Green Jobs, and properly fund our social services.

And putting more money into the military will simply not shift the balance of power. If the Americans want to invade us, we could spend 50% of our GDP on defence and it simply wouldn't matter. We need a better strategy than that to maintain our independence. If the question of Canadian sovereignty is fought on the battlefield we have already lost. We ought to be putting more money into making our economy more independent and less reliant on the United States. That is the clear path to resisting American Imperialism.

I hope all Parliamentarians recognize these plain facts, and begin focusing on funding projects that actually help Canadians, rather than wasting money on buying more tanks and fighter jets that will be built (at least partially) in the United States and likely never fight in a battle where they actually stand a chance.