Our foreign-exchange reserves when I took over were no more than a billion dollars; that is, roughly equal to two weeks' imports.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
In this financial year we will be spending at least $1.5 billion on foreign aid and we cannot be sure that this money will be properly spent, as corruption and mismanagement in many of the recipient countries are legend.
There is $1.4 billion a day in trade that goes back and forth across the border. That means millions of jobs and livelihoods for families here in Canada and for families in the United States.
It is clear our nation is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and more of our imports come from overseas.
We are spending $1 billion a week in Iraq.
In 1988, federal data showed a modest China-trade surplus of $1.6 billion in Canada's favour.
The prices of all imports would rise if the dollar depreciates.
I know that there is a great diversity of opinion as to who, in fact, pays the duties on imports. I do not intend to discuss that point. We of the staple and exporting States have long settled the question for ourselves, almost unanimously, from sad experience.
Foreign trade clearly holds down the cost of products we buy.
The CAFTA region currently imports $15 billion annually of U.S. agriculture and manufactured goods.
We aren't leveraging this great economic engine, the strongest economy in the world. And yet we have this totally weak response. We import $500 billion a year more in products than we export.