Nanaimo-Alberni MP James Lunney flew to Strasbourg, Germany last week to speak at the 34th annual meeting of the Canada European Interparliamentary Association.
Topics discussed at the forum in Strasbourg, France, in the European Parliament included the political situation in Canada, the economic crisis, foreign affairs, immigration and other topics of mutual interest and concern.
As a long standing member of the Canada-EU Interparliamentary Association, Lunney was chosen to speak for Canada about a Canadian perspective on the global economic crisis.
Lunney highlighted the fact that Canada entered the recession later than most developed economies, that we were also the first to come out of recession and Canada is believed to be the only economy to have created more jobs than were lost during the recession.
Canada’s low debt to GDP ratio, he noted, is well below that of most European member states.
“It was a great experience visiting the European Parliament,” said Lunney, noting that Strasbourg is the capital of the Alsatian province of France, a historic city, a region just smaller than Nanaimo-Alberni situated on the French-German border.
“With the Euro zone facing a new round of debt driven financial turbulence, it was an eye opener to hear from experts struggling to pull back a member state from the brink of economic collapse,” Lunney said. “Canada’s economy is threatened by the slow pace of economic recovery south of the border, by high household debt domestically and by the crisis in the Eurozone nations.”
— News staff