Canada PM Justin Trudeau Campaign Speech Transcript: Vaccine Program, Gun Laws, Housing

Justin Trudeau: (00:02)
Thank you so much, Eric, such a pleasure to be back in Windsor, such a pleasure to be here with you all this morning. Thank you, Rob, for welcoming us to this outstanding university and especially for introducing me to these great nursing students and I was talking with them earlier. The way our frontline healthcare workers have stepped up over these past 18 months has been nothing short of extraordinary and inspirational.

We know how many families were protected and supported by people who themselves were stepping up, working unbelievably long hours away from their families, putting themselves at risk and worrying about bringing it home to their families. But at the same time, knowing that this was a moment where Canada needed them and we are just so grateful to everyone out there across our health systems in the country who stepped up. And, extraordinarily grateful to those young people who’ve chosen to get into that profession who will be there to support those who’ve had an incredibly difficult past 18 months on those front lines. Bringing in strong young reinforcements like all of you is a wonderful thing.

I also want to talk about, here specifically in Windsor, those healthcare workers who crossed the border every day to save lives in the United States as the pandemic was raging, even stronger there than it was here. That is yet another reminder of how important it is for us to be there for our citizens, but also be there for each other. And that, we’ve demonstrated as we supported our frontline health workers but, also as Irek mentioned, as we were renegotiating NAFTA in a way that protected jobs and workers here in Windsor, as we continue to step up for the incredible people in this part of the country who continue to demonstrate strength, dedication, and incredibly hard work in building a better future for the Windsor area and for all Canadians.

Speaking of dedication to the Windsor area, it is an incredible pleasure to be here with our candidates. Audrey, you are going to be that great progressive voice for Essex that people there so incredibly deserve. So thank you so much for stepping up Sandra, what to say, you’re a fighter. You are always there with your Windsor heart on your sleeve, ready to step up, demonstrate the strong voice that you’ve had throughout your career, dedicating it to people in Windsor West. And Irek, your fight for workers over the past couple of years, your strong work as parliamentary secretary on jobs and employment. These are the kinds of things that Windsorites have been able to count on to help the federal government deliver. And we need more Progressive voices from here in Windsor to keep Canada moving forward.

Because that’s the choice people are facing in this election. Do we move Canada forward or do we take Canada back? Mr. O’Toole has been very, very clear, he doesn’t think we should be doing everything we need to end the pandemic for good. And unfortunately, before we can get to rebuilding our economy fully, making sure that workers have good jobs and good careers ahead of them, making sure we’re fighting climate change, making sure we’re supporting families we have to end this pandemic for good. And the only way to do that is through leadership on vaccinations, being strong and determined to make sure we’re putting in place all the measures necessary to get people vaccinated.

Now, over the past many months healthcare professionals, experts, community leaders, business leaders and politicians have been telling Canadians the way to get through this is to get vaccinated. We did our part as a government in securing a strong supply of vaccines so that we have enough vaccines in this country right now for every eligible Canadian to get double vaccinated. They’re there, they’re waiting for you. So if you haven’t yet gotten vaccinated now is the time to do it. They’re safe. They are effective. And they are, as we see, the only way through this pandemic right now.

So we are further putting in measures, proposing measures, that will allow the people who have stepped up, who have gotten vaccinated, who are thinking about their loved ones, about protecting their families about protecting our frontline health workers who are working incredibly long hours, including to save people in the ICU who hadn’t yet gotten vaccinated and are coming down with COVID. We’re going to keep moving forward on that.

So we’ve said you don’t get to get on a plane or a train unless you are vaccinated. You don’t get to work for the federal public service unless you’re fully vaccinated. And as provinces move forward on proof of vaccinations, to make sure that people enjoying non-essential services like restaurants or gyms or movie theaters show proof of vaccination to keep them safe and to encourage people who haven’t yet made the decision to get vaccinated, to get vaccinated. We are going to be unequivocal about that.

Mr. O’Toole, he won’t. He’s having to leave room for the anti-vaxxers in his party. Anytime someone asks him about, “Well, what about these anti-vax protesters? What about these PPC supporters?” His answer? ” This party is a big tent,” which means there is room and he welcomes people who are putting other people at risk. People who are protesting against vaccine mandates, who are protesting against masks.

We’ve seen a number of his candidates sharing disinformation around vaccines. But the core proof of this is he can’t even demand that his own candidates get vaccinated. How do you think he’s going to be able to lead Canada on vaccinations if he can’t even convince the people who signed up to follow him, who made him leader, to get vaccinated?

The choice on ending this pandemic is crystal clear. We are the government and the party with a strong plan on vaccinations, who will be there to defend the rights of those who did the right thing, who want to get back to normal, who want to keep our kids who can’t yet get vaccinated protected, who want to avoid further lockdowns and who want the economy to grow again.

Even Jason Kenney and Scott Moe have now recognized that vaccine certifications, proof of vaccinations, is the way to go. And like I said, we’ll be there for them. We will foot the bill for their proof of vaccination programs, because we know and have long known that it’s important. In Quebec, in Ontario, they’ve been in place for a while. Other provinces are bringing them on. It’s a good piece of news that everyone’s going to start doing it.

Except, of course, it leaves Mr. O’Toole standing alone in his resistance to bringing in measures that will support people who did the right thing and get us through this pandemic once and for all. And once we get through this pandemic once and for all, as we do that, there are big decisions to make.

[French 00:08:21]

We know that as we look to building back a better future for everyone, as we get through this pandemic, we have big decisions to make based on the lessons we learned from this pandemic. How do we make sure that our healthcare systems, our seniors, our vulnerable Canadians are supported? Well, on that, we are investing five times as much in healthcare over the next five years as Erin O’Toole is proposing. How can you look at this crisis we’re facing and decide, “You know what? We’ll invest in healthcare, but half a decade from now, eight, nine years from now.” No, people need investment now. And yet again, conservatives are not showing up with the investments Canadians need.

We also understand that this economic crisis hit harder on moms, on women than just about anyone else, which is why we’re moving forward on childcare, $10 a day childcare across the country. Creation of up to 250,000 new, affordable, high quality childcare spaces. And Erin O’Toole, he wants to rip up those deals and not create a single space. How can you go through this pandemic, not understand you need to be investing in healthcare right now. Not understand that families need better options for childcare and not understand that the best way to grow the economy is to make sure that women have that opportunity to choose a career and have their kids in secure and quality childcare spaces. It’s just the wrong decision.

He’s also making the wrong decision in promising the gun lobby to bring back assault weapons, which makes no sense. These are weapons designed to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time. But in order to win the leadership, he had to promise the gun lobby that he would reverse our ban of May last year. He’s now, of course, trying to backtrack on that and explain that’s not really what it means, even though it’s still in this platform. Because he now says, “Well, I’m going to work with partners and gun owners to review the prohibited weapons.” They’re prohibited. You don’t need to review it unless you’re going to bring them back.

But that’s the kind of slippery, weak leadership that Mr. O’Toole is putting forward. He’s not stepping up for the things that matter. And for me, the clearest example on that is that people in Windsor, particularly workers in Windsor, have understood that you don’t have a plan for good jobs and careers into the future, you don’t have a plan to grow the economy if you don’t have a real plan to fight climate change. And the conservatives do not.

Their plan on climate change is to return to Steven Harper’s targets and approach on climate change that failed Canada for 10 years and slowed us down in the fight, not just to reduce climate change, but to innovate and move forward in ways that are good for workers. And on workers, Mr. O’Toole is trying to-

And on workers, Mr. O’Toole is trying to talk about workers now, but people in the labor movement are right not to believe him because he is part of the same government that brought in anti union bills 525, and 377 that labor unions remember well. He’s continuing to demonstrate that he’s not aligned with the priorities, whether it be childcare, whether it be income supports, whether it be being a strong negotiating partner for unions. Or whether it be on the kinds of investments we need to create those jobs of the future. Moving towards zero emission vehicles, as we have made investments here in the Windsor area on. We’ve actually set a target of half of all the new car sales, new vehicle sales in Canada by 2030 will be zero emission, 100% of those new sales in 2035 will be zero emission. That’s part of our real plan to fight climate change that the Conservatives simply don’t have. We know we need to transform our energy mix, we need to step up even further on protecting our land and oceans and on reducing emissions. That’s why we’re bringing in and cap on oil sands, on oil and gas sector emissions that will steadily decrease until net zero. We are the only party with that plan.

And that comes to my final point, [foreign language 00:14:46]. I know progressive Canadians across the country are looking at the vision that Mr. O’Toole has put forward for this country of going backwards on climate change, not stepping up on childcare of having no plan to address the housing crisis except to give tax breaks to wealthy landlords, which is yet another example of the trickle-down approach that Conservatives have to economic growth, not being there for seniors, not being there to end the pandemic. And progressives are quite rightly worried. And I know there were a lot of people out there who are, as often happens in elections, torn between wanting to stop the Conservatives and knowing that the Liberal Party is the only party that can stop a Conservative government and wanting to vote for a better future to get the big things done. Well, that was in elections past. In this election the Liberal Party is not only the only party that can stop the Conservatives, but we’re also the only party with a real plan to get things done.

So I will ask progressives across the country who may be thinking about voting for the NDP or Green Party to think about the top issue that they are concerned with for the future. It may be childcare, it may be housing, where we have a real ambitious plan and unfortunately the NDP doesn’t, or maybe ending this pandemic, or it is likely to be at least partly on climate change. And on climate change, we know that we have to listen to experts, we have to listen to scientists on how we have the right level of ambition and actions to save the planet, science will dictate it. Well, I’m going to ask you not to take my word for it but if you care about our planet, if you care about fighting climate change, look into it this weekend. Compare the Liberal plan, not to the Conservative plan because that’s nowhere, to the NDP plan and even the Green plan. And look at what some of the top experts in the country have said from former Green Party leader and climate scientist, Andrew Weaver, to Mark Jaccard to Jennifer Winters, to Andrew Leach. These are some of the top climate thinkers in the country who have all said that the only serious plan with a sufficient level of ambition and solutions to tackle climate change and create those jobs and growth that we need into the future is the Liberal Party of Canada.

So you don’t have to make an impossible choice and vote strategically, you can actually vote for the party that is going to stop the Conservatives and move forward with the strongest plan to get things done. Because the choice in this election is do we let the Conservatives take Canada back or do we move forward for the climate, for workers, for families and seniors, for everyone. [foreign language 00:19:03]

Speaker 1: (19:05)
Thank you, Mr. Trudeau. We’ll now start the question period with Tonda MacCharles from the Toronto Star.

Tonda MacCharles: (19:11)
Good morning. Sir, once again, you have a candidate that’s mired in allegations of sexual misconduct. And you always say you take this stuff seriously and yet this was news to the Liberal Party. How is it that the liberal team failed to learn this until the Toronto Star told you about it? And will you let that candidate, Mr. Vuong will you let that candidate, Mr. Vuong, sit as a Liberal if indeed he wins his seat since it’s too late to change any ballot?

Yeah. First of all, as you said, we are a party that always take seriously any allegations or reports of sexual harassment or intimidation or assault, that has been clear from the very beginning. As you also pointed out, we only learned about these serious allegations yesterday through the work of the Toronto Star. We are looking into it very carefully and we have asked the candidate to pause his campaign.

Is he going to be able to sit if he wins?

We’re looking into it right now, we’ve asked him to pause the campaign and we’re trying to find out more-

Why didn’t you fire him? Why didn’t you tell him to quit? Why are you keeping him on?

Speaker 1: (20:27)
Next question.

[foreign language 00:20:32]

Speaker 1: (20:55)

Speaker 2: (20:57)


Speaker 2: (22:11)


Speaker 1: (22:30)
Next question.

Kristy Kirkup: (22:52)
Good morning. Kristy Kirkup with The Globe and Mail. Can you, or will you still govern if you have fewer seats in the House of Commons, but can win a confidence vote in Parliament?

I’m not going to engage in hypothetical questions right now. We are focused on winning every seat, the three seats here in this Windsor area. Right across the country we have extraordinary liberal candidates stepping forward, who will be the only ones who can prevent Erin O’Toole from taking Canada back, finish this pandemic and do the big things that Canadians are expecting in the coming years.

Kristy Kirkup: (23:43)
Do you agree whoever gets the most seats should have the first opportunity?

We’re here at a university, I’m sure there are plenty of academics who can explain constitutional principles to everyone. My focus is on being there to bring Canada forward with an extraordinary team of liberals elected across the country.

Speaker 1: (24:03)
Next question.

Ashley Burke: (24:04)
Ashley Burke, CBC News. I understand you don’t want to talk about hypotheticals, but you did call this election saying that Canadians deserve to be heard on big issues that the country faces. What message does it send to you, that the polls all right now are saying that it doesn’t look like there’s a majority?

I think it’s very clear that the debates we’ve had during this election, the issues brought forward across the country have shown some pretty stark differences in how the various parties approach the big issues facing Canadians. Erin O’Toole can’t even get his own candidates to be vaccinated, how’s he going to end this pandemic for good. He’s more interested in standing up for the rights of anti-vaxxers within his own party, than he is in standing up for the rights of people who’ve done the right things and want to get back to normal and want to keep their kids safe. That’s a clear and stark choice that Canadians deserve to weigh in on.

Canadians know we have to be even more ambitious on the fight against climate change. And a few months from now, the Canadian government is going to go to Glasgow to indicate its further commitment to stepping up on the fight against climate change and transforming the world for the better, with good clean jobs. I can’t imagine Erin O’Toole standing there and telling the world that Canada is actually going to go backwards in its targets because we have set new Paris targets as of a number of months ago, and he wants to bring us back to Stephen Harper’s old targets of six years ago. That is something that Canadians would be deeply ashamed of. And I could go on, on assault weapons, on childcare, on housing, on reconciliation, all the directions Erin O’Toole is going in the wrong direction. And unfortunately-

O’Toole is going in the wrong direction, and unfortunately, the NDP, the Block, the Green Party cannot stop Erin O’Toole from governing and they cannot make sure that Canada does the big things we need to do. They weren’t able to do it under a Harper government, they wouldn’t be able to do it under an O’Toole government. Right now, the only progressive choice to get the big things done in government is the Liberal Party of Canada.

Speaker 3: (26:33)
[foreign language 00:26:33].

Speaker 4: (26:34)


Speaker 4: (27:40)


Speaker 3: (27:46)
Next question.

Steve Scherer: (28:24)
Good morning, Steve Scherer, Reuters. I wanted to ask a couple of questions about turnout. How important is it for the Liberal Party on Monday to see a strong turnout, and do you think it could make the difference between a majority and a minority for the liberals?

Every election, it is incredibly important to see Canadians step up and participate. I know that people are tired after these past 18 months. Tired of this pandemic, tired of restrictions, tired of having to wear masks, tired of having to worry about your kids, who aren’t yet vaccinated. People are worried about their small businesses, worried about getting back to normal, worried about potential vacations. People just want to get back to normal. And even at the best of times, Canadians are never very enthusiastic about an election. So I understand the frustration that some people are feeling. They just want things to get back to normal, and an election isn’t getting back to normal. It’s a time of choice, it’s a time of decision, it’s a time of stepping up. But Canadians did step up over this past 18 months. Not just our extraordinary frontline health workers, but people in every walk of life, grocery store clerks, families, seniors, did what was necessary to keep each other safe and get through this pandemic. And what for? So we could continue to grow, continue to build opportunities for all Canadians, continue down the path of reconciliation, continue to fight systemic racism, continue to step up on the fight against climate change. That’s why we were there for each other.

And right now, on Monday, we have a choice to be there for each other once again. To say, you know what, we’re going to end this pandemic. We’re going to go even harder and bolder and aligned with experts on the fight against climate change. We’re going to continue to stand up for workers as we transform our economy. We’re to continue to stand up for our seniors who have suffered and who are vulnerable, who need better support and better quality care. We’re going to continue to move forward on reconciliation. These are the things that Canadians both want and are demonstrating by being there for each other. And on Monday, people get to go out and put that on the ballot and vote for a real plan to move Canada forward for everyone.

Speaker 3: (30:55)
Next question.

Glen McGregor: (30:56)
Hey Glen McGregor, CTV news. Mr. Trudeau, everybody who came to this event today had to download a University of Windsor app to verify their vaccine status. This is now a patchwork right across the country of different apps, different systems, there is no national standard. Today, you talked about Premiers Kenney and Moe finally realizing the value of vaccination certification. Why don’t we have a national standard like so many other countries in Europe? Why has your government not delivered a universal app that everybody could use and wouldn’t have to go through this song and dance every time we want to go on a university campus?

The easiest and simplest answer to your question is because provinces hold people’s healthcare data, not the federal government. So we’ve had to work with the provinces, because the federal government doesn’t have the information on whether this person or that person is vaccinated. We have from the very beginning, worked with the provinces, particularly provinces like Quebec and BC, that moved forward strongly and aggressively on vaccine certification, which means that they set the standard, that we’re working with them to make sure that there is a harmonization and a standardization across the country.

We know that many post-secondary education institutions took strong leadership even before their provinces did, and that’s why right now, there are many different ways to go about it. But as we move forward, as people increasingly get vaccinated, I know that everyone shares the same goal of being able to get back to the things we love, the things we need to do. And we are doing exactly that, because our government, this government is unequivocal about vaccinations being the only way through that, which is leadership that Mr. O’Toole simply hasn’t shown.

Speaker 3: (32:44)
Next question.

Abigail Bimmon: (32:45)
Abigail Bimmon, Global News. Global News has obtained DNA test results that show an over 99.99% certainty that former Defense Chief General Jonathan Vance fathered a child with major Kellie Brennan years after he said their relationship ended. Major Brennan was often Vance’s subordinate, both your defense minister and your chief of staff knew of concerns regarding Vance’s behavior for years, while he served as Canada’s top military commander, and while you extended his tenure to make him the longest serving in Canada’s history. Concerns about Vance were well-known while he was CDS. Why did your government and your chief of staff not do more to address those concerns, and will you hold anyone accountable for the failure to do so?

Obviously these are unacceptable and troubling. New information’s coming forward. We know there is a court process starting shortly. We will continue to be there to ensure not just that we are supporting anyone in the armed forces faced with harassment or intimidation, but also make sure we’re changing the culture in the military by leaning on experts like Justice Louise Arbour, to make those recommendations, not just that the military has to change, which we entirely know, so that it is worthy of the women and men who step up to serve, but also how those changes must be made. Because over the many years, there have been many attempts at transforming that culture that haven’t yet been anywhere near enough. That’s why we entrusted Justice Louise Arbour with the responsibility of determining exactly the best way to do that, to support women and men in the armed forces.

Speaker 3: (34:29)

Speaker 5: (34:29)


Speaker 3: (34:29)
Next question.

Morgan Lowrie: (36:17)
Good morning, Morgan Lowrie, Canadian Press. I wanted to come back on your candidate in Spadina, who it emerged he faced it and now dropped charge of sexual assault. How could your party not have known about this earlier and why would you not simply kick him out of the party?

Indeed, this is a situation that we are taking very seriously and looking into. We only found out about it yesterday through the work done by the Toronto Star. We have questions about that. We have questions about what exactly happened. We are looking into that very rapidly, and in the meanwhile, we have asked that candidate to pause his campaign.

Speaker 3: (36:51)
Next question.

Speaker 6: (36:56)


Speaker 6: (38:32)



Speaker 7: (40:34)

Tom Parry: (40:34)
Hi, Mr. Trudeau. Tom Parry, CBC. You’re making this pitch to progressive voters is very late in the campaign. And I’m wondering why you think it is that that message hasn’t sunk in with a lot of progressive voters yet? Also, is it too late for you that the millions of people have already voted. And if I could just put a part B on this, when this is all over, win, lose, minority, majority, how are you going to work with the other parties?

Let me be honest for a second, Tom. I’ve been honest throughout and been honest throughout, but particularly now I want to share something with you. Last election it really bugged me that in 2019 the experts came out and looked at the various parties’ climate plans and said the Liberal Party has a great ambitious concrete deliverable plan to fight climate change. Sure. But the NDP and the Green Party have more ambition in their climate plans and they are great options if you want to fight climate change. That’s what the experts said in 2019. That the NDP and the Greens had a good climate plan, an ambitious climate plan.

I took that personally and I decided, you know what? We’re not going to have happen again. So even as we were dealing with this pandemic and putting all our efforts towards responding to this crisis, I said, let’s put the same level of intensity and ambition towards the fight against climate change. And we reached out to experts and we drew on the best thinkers out there and we created a plan that is unequivocally, not just more concrete and realizable then the NDP and Green plans, but it’s also more ambitious for Canada, for our economy, for jobs, for our future, for our kids than the other progressive plans. That is why when people are looking at maybe voting for the NDP or the Greens, they need to be reassured that, yes, the Liberal Party is as always the only party that can stop conservatives from governing. But more than that, we are the party with the best plan to fight climate change, with the best plan to support families and women. We are the party that is doing exactly that.

Tom Parry: (43:13)
On the working with other parties, you can be honest in that too.

I will always look to work with parties that align with us. We’ve seen that even though there was alignment with other parties in this past parliament things got delayed, things got slowed down. A fall economic plan that was supposed to deliver supports for people in January didn’t get passed until April because other parties were delaying it in the House. We know people need urgency and action and leadership and unfortunately the other parties aren’t providing that.

Speaker 7: (43:48)
Next question.

Speaker 8: (43:50)
Mr. Trudeau, [inaudible 00:43:52] from the UK Daily Telegraph. You’ve said in response to the strategic alliance between the UK, the US and Australia, that Canada is not interested in the submarine market. But this is a defense and intelligence sharing pact that goes far beyond that. Is Mr. O’Toole right that Canada has become irrelevant on the world stage under your leadership and are you weak on China?

On the contrary, the work that we’ve been doing as a strong member of the Five Eyes over the past number of years has demonstrated the value that Canada has put forward in cybersecurity, in a strong member of NATO, in continuing to be a partner in defense of north America, and in projection of our values around the world. Canadian soldiers have stepped up in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in North Africa. We continue to be there as a strong and valued member of the Five Eyes. We continue to be there as a leading member in NATO. We continue to be there as a strong proponent for multi-lateralism including on moving forward on things like the international agreement on arbitrary detentions that obviously stems from the arbitrary detention of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. But that concerns all countries around the world that people will use arbitrary detentions of their citizens for political gain. We will continue to stand up alongside all our partners. But as you pointed out, Canada wasn’t in the market for nuclear submarines and therefore this particular deal didn’t involve us.

Speaker 7: (45:33)
We’ll take one last local question.

Anne Jarvis: (45:37)
Good morning. Anne Jarvis from the Windsor Star. Stellantis is planning a $1.5 billion investment in the Windsor assembly plant for electric vehicles and is also planning $44 billion investments by 2025 for accelerating electrification. If you were reelected, how would your government, number one, secure the investment in the Windsor assembly plant and attract some of that further investment that Stellantis is talking about to Canada and particularly to Windsor where it’s critical?

Of course in this election every party is talking about the need to draw in good green jobs for the future. But we’re the party that has demonstrated the leadership that has actually got that done. Not just the OEM investments that we’ve seen over the past few years in electrification and electric vehicle productions, in bringing back plants that had been put to the side. I’m thinking of Oshawa where light trucks, but also a future in electric electrification is going to be important. The investments here in Windsor continue and will continue. But we’ve demonstrated not just on auto investments, but on green industry across the country. We are there for it. Whether it’s investments in wind turbines, whether it’s investments in electric trucks and buses, or whether it’s investments in steel.

Both Algoma and Dofasco are pivoting towards using electric arc technology instead of coal fired technology for making steel. That will not just reduce emissions significantly, but it will make us more competitive on the international market for our steel. Similar approach here in Windsor where the tradition of extraordinary manufacturing, the people who work here and have worked here for generations have demonstrated the extraordinary advantage of Canadian labor in global supply chains. And we will continue to make that pitch and demonstrating, not just climate leadership, but also leadership in high quality manufacturing jobs that the world needs.

Whether it’s moving towards self-driving cars or electric vehicles, whether it’s moving towards research innovation and engineering, or whether it’s recognizing that we can create a battery supply chain with our supplies of critical minerals here in Canada, where the world is worried about the dominance of a certain number of challenging actors in the critical mineral supplies that the world relies on. Well, Canada has natural resources and the know-how and innovation to transform those resources into the products we need for our electric cars, for our future. That’s exactly what we’ve been leading on over the past few years with our allies in developing and why we’re going to continue to fight for good jobs in manufacturing across the country, particularly here in Windsor, particularly with incredibly strong voices like Audrey, like Sandra and like Eric.

Speaker 7: (49:01)
Thank you. [inaudible 00:49:02]

Canada PM Justin Trudeau Campaign Speech Transcript: Vaccine Program, Gun Laws, Housing

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