Most toxic speeches
It is just 15 months late, and they are finally getting around to meeting with Amy, Mr. Speaker. That is just not good enough. Frankly, Canadians deserve and expect a lot better from their government. The member opposite talked about meeting with Amy months ago, which never really happened. It was all a figment of his imagination.The minister talks about following this file closely. She should be leading this file. She said three weeks ago that she was seized with this opportunity, but if that means rusted and immobile, she is absolutely right. They all have the credibility of a big yellow duck. When will the Prime Minister get involved and fix this?
Mr. Speaker, there are no ifs, ands, or buts as to who is in charge of this slow-motion train wreck.The reality is that Australia has abandoned its carbon tax. France is not putting a price on carbon. Saskatchewan and Manitoba have some serious concerns about this pan-Canadian effort. The U.S. is our biggest ally, and it is not doing it either. There will be no carbon price down there.Why are the Liberals so keen on putting Canadian businesses at a competitive disadvantage when our economy is already struggling after a year of mismanagement under these guys?
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change has now admitted that in order to meet Paris targets, Canadian taxpayers will have to pay billions of dollars to countries like China. Canadians deserve to know why they will be taxed to death so their hard-earned money will be sent to major emitters, like China.When will the Liberal government unmuzzle the economists and come clean with Canadians about the hidden costs of this Liberal scheme?
Mr. Speaker, Canada had done its job up until October 19, 2015. Now the Minister of International Trade has turned her back on not just the EU, but have given up on Canadian jobs when she walked out last Friday. She has failed to deliver now on two vitally important agreements, softwood lumber and now CETA.Since the Minister of International Trade is incapable or unwilling to do her job and ratify this vital trade deal, will the Prime Minister grab some adult supervision, get on a plane, and go back over to Brussels and get this job done?
Mr. Speaker, the real advantage for pork is in the TPP.Yesterday, the president-elect stated that the U.S. would withdraw from the TPP on his first day in office. In Canada, we have a Liberal government that does not know what to do about the TPP after the first year in office. The Minister of International Trade loves to espouse the pro-trade mantra, but her actions do not quite match up. Why will the Liberal government not get beyond consultation and move toward liberalizing trade in the Asia-Pacific with our remaining allies?
Mr. Speaker, agriculture is the third largest contributor to our GDP and it is under siege. The Liberals have neglected to act on diafiltered milk, spent fowl, PED in Manitoba, and canola dockage in China. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food says he will not intervene and the Minister of International Trade will only consult. One in five jobs in Canada rely on trade. Now $375 million of lentil exports to Turkey are at risk due to low-level GMO presence requirements. Why are Liberals neglecting to protect our agricultural producers in world trade?
Mr. Speaker, the two years was budgeted early on for the legal scrub and the translation that would be required. The minister finds herself in the unenviable position of being on the podium but not even playing in the game.For the last year, the Liberals continued indecision on the TPP has put Canada at a further disadvantage. The Prime Minister has sidelined Canada's economic interests and future prosperity, while six countries forge ahead with a TPP agreement. Why will the government not work with these progressive countries to implement this specific trade agreement and get it done?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has finally admitted what we knew all along, that the questionable detention of Canadian citizens, John Chang and Allison Lu, by China customs is a trade matter and should have been resolved months ago. Instead, Mr. Chang has been languishing in jail for 15 months, and the Prime Minister has done absolutely nothing to secure his release and safe return. It would take one phone call from the Prime Minister to his new BFFs in Beijing to resolve this. When will the Prime Minister pick up that phone and make the call? It is never too late to do the right thing.
Madam Speaker, for more than a year now Canadian citizens John Chang and his wife Allison Lu have been held in jail by China's general administration of customs. Their company, Lulu Island Winery in B.C., has successfully exported to China for some six years, so they know the system well. The arrest of Mr. Chang and Ms. Lu for a fabricated customs violation is an assault on their basic rights, a breach of China's international trade obligations, and China's own customs laws. This is clearly a trade issue, not a consular issue.Why will the Prime Minister not intervene in this new era of the Canada-China relationship?
Madam Speaker, privacy has been out the window for the last 13 months.The family and the Changs deserve a lot better from the government. They have been making application after application. Talking about this is a trade issue not a consular issue. They constantly get this consular issue dribble that really gets no results. This is now a matter of timing. One week from today, John Chang faces a closed court in Shanghai that will decide his fate. He has had three visits in the past 13 months from consular officials. That is just not good enough. Canadians deserve and expect a lot better than this from their government when they get in trouble
Mr. Speaker, the House leader is once again being thrown under the bus by his friends on the front bench. He has turned himself into a human pretzel trying to defend the justice minister's questionable fundraising, and he is now assuming the position for the trade minister and her Hollywood agreements.Will the trade minister finally table those agreements, or is she prepared to pay for the ongoing House leader's chiropractic treatments with her own money?
Madam Speaker, the Liberals claimed they had a 100-day fix 300 days ago. That did not work out.President Trump has made his intentions clear that he will tweak NAFTA. The Americans have already insisted that supply management, dispute mechanism settlements, and even COOL are back on the table.What will the Liberals put on the table during NAFTA negotiations? Nobody really knows. Jobs are at risk, and Canadians deserve to know. What will it be?
Mr. Speaker, the committee has not done any work on China, and it is all about consultations until it should.The Liberals have turned the softwood lumber deal into a crisis. The Liberals are failing Canadian farmers on pulse exports to India; that deal is up in March. The Liberals rolled over on negotiations on NAFTA without really knowing what they are putting at risk. Now, the Liberals are engaged in secret negotiations with Chinese officials. It is more of the same.Why do the Liberals not start cleaning up the messes they have already created before they launch new negotiations with China?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals signed the deal into the next stage, but it was already done when we left in 2014. This has been a lost year for Canada with regard to trade opportunities. Last spring I called on the Liberal government to be ready to forge ahead with the progressive TPP signatories in the event the Americans got cold feet, which they have. Reports coming out of the APEC summit in Lima, Peru indicate that six countries, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore, have committed to pursuing the TPP trade agreement with or without the United States.Why are our Prime Minister and our Minister of International Trade MIA, allowing Canada to be left out of this important deal?
Mr. Speaker, the deal was gift-wrapped and left on the doorstep for the Liberals to carry in. The trade minister, at the beginning of her mandate, said, Its not my job to persuade anybody that TPP is good. I guess the same now goes for CETA, as the world witnessed last Friday Canada's trade minister's meltdown as she was throwing in the towel and fleeing the scene of important implementation talks with the EU. The deal was done and signed in principle, but her Liberal need to placate every opponent of free trade across Europe has caused this mess. If she cannot get a deal with Wallonia, what makes her think she is up to the job of getting a deal with China?
That is absolutely false, Mr. Speaker. With the U.S. folding on TPP, since the Liberals will not ante up to fill the void, countries like China and Russia will step in. Japan and New Zealand will ratify the deal this year, with Australia and Mexico not be far behind. They will go it alone without the U.S. Why are we not part of that?The Minister of International Trade also claims that TPP countries have two years. That is no longer the case. Everything has been moved forward now with the U.S. withdrawal. Therefore, when will the minister finally do her job to promote the TPP and actually implement this vitally important agreement?
Mr. Speaker, the newly minted Minister of International Trade continues to confuse Canadians with statements like: it is not her job to promote trade. Of course, she is not ratifying the TPP until the Americans do. This deal has been years in discussion and is now the gold standard on environmental and labour chapters. She claims to be pro trade, so when will she stop stalling and sign this deal?
Mr. Speaker, the greatest opportunity to get the TPP ratified is before the next U.S. president takes office. Former Obama defense secretary Leon Panetta says there is a low probability of its passing Congress if it is not passed before the end of this presidential term. Yet the Liberals are engaging in endless consultations here and the minister says it is not her job to promote the TPP. When will the minister spend more time on trade promotion and less time on vanity trips to L.A.?
Mr. Speaker, Pulp Fiction was a cult film that became the title of Liberal softwood policy. They continue to blame everyone but themselves for their failure in getting a new softwood lumber deal across the finish line. Now, almost 400,000 workers and whole communities in the forestry sector are hostage to an impending Liberal trade war with the U.S. When will the trade minister stop treating these jobs as an afterthought and solve this dispute before livelihoods become Liberal collateral damage?
Madam Speaker, as the CETA deal inches to the finish line, driven now by the nine new demands and disclaimers of Wallonia that virtually make Belgium a CETA-free zone, Canada will be forced to take this deal because we were not there. Is this the culmination of the progressive clauses that the minister was working to insert into an already done deal?
Mr. Speaker, since the U.S. withdrew, high-level TPP discussions have continued in Chile, here in Canada, Vietnam, and will happen next in July in Japan. The message coming out of these meetings is always positive. The remaining countries will continue to work to bring the TPP into force by the end of this calendar year. Silence from Canada though. Japan and New Zealand have already ratified and Australia and Mexico are not very far behind. Japan has also said we will not get a better deal in the bilateral agreement than we have in the TPP.When will our trade minister join our allies to bring a TPP into force here in Canada?
Mr. Speaker, since the Prime Minister's phone call with the president last week, Trump has gone from small tweaks to massive changes on NAFTA. Job well done. Canadians are right to be worried, because the Prime Minister will not say what he is putting on the table. Since he does not actually have a NAFTA plan, will the Prime Minister at least ensure that Canada enters talks from a position of strength by ratifying the TPP, as Japan and New Zealand have already done? It is the right path forward, economically and strategically, and we would not even mind if the Prime Minister claimed to be the architect of such a bold idea.
Mr. Speaker, that is rich coming from a member who spent more time in LAX than she spent in meetings.One agreement that is not fake is the trans-Pacific partnership. If the trade minister will not table the supposed California agreements that she did not sign, will she do her job and bring forward the TPP agreement that she did sign?
Mr. Speaker, at last week's G7 meeting in Japan, the Prime Minister showed real indifference to Prime Minister Abe's push to seek early ratification of the TPP. The Prime Minister, however, seems much more inclined to push for an early deal with China. While that is a very important market for us, the Prime Minister has also said, Its important that people know that when they sign a deal with Canada, a change of government isnt going to lead to the contract being ripped up. Why will the Prime Minister not prioritize ratifying the TPP before holding trade talks with China?
Mr. Speaker, there was a full round of consultations last spring when we were still in government as it led up to the TPP. On April 20, Canada's lead negotiator for the TPP is quoted in The Hill Times, so it must be accurate, saying that this coming year is looking exciting. She will be assisting the international trade minister in ratifying the TPP deal that she worked so hard on, and we agree with that. Now that we have confirmed the Liberals have already made up their mind, will the minister bring the TPP to the House for ratification and start spending more time on trade promotion instead of costly self-promotion?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals left out the one thing Ukraine really wants, which is satellite imaging.The Minister of Foreign Affairs said in this House that when it comes to trade deals, we need more transparency on what is happening. We need not just great photo ops, but the details of what is going on.Why is it then that secret bilateral trade meetings were held last month in Beijing before public consultations were gazetted here last week? Why is the minister not open and transparent with Canadians? What has already been agreed to with China besides the selloff of our seniors complexes?
Mr. Speaker, it is her line not mine. The fact that the trade minister walked away from a deal that would deliver at least 80,000 new jobs for Canadians and increase our bilateral trade with the EU by 20% gives Canadians, business, and exporters cold comfort. The Prime Minister loves to roll up his sleeves for photo ops. How about he rolls up his sleeves, gets on a plane, and gets the job done that the trade minister could not. If he cannot do that, maybe he would like to double down and get the TPP done.
Mr. Speaker, they all happened to be sitting on the same panel show, so they do not count as individuals.Either the minister signed important agreements or she did not. If she did, then she should table them right here so we can all have a look at them. We know her own bureaucrats were in the dark, with 500 pages of emails in two days trying to figure out what she was doing there and why it would cost $20,000 to have her there.Is the House leader going to stand and apologize for misleading the House yesterday if there were no signed agreements?
Mr. Speaker, when the now trade minister was in opposition as trade critic she said, Mr. Speaker, on CETA, we in the Liberal Party are adults.Unfortunately, she was unable to follow her own advice last week as she stormed out of the room during important talks. Since the trade minister cannot get it done, will the Prime Minister spend some of his shrinking political capital, get on a plane to Brussels, and finalize this important deal?
Madam Speaker, NAFTA will be under renegotiation. The President has made that very clear. The outcome, of course, will be unknown.It is more imperative than ever that Canada pursue other trade opportunities, like the TPP. The Conservatives have been saying for over a year that regardless of what the U.S. does, we should continue to move forward with like-minded countries.Will the minister commit to completing an Asia-Pacific deal before any bilateral with China begins?
Mr. Speaker, the reality is that the minister's marketing is working so well that the trade numbers of the U.S. are down by 6.3% in March alone.The question is simple. Did the trade minister mislead the House leader? That is just not cool.Will the House leader stand in his place and apologize for not being the House leader but for being the House mis-leader?
That they got neutral, Mr. Speaker. Those jobs are for half as long.The leaders' declaration from the G7 in Japan is a clear commitment to regional trade agreements like the TPP. Yet the Prime Minister seems more inclined to push for an early deal with China. While that is a very important market for us, the Prime Minister has also said, It is important that people know that when they sign a deal with Canada...a change in government isn't going to lead to that contract being ripped up. Since he supported the leaders' declaration, why will the Prime Minister not prioritize the TPP before holding trade talks with China?
Mr. Speaker, last March at his family reunion in Washington, the Prime Minister claimed to have an easy fix for the softwood lumber file. He said that in the new era of co-operation with President Obama, all would be settled in a mere 100 days. Well, some 200 days later, I guess those files did not fix themselves. After years of agreement and stability, when can Canadian forestry workers expect the Liberals to get serious about this serious issue?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister famously promised Canadians to have the structure of a new softwood lumber agreement completed within 100 days of his family reunion in Washington.While we were in government, we negotiated an extension to the softwood lumber agreement during a U.S. election year. The member for Abbotsford did the job with President Obama under the same circumstances we see in the U.S. today.What is the Prime Minister's excuse for failing Canada's forestry workers and putting thousands of good paying jobs at risk?
Mr. Speaker, America is well known as the land of the free, not the land of free personal travel for Canadian ministers. It was $20,000 for an unplanned last-minute sleepover. That is a lot of orange juice.On Monday, the House leader stood in his place and tried to justify this excess by claiming, The minister signed important agreements during her visit to California. If that is even remotely true, will the trade minister do her job and table those agreements?
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has stated in this House that when it comes to trade deals, we need more transparency on what is happening. We need not just great photo ops, but the details of what is going on. Therefore, it seems a little strange then that only Chinese state-run media is reporting that Canadian officials have been in Beijing since last Monday for secret meetings on a bilateral trade agreement. Will the minister be open and transparent with Canadians and tell us if she is negotiating a free trade agreement with China, yes or no?
Mr. Speaker, we all know the Minister of International Trade's sole purpose for being in LA was to be on television.Yesterday, when the government House leader tried to defend the minister's unplanned vanity trip, he said, The minister signed important agreements during her visit to California. If that is the case, will she table these important agreements immediately, keeping in mind that credit card receipts and the waiver for Bill Maher do not count?
Mr. Speaker, we all welcome the opportunity to study this again. Of course, the former chair of the trade committee for the House of Commons had hearings while that negotiation was going on. We welcome the minister's epiphany on the road from Davos to signing the TPP, but there is also a meeting of TPP ministers the day before that signing that is also very important as they study prospective new partners in the TPP. Has she been invited to that meeting, or have we been left out just like we were in Paris?
Mr. Speaker, we know well that the softwood lumber file has never been a priority for the Liberal government. It was not in its budget, it was not in the throne speech, and it is not in the minister's mandate letter. We have never had a government whose deadlines have been disregarded, even the 100-day self-imposed one last spring. They have removed the stability and predictability that is vital to our forest industry jobs and the communities those people live in. Would the minister at least get on the phone and secure a standstill of American litigation while negotiations are ongoing?
Mr. Speaker, it is wonderful that the minister is getting his passport stamped but we are here to see results.During the final TPP negotiations we had the CETA agreement signed in principle and used it to obtain better outcomes for Canada in the TPP. We must now do the same with the TPP and use it with Mexico as leverage in the upcoming NAFTA renegotiations.Why will the new trade minister not do the right thing and ensure that Canada enters NAFTA negotiations from a position of strength by ratifying the TPP?
Mr. Speaker, just like COOL, the heavy lifting has been done on TPP. Canadian business may welcome the minister's statement in the last couple of days. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Council of Chief Executives, Canadian Agri-food Trade Alliance and Canadian manufacturers have been telling the minister to ratify TPP to maintain our strong portion of global supply chains.If she really thinks she is Canada's chief marketing officer, when will she listen to these stakeholders and ratify this important agreement?
It is just 15 months late, and they are finally getting around to meeting with Amy, Mr. Speaker. That is just not good enough. Frankly, Canadians deserve and expect a lot better from their government. The member opposite talked about meeting with Amy months ago, which never really happened. It was all a figment of his imagination.The minister talks about following this file closely. She should be leading this file. She said three weeks ago that she was seized with this opportunity, but if that means rusted and immobile, she is absolutely right. They all have the credibility of a big yellow duck. When will the Prime Minister get involved and fix this?
Mr. Speaker, there are no ifs, ands, or buts as to who is in charge of this slow-motion train wreck.The reality is that Australia has abandoned its carbon tax. France is not putting a price on carbon. Saskatchewan and Manitoba have some serious concerns about this pan-Canadian effort. The U.S. is our biggest ally, and it is not doing it either. There will be no carbon price down there.Why are the Liberals so keen on putting Canadian businesses at a competitive disadvantage when our economy is already struggling after a year of mismanagement under these guys?
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change has now admitted that in order to meet Paris targets, Canadian taxpayers will have to pay billions of dollars to countries like China. Canadians deserve to know why they will be taxed to death so their hard-earned money will be sent to major emitters, like China.When will the Liberal government unmuzzle the economists and come clean with Canadians about the hidden costs of this Liberal scheme?
Mr. Speaker, Canada had done its job up until October 19, 2015. Now the Minister of International Trade has turned her back on not just the EU, but have given up on Canadian jobs when she walked out last Friday. She has failed to deliver now on two vitally important agreements, softwood lumber and now CETA.Since the Minister of International Trade is incapable or unwilling to do her job and ratify this vital trade deal, will the Prime Minister grab some adult supervision, get on a plane, and go back over to Brussels and get this job done?
Mr. Speaker, the real advantage for pork is in the TPP.Yesterday, the president-elect stated that the U.S. would withdraw from the TPP on his first day in office. In Canada, we have a Liberal government that does not know what to do about the TPP after the first year in office. The Minister of International Trade loves to espouse the pro-trade mantra, but her actions do not quite match up. Why will the Liberal government not get beyond consultation and move toward liberalizing trade in the Asia-Pacific with our remaining allies?
Mr. Speaker, agriculture is the third largest contributor to our GDP and it is under siege. The Liberals have neglected to act on diafiltered milk, spent fowl, PED in Manitoba, and canola dockage in China. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food says he will not intervene and the Minister of International Trade will only consult. One in five jobs in Canada rely on trade. Now $375 million of lentil exports to Turkey are at risk due to low-level GMO presence requirements. Why are Liberals neglecting to protect our agricultural producers in world trade?
Mr. Speaker, the two years was budgeted early on for the legal scrub and the translation that would be required. The minister finds herself in the unenviable position of being on the podium but not even playing in the game.For the last year, the Liberals continued indecision on the TPP has put Canada at a further disadvantage. The Prime Minister has sidelined Canada's economic interests and future prosperity, while six countries forge ahead with a TPP agreement. Why will the government not work with these progressive countries to implement this specific trade agreement and get it done?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has finally admitted what we knew all along, that the questionable detention of Canadian citizens, John Chang and Allison Lu, by China customs is a trade matter and should have been resolved months ago. Instead, Mr. Chang has been languishing in jail for 15 months, and the Prime Minister has done absolutely nothing to secure his release and safe return. It would take one phone call from the Prime Minister to his new BFFs in Beijing to resolve this. When will the Prime Minister pick up that phone and make the call? It is never too late to do the right thing.
Madam Speaker, for more than a year now Canadian citizens John Chang and his wife Allison Lu have been held in jail by China's general administration of customs. Their company, Lulu Island Winery in B.C., has successfully exported to China for some six years, so they know the system well. The arrest of Mr. Chang and Ms. Lu for a fabricated customs violation is an assault on their basic rights, a breach of China's international trade obligations, and China's own customs laws. This is clearly a trade issue, not a consular issue.Why will the Prime Minister not intervene in this new era of the Canada-China relationship?
Madam Speaker, privacy has been out the window for the last 13 months.The family and the Changs deserve a lot better from the government. They have been making application after application. Talking about this is a trade issue not a consular issue. They constantly get this consular issue dribble that really gets no results. This is now a matter of timing. One week from today, John Chang faces a closed court in Shanghai that will decide his fate. He has had three visits in the past 13 months from consular officials. That is just not good enough. Canadians deserve and expect a lot better than this from their government when they get in trouble
Mr. Speaker, the House leader is once again being thrown under the bus by his friends on the front bench. He has turned himself into a human pretzel trying to defend the justice minister's questionable fundraising, and he is now assuming the position for the trade minister and her Hollywood agreements.Will the trade minister finally table those agreements, or is she prepared to pay for the ongoing House leader's chiropractic treatments with her own money?
Madam Speaker, the Liberals claimed they had a 100-day fix 300 days ago. That did not work out.President Trump has made his intentions clear that he will tweak NAFTA. The Americans have already insisted that supply management, dispute mechanism settlements, and even COOL are back on the table.What will the Liberals put on the table during NAFTA negotiations? Nobody really knows. Jobs are at risk, and Canadians deserve to know. What will it be?
Mr. Speaker, the committee has not done any work on China, and it is all about consultations until it should.The Liberals have turned the softwood lumber deal into a crisis. The Liberals are failing Canadian farmers on pulse exports to India; that deal is up in March. The Liberals rolled over on negotiations on NAFTA without really knowing what they are putting at risk. Now, the Liberals are engaged in secret negotiations with Chinese officials. It is more of the same.Why do the Liberals not start cleaning up the messes they have already created before they launch new negotiations with China?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals signed the deal into the next stage, but it was already done when we left in 2014. This has been a lost year for Canada with regard to trade opportunities. Last spring I called on the Liberal government to be ready to forge ahead with the progressive TPP signatories in the event the Americans got cold feet, which they have. Reports coming out of the APEC summit in Lima, Peru indicate that six countries, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore, have committed to pursuing the TPP trade agreement with or without the United States.Why are our Prime Minister and our Minister of International Trade MIA, allowing Canada to be left out of this important deal?
Mr. Speaker, the deal was gift-wrapped and left on the doorstep for the Liberals to carry in. The trade minister, at the beginning of her mandate, said, Its not my job to persuade anybody that TPP is good. I guess the same now goes for CETA, as the world witnessed last Friday Canada's trade minister's meltdown as she was throwing in the towel and fleeing the scene of important implementation talks with the EU. The deal was done and signed in principle, but her Liberal need to placate every opponent of free trade across Europe has caused this mess. If she cannot get a deal with Wallonia, what makes her think she is up to the job of getting a deal with China?
That is absolutely false, Mr. Speaker. With the U.S. folding on TPP, since the Liberals will not ante up to fill the void, countries like China and Russia will step in. Japan and New Zealand will ratify the deal this year, with Australia and Mexico not be far behind. They will go it alone without the U.S. Why are we not part of that?The Minister of International Trade also claims that TPP countries have two years. That is no longer the case. Everything has been moved forward now with the U.S. withdrawal. Therefore, when will the minister finally do her job to promote the TPP and actually implement this vitally important agreement?
Mr. Speaker, the newly minted Minister of International Trade continues to confuse Canadians with statements like: it is not her job to promote trade. Of course, she is not ratifying the TPP until the Americans do. This deal has been years in discussion and is now the gold standard on environmental and labour chapters. She claims to be pro trade, so when will she stop stalling and sign this deal?
Mr. Speaker, the greatest opportunity to get the TPP ratified is before the next U.S. president takes office. Former Obama defense secretary Leon Panetta says there is a low probability of its passing Congress if it is not passed before the end of this presidential term. Yet the Liberals are engaging in endless consultations here and the minister says it is not her job to promote the TPP. When will the minister spend more time on trade promotion and less time on vanity trips to L.A.?
Mr. Speaker, Pulp Fiction was a cult film that became the title of Liberal softwood policy. They continue to blame everyone but themselves for their failure in getting a new softwood lumber deal across the finish line. Now, almost 400,000 workers and whole communities in the forestry sector are hostage to an impending Liberal trade war with the U.S. When will the trade minister stop treating these jobs as an afterthought and solve this dispute before livelihoods become Liberal collateral damage?
Madam Speaker, as the CETA deal inches to the finish line, driven now by the nine new demands and disclaimers of Wallonia that virtually make Belgium a CETA-free zone, Canada will be forced to take this deal because we were not there. Is this the culmination of the progressive clauses that the minister was working to insert into an already done deal?
Mr. Speaker, since the U.S. withdrew, high-level TPP discussions have continued in Chile, here in Canada, Vietnam, and will happen next in July in Japan. The message coming out of these meetings is always positive. The remaining countries will continue to work to bring the TPP into force by the end of this calendar year. Silence from Canada though. Japan and New Zealand have already ratified and Australia and Mexico are not very far behind. Japan has also said we will not get a better deal in the bilateral agreement than we have in the TPP.When will our trade minister join our allies to bring a TPP into force here in Canada?
Mr. Speaker, since the Prime Minister's phone call with the president last week, Trump has gone from small tweaks to massive changes on NAFTA. Job well done. Canadians are right to be worried, because the Prime Minister will not say what he is putting on the table. Since he does not actually have a NAFTA plan, will the Prime Minister at least ensure that Canada enters talks from a position of strength by ratifying the TPP, as Japan and New Zealand have already done? It is the right path forward, economically and strategically, and we would not even mind if the Prime Minister claimed to be the architect of such a bold idea.
Mr. Speaker, that is rich coming from a member who spent more time in LAX than she spent in meetings.One agreement that is not fake is the trans-Pacific partnership. If the trade minister will not table the supposed California agreements that she did not sign, will she do her job and bring forward the TPP agreement that she did sign?
Mr. Speaker, at last week's G7 meeting in Japan, the Prime Minister showed real indifference to Prime Minister Abe's push to seek early ratification of the TPP. The Prime Minister, however, seems much more inclined to push for an early deal with China. While that is a very important market for us, the Prime Minister has also said, Its important that people know that when they sign a deal with Canada, a change of government isnt going to lead to the contract being ripped up. Why will the Prime Minister not prioritize ratifying the TPP before holding trade talks with China?
Mr. Speaker, there was a full round of consultations last spring when we were still in government as it led up to the TPP. On April 20, Canada's lead negotiator for the TPP is quoted in The Hill Times, so it must be accurate, saying that this coming year is looking exciting. She will be assisting the international trade minister in ratifying the TPP deal that she worked so hard on, and we agree with that. Now that we have confirmed the Liberals have already made up their mind, will the minister bring the TPP to the House for ratification and start spending more time on trade promotion instead of costly self-promotion?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals left out the one thing Ukraine really wants, which is satellite imaging.The Minister of Foreign Affairs said in this House that when it comes to trade deals, we need more transparency on what is happening. We need not just great photo ops, but the details of what is going on.Why is it then that secret bilateral trade meetings were held last month in Beijing before public consultations were gazetted here last week? Why is the minister not open and transparent with Canadians? What has already been agreed to with China besides the selloff of our seniors complexes?
Mr. Speaker, it is her line not mine. The fact that the trade minister walked away from a deal that would deliver at least 80,000 new jobs for Canadians and increase our bilateral trade with the EU by 20% gives Canadians, business, and exporters cold comfort. The Prime Minister loves to roll up his sleeves for photo ops. How about he rolls up his sleeves, gets on a plane, and gets the job done that the trade minister could not. If he cannot do that, maybe he would like to double down and get the TPP done.
Mr. Speaker, they all happened to be sitting on the same panel show, so they do not count as individuals.Either the minister signed important agreements or she did not. If she did, then she should table them right here so we can all have a look at them. We know her own bureaucrats were in the dark, with 500 pages of emails in two days trying to figure out what she was doing there and why it would cost $20,000 to have her there.Is the House leader going to stand and apologize for misleading the House yesterday if there were no signed agreements?
Mr. Speaker, when the now trade minister was in opposition as trade critic she said, Mr. Speaker, on CETA, we in the Liberal Party are adults.Unfortunately, she was unable to follow her own advice last week as she stormed out of the room during important talks. Since the trade minister cannot get it done, will the Prime Minister spend some of his shrinking political capital, get on a plane to Brussels, and finalize this important deal?
Madam Speaker, NAFTA will be under renegotiation. The President has made that very clear. The outcome, of course, will be unknown.It is more imperative than ever that Canada pursue other trade opportunities, like the TPP. The Conservatives have been saying for over a year that regardless of what the U.S. does, we should continue to move forward with like-minded countries.Will the minister commit to completing an Asia-Pacific deal before any bilateral with China begins?
Mr. Speaker, the reality is that the minister's marketing is working so well that the trade numbers of the U.S. are down by 6.3% in March alone.The question is simple. Did the trade minister mislead the House leader? That is just not cool.Will the House leader stand in his place and apologize for not being the House leader but for being the House mis-leader?
That they got neutral, Mr. Speaker. Those jobs are for half as long.The leaders' declaration from the G7 in Japan is a clear commitment to regional trade agreements like the TPP. Yet the Prime Minister seems more inclined to push for an early deal with China. While that is a very important market for us, the Prime Minister has also said, It is important that people know that when they sign a deal with Canada...a change in government isn't going to lead to that contract being ripped up. Since he supported the leaders' declaration, why will the Prime Minister not prioritize the TPP before holding trade talks with China?
Mr. Speaker, last March at his family reunion in Washington, the Prime Minister claimed to have an easy fix for the softwood lumber file. He said that in the new era of co-operation with President Obama, all would be settled in a mere 100 days. Well, some 200 days later, I guess those files did not fix themselves. After years of agreement and stability, when can Canadian forestry workers expect the Liberals to get serious about this serious issue?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister famously promised Canadians to have the structure of a new softwood lumber agreement completed within 100 days of his family reunion in Washington.While we were in government, we negotiated an extension to the softwood lumber agreement during a U.S. election year. The member for Abbotsford did the job with President Obama under the same circumstances we see in the U.S. today.What is the Prime Minister's excuse for failing Canada's forestry workers and putting thousands of good paying jobs at risk?
Mr. Speaker, America is well known as the land of the free, not the land of free personal travel for Canadian ministers. It was $20,000 for an unplanned last-minute sleepover. That is a lot of orange juice.On Monday, the House leader stood in his place and tried to justify this excess by claiming, The minister signed important agreements during her visit to California. If that is even remotely true, will the trade minister do her job and table those agreements?
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has stated in this House that when it comes to trade deals, we need more transparency on what is happening. We need not just great photo ops, but the details of what is going on. Therefore, it seems a little strange then that only Chinese state-run media is reporting that Canadian officials have been in Beijing since last Monday for secret meetings on a bilateral trade agreement. Will the minister be open and transparent with Canadians and tell us if she is negotiating a free trade agreement with China, yes or no?
Mr. Speaker, we all know the Minister of International Trade's sole purpose for being in LA was to be on television.Yesterday, when the government House leader tried to defend the minister's unplanned vanity trip, he said, The minister signed important agreements during her visit to California. If that is the case, will she table these important agreements immediately, keeping in mind that credit card receipts and the waiver for Bill Maher do not count?
Mr. Speaker, we all welcome the opportunity to study this again. Of course, the former chair of the trade committee for the House of Commons had hearings while that negotiation was going on. We welcome the minister's epiphany on the road from Davos to signing the TPP, but there is also a meeting of TPP ministers the day before that signing that is also very important as they study prospective new partners in the TPP. Has she been invited to that meeting, or have we been left out just like we were in Paris?
Mr. Speaker, we know well that the softwood lumber file has never been a priority for the Liberal government. It was not in its budget, it was not in the throne speech, and it is not in the minister's mandate letter. We have never had a government whose deadlines have been disregarded, even the 100-day self-imposed one last spring. They have removed the stability and predictability that is vital to our forest industry jobs and the communities those people live in. Would the minister at least get on the phone and secure a standstill of American litigation while negotiations are ongoing?
Mr. Speaker, it is wonderful that the minister is getting his passport stamped but we are here to see results.During the final TPP negotiations we had the CETA agreement signed in principle and used it to obtain better outcomes for Canada in the TPP. We must now do the same with the TPP and use it with Mexico as leverage in the upcoming NAFTA renegotiations.Why will the new trade minister not do the right thing and ensure that Canada enters NAFTA negotiations from a position of strength by ratifying the TPP?
Mr. Speaker, just like COOL, the heavy lifting has been done on TPP. Canadian business may welcome the minister's statement in the last couple of days. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Council of Chief Executives, Canadian Agri-food Trade Alliance and Canadian manufacturers have been telling the minister to ratify TPP to maintain our strong portion of global supply chains.If she really thinks she is Canada's chief marketing officer, when will she listen to these stakeholders and ratify this important agreement?
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Mr. Speaker, there are no ifs, ands, or buts as to who is in charge of this slow-motion train wreck.The reality is that Australia has abandoned its carbon tax. France is not putting a price on carbon. Saskatchewan and Manitoba have some serious concerns about this pan-Canadian effort. The U.S. is our biggest ally, and it is not doing it either. There will be no carbon price down there.Why are the Liberals so keen on putting Canadian businesses at a competitive disadvantage when our economy is already struggling after a year of mismanagement under these guys?
Mr. Speaker, it is her line not mine. The fact that the trade minister walked away from a deal that would deliver at least 80,000 new jobs for Canadians and increase our bilateral trade with the EU by 20% gives Canadians, business, and exporters cold comfort. The Prime Minister loves to roll up his sleeves for photo ops. How about he rolls up his sleeves, gets on a plane, and gets the job done that the trade minister could not. If he cannot do that, maybe he would like to double down and get the TPP done.
Mr. Speaker, last March at his family reunion in Washington, the Prime Minister claimed to have an easy fix for the softwood lumber file. He said that in the new era of co-operation with President Obama, all would be settled in a mere 100 days. Well, some 200 days later, I guess those files did not fix themselves. After years of agreement and stability, when can Canadian forestry workers expect the Liberals to get serious about this serious issue?
Madam Speaker, as the CETA deal inches to the finish line, driven now by the nine new demands and disclaimers of Wallonia that virtually make Belgium a CETA-free zone, Canada will be forced to take this deal because we were not there. Is this the culmination of the progressive clauses that the minister was working to insert into an already done deal?
Mr. Speaker, the reality is that the minister's marketing is working so well that the trade numbers of the U.S. are down by 6.3% in March alone.The question is simple. Did the trade minister mislead the House leader? That is just not cool.Will the House leader stand in his place and apologize for not being the House leader but for being the House mis-leader?
Mr. Speaker, agriculture is the third largest contributor to our GDP and it is under siege. The Liberals have neglected to act on diafiltered milk, spent fowl, PED in Manitoba, and canola dockage in China. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food says he will not intervene and the Minister of International Trade will only consult. One in five jobs in Canada rely on trade. Now $375 million of lentil exports to Turkey are at risk due to low-level GMO presence requirements. Why are Liberals neglecting to protect our agricultural producers in world trade?
That is absolutely false, Mr. Speaker. With the U.S. folding on TPP, since the Liberals will not ante up to fill the void, countries like China and Russia will step in. Japan and New Zealand will ratify the deal this year, with Australia and Mexico not be far behind. They will go it alone without the U.S. Why are we not part of that?The Minister of International Trade also claims that TPP countries have two years. That is no longer the case. Everything has been moved forward now with the U.S. withdrawal. Therefore, when will the minister finally do her job to promote the TPP and actually implement this vitally important agreement?
Mr. Speaker, there are no ifs, ands, or buts as to who is in charge of this slow-motion train wreck.The reality is that Australia has abandoned its carbon tax. France is not putting a price on carbon. Saskatchewan and Manitoba have some serious concerns about this pan-Canadian effort. The U.S. is our biggest ally, and it is not doing it either. There will be no carbon price down there.Why are the Liberals so keen on putting Canadian businesses at a competitive disadvantage when our economy is already struggling after a year of mismanagement under these guys?
Mr. Speaker, it is her line not mine. The fact that the trade minister walked away from a deal that would deliver at least 80,000 new jobs for Canadians and increase our bilateral trade with the EU by 20% gives Canadians, business, and exporters cold comfort. The Prime Minister loves to roll up his sleeves for photo ops. How about he rolls up his sleeves, gets on a plane, and gets the job done that the trade minister could not. If he cannot do that, maybe he would like to double down and get the TPP done.
Mr. Speaker, last March at his family reunion in Washington, the Prime Minister claimed to have an easy fix for the softwood lumber file. He said that in the new era of co-operation with President Obama, all would be settled in a mere 100 days. Well, some 200 days later, I guess those files did not fix themselves. After years of agreement and stability, when can Canadian forestry workers expect the Liberals to get serious about this serious issue?
Madam Speaker, as the CETA deal inches to the finish line, driven now by the nine new demands and disclaimers of Wallonia that virtually make Belgium a CETA-free zone, Canada will be forced to take this deal because we were not there. Is this the culmination of the progressive clauses that the minister was working to insert into an already done deal?
Mr. Speaker, the reality is that the minister's marketing is working so well that the trade numbers of the U.S. are down by 6.3% in March alone.The question is simple. Did the trade minister mislead the House leader? That is just not cool.Will the House leader stand in his place and apologize for not being the House leader but for being the House mis-leader?
Mr. Speaker, agriculture is the third largest contributor to our GDP and it is under siege. The Liberals have neglected to act on diafiltered milk, spent fowl, PED in Manitoba, and canola dockage in China. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food says he will not intervene and the Minister of International Trade will only consult. One in five jobs in Canada rely on trade. Now $375 million of lentil exports to Turkey are at risk due to low-level GMO presence requirements. Why are Liberals neglecting to protect our agricultural producers in world trade?
That is absolutely false, Mr. Speaker. With the U.S. folding on TPP, since the Liberals will not ante up to fill the void, countries like China and Russia will step in. Japan and New Zealand will ratify the deal this year, with Australia and Mexico not be far behind. They will go it alone without the U.S. Why are we not part of that?The Minister of International Trade also claims that TPP countries have two years. That is no longer the case. Everything has been moved forward now with the U.S. withdrawal. Therefore, when will the minister finally do her job to promote the TPP and actually implement this vitally important agreement?
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Mr. Speaker, we all welcome the opportunity to study this again. Of course, the former chair of the trade committee for the House of Commons had hearings while that negotiation was going on. We welcome the minister's epiphany on the road from Davos to signing the TPP, but there is also a meeting of TPP ministers the day before that signing that is also very important as they study prospective new partners in the TPP. Has she been invited to that meeting, or have we been left out just like we were in Paris?
Mr. Speaker, it is wonderful that the minister is getting his passport stamped but we are here to see results.During the final TPP negotiations we had the CETA agreement signed in principle and used it to obtain better outcomes for Canada in the TPP. We must now do the same with the TPP and use it with Mexico as leverage in the upcoming NAFTA renegotiations.Why will the new trade minister not do the right thing and ensure that Canada enters NAFTA negotiations from a position of strength by ratifying the TPP?
Mr. Speaker, America is well known as the land of the free, not the land of free personal travel for Canadian ministers. It was $20,000 for an unplanned last-minute sleepover. That is a lot of orange juice.On Monday, the House leader stood in his place and tried to justify this excess by claiming, The minister signed important agreements during her visit to California. If that is even remotely true, will the trade minister do her job and table those agreements?
Mr. Speaker, at last week's G7 meeting in Japan, the Prime Minister showed real indifference to Prime Minister Abe's push to seek early ratification of the TPP. The Prime Minister, however, seems much more inclined to push for an early deal with China. While that is a very important market for us, the Prime Minister has also said, Its important that people know that when they sign a deal with Canada, a change of government isnt going to lead to the contract being ripped up. Why will the Prime Minister not prioritize ratifying the TPP before holding trade talks with China?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister famously promised Canadians to have the structure of a new softwood lumber agreement completed within 100 days of his family reunion in Washington.While we were in government, we negotiated an extension to the softwood lumber agreement during a U.S. election year. The member for Abbotsford did the job with President Obama under the same circumstances we see in the U.S. today.What is the Prime Minister's excuse for failing Canada's forestry workers and putting thousands of good paying jobs at risk?
Mr. Speaker, just like COOL, the heavy lifting has been done on TPP. Canadian business may welcome the minister's statement in the last couple of days. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Council of Chief Executives, Canadian Agri-food Trade Alliance and Canadian manufacturers have been telling the minister to ratify TPP to maintain our strong portion of global supply chains.If she really thinks she is Canada's chief marketing officer, when will she listen to these stakeholders and ratify this important agreement?
That they got neutral, Mr. Speaker. Those jobs are for half as long.The leaders' declaration from the G7 in Japan is a clear commitment to regional trade agreements like the TPP. Yet the Prime Minister seems more inclined to push for an early deal with China. While that is a very important market for us, the Prime Minister has also said, It is important that people know that when they sign a deal with Canada...a change in government isn't going to lead to that contract being ripped up. Since he supported the leaders' declaration, why will the Prime Minister not prioritize the TPP before holding trade talks with China?
Mr. Speaker, they all happened to be sitting on the same panel show, so they do not count as individuals.Either the minister signed important agreements or she did not. If she did, then she should table them right here so we can all have a look at them. We know her own bureaucrats were in the dark, with 500 pages of emails in two days trying to figure out what she was doing there and why it would cost $20,000 to have her there.Is the House leader going to stand and apologize for misleading the House yesterday if there were no signed agreements?
Mr. Speaker, the greatest opportunity to get the TPP ratified is before the next U.S. president takes office. Former Obama defense secretary Leon Panetta says there is a low probability of its passing Congress if it is not passed before the end of this presidential term. Yet the Liberals are engaging in endless consultations here and the minister says it is not her job to promote the TPP. When will the minister spend more time on trade promotion and less time on vanity trips to L.A.?
Mr. Speaker, we all know the Minister of International Trade's sole purpose for being in LA was to be on television.Yesterday, when the government House leader tried to defend the minister's unplanned vanity trip, he said, The minister signed important agreements during her visit to California. If that is the case, will she table these important agreements immediately, keeping in mind that credit card receipts and the waiver for Bill Maher do not count?
Mr. Speaker, the deal was gift-wrapped and left on the doorstep for the Liberals to carry in. The trade minister, at the beginning of her mandate, said, Its not my job to persuade anybody that TPP is good. I guess the same now goes for CETA, as the world witnessed last Friday Canada's trade minister's meltdown as she was throwing in the towel and fleeing the scene of important implementation talks with the EU. The deal was done and signed in principle, but her Liberal need to placate every opponent of free trade across Europe has caused this mess. If she cannot get a deal with Wallonia, what makes her think she is up to the job of getting a deal with China?
Mr. Speaker, that is rich coming from a member who spent more time in LAX than she spent in meetings.One agreement that is not fake is the trans-Pacific partnership. If the trade minister will not table the supposed California agreements that she did not sign, will she do her job and bring forward the TPP agreement that she did sign?
Madam Speaker, for more than a year now Canadian citizens John Chang and his wife Allison Lu have been held in jail by China's general administration of customs. Their company, Lulu Island Winery in B.C., has successfully exported to China for some six years, so they know the system well. The arrest of Mr. Chang and Ms. Lu for a fabricated customs violation is an assault on their basic rights, a breach of China's international trade obligations, and China's own customs laws. This is clearly a trade issue, not a consular issue.Why will the Prime Minister not intervene in this new era of the Canada-China relationship?
Mr. Speaker, the real advantage for pork is in the TPP.Yesterday, the president-elect stated that the U.S. would withdraw from the TPP on his first day in office. In Canada, we have a Liberal government that does not know what to do about the TPP after the first year in office. The Minister of International Trade loves to espouse the pro-trade mantra, but her actions do not quite match up. Why will the Liberal government not get beyond consultation and move toward liberalizing trade in the Asia-Pacific with our remaining allies?
Madam Speaker, NAFTA will be under renegotiation. The President has made that very clear. The outcome, of course, will be unknown.It is more imperative than ever that Canada pursue other trade opportunities, like the TPP. The Conservatives have been saying for over a year that regardless of what the U.S. does, we should continue to move forward with like-minded countries.Will the minister commit to completing an Asia-Pacific deal before any bilateral with China begins?
Madam Speaker, the Liberals claimed they had a 100-day fix 300 days ago. That did not work out.President Trump has made his intentions clear that he will tweak NAFTA. The Americans have already insisted that supply management, dispute mechanism settlements, and even COOL are back on the table.What will the Liberals put on the table during NAFTA negotiations? Nobody really knows. Jobs are at risk, and Canadians deserve to know. What will it be?
Mr. Speaker, there was a full round of consultations last spring when we were still in government as it led up to the TPP. On April 20, Canada's lead negotiator for the TPP is quoted in The Hill Times, so it must be accurate, saying that this coming year is looking exciting. She will be assisting the international trade minister in ratifying the TPP deal that she worked so hard on, and we agree with that. Now that we have confirmed the Liberals have already made up their mind, will the minister bring the TPP to the House for ratification and start spending more time on trade promotion instead of costly self-promotion?
Mr. Speaker, when the now trade minister was in opposition as trade critic she said, Mr. Speaker, on CETA, we in the Liberal Party are adults.Unfortunately, she was unable to follow her own advice last week as she stormed out of the room during important talks. Since the trade minister cannot get it done, will the Prime Minister spend some of his shrinking political capital, get on a plane to Brussels, and finalize this important deal?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals left out the one thing Ukraine really wants, which is satellite imaging.The Minister of Foreign Affairs said in this House that when it comes to trade deals, we need more transparency on what is happening. We need not just great photo ops, but the details of what is going on.Why is it then that secret bilateral trade meetings were held last month in Beijing before public consultations were gazetted here last week? Why is the minister not open and transparent with Canadians? What has already been agreed to with China besides the selloff of our seniors complexes?
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change has now admitted that in order to meet Paris targets, Canadian taxpayers will have to pay billions of dollars to countries like China. Canadians deserve to know why they will be taxed to death so their hard-earned money will be sent to major emitters, like China.When will the Liberal government unmuzzle the economists and come clean with Canadians about the hidden costs of this Liberal scheme?
Mr. Speaker, the committee has not done any work on China, and it is all about consultations until it should.The Liberals have turned the softwood lumber deal into a crisis. The Liberals are failing Canadian farmers on pulse exports to India; that deal is up in March. The Liberals rolled over on negotiations on NAFTA without really knowing what they are putting at risk. Now, the Liberals are engaged in secret negotiations with Chinese officials. It is more of the same.Why do the Liberals not start cleaning up the messes they have already created before they launch new negotiations with China?
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has stated in this House that when it comes to trade deals, we need more transparency on what is happening. We need not just great photo ops, but the details of what is going on. Therefore, it seems a little strange then that only Chinese state-run media is reporting that Canadian officials have been in Beijing since last Monday for secret meetings on a bilateral trade agreement. Will the minister be open and transparent with Canadians and tell us if she is negotiating a free trade agreement with China, yes or no?
Mr. Speaker, since the Prime Minister's phone call with the president last week, Trump has gone from small tweaks to massive changes on NAFTA. Job well done. Canadians are right to be worried, because the Prime Minister will not say what he is putting on the table. Since he does not actually have a NAFTA plan, will the Prime Minister at least ensure that Canada enters talks from a position of strength by ratifying the TPP, as Japan and New Zealand have already done? It is the right path forward, economically and strategically, and we would not even mind if the Prime Minister claimed to be the architect of such a bold idea.
Mr. Speaker, the two years was budgeted early on for the legal scrub and the translation that would be required. The minister finds herself in the unenviable position of being on the podium but not even playing in the game.For the last year, the Liberals continued indecision on the TPP has put Canada at a further disadvantage. The Prime Minister has sidelined Canada's economic interests and future prosperity, while six countries forge ahead with a TPP agreement. Why will the government not work with these progressive countries to implement this specific trade agreement and get it done?
Mr. Speaker, since the U.S. withdrew, high-level TPP discussions have continued in Chile, here in Canada, Vietnam, and will happen next in July in Japan. The message coming out of these meetings is always positive. The remaining countries will continue to work to bring the TPP into force by the end of this calendar year. Silence from Canada though. Japan and New Zealand have already ratified and Australia and Mexico are not very far behind. Japan has also said we will not get a better deal in the bilateral agreement than we have in the TPP.When will our trade minister join our allies to bring a TPP into force here in Canada?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has finally admitted what we knew all along, that the questionable detention of Canadian citizens, John Chang and Allison Lu, by China customs is a trade matter and should have been resolved months ago. Instead, Mr. Chang has been languishing in jail for 15 months, and the Prime Minister has done absolutely nothing to secure his release and safe return. It would take one phone call from the Prime Minister to his new BFFs in Beijing to resolve this. When will the Prime Minister pick up that phone and make the call? It is never too late to do the right thing.
Mr. Speaker, we know well that the softwood lumber file has never been a priority for the Liberal government. It was not in its budget, it was not in the throne speech, and it is not in the minister's mandate letter. We have never had a government whose deadlines have been disregarded, even the 100-day self-imposed one last spring. They have removed the stability and predictability that is vital to our forest industry jobs and the communities those people live in. Would the minister at least get on the phone and secure a standstill of American litigation while negotiations are ongoing?
Madam Speaker, privacy has been out the window for the last 13 months.The family and the Changs deserve a lot better from the government. They have been making application after application. Talking about this is a trade issue not a consular issue. They constantly get this consular issue dribble that really gets no results. This is now a matter of timing. One week from today, John Chang faces a closed court in Shanghai that will decide his fate. He has had three visits in the past 13 months from consular officials. That is just not good enough. Canadians deserve and expect a lot better than this from their government when they get in trouble
Mr. Speaker, the newly minted Minister of International Trade continues to confuse Canadians with statements like: it is not her job to promote trade. Of course, she is not ratifying the TPP until the Americans do. This deal has been years in discussion and is now the gold standard on environmental and labour chapters. She claims to be pro trade, so when will she stop stalling and sign this deal?
Mr. Speaker, the House leader is once again being thrown under the bus by his friends on the front bench. He has turned himself into a human pretzel trying to defend the justice minister's questionable fundraising, and he is now assuming the position for the trade minister and her Hollywood agreements.Will the trade minister finally table those agreements, or is she prepared to pay for the ongoing House leader's chiropractic treatments with her own money?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals signed the deal into the next stage, but it was already done when we left in 2014. This has been a lost year for Canada with regard to trade opportunities. Last spring I called on the Liberal government to be ready to forge ahead with the progressive TPP signatories in the event the Americans got cold feet, which they have. Reports coming out of the APEC summit in Lima, Peru indicate that six countries, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore, have committed to pursuing the TPP trade agreement with or without the United States.Why are our Prime Minister and our Minister of International Trade MIA, allowing Canada to be left out of this important deal?
Mr. Speaker, Canada had done its job up until October 19, 2015. Now the Minister of International Trade has turned her back on not just the EU, but have given up on Canadian jobs when she walked out last Friday. She has failed to deliver now on two vitally important agreements, softwood lumber and now CETA.Since the Minister of International Trade is incapable or unwilling to do her job and ratify this vital trade deal, will the Prime Minister grab some adult supervision, get on a plane, and go back over to Brussels and get this job done?
Mr. Speaker, Pulp Fiction was a cult film that became the title of Liberal softwood policy. They continue to blame everyone but themselves for their failure in getting a new softwood lumber deal across the finish line. Now, almost 400,000 workers and whole communities in the forestry sector are hostage to an impending Liberal trade war with the U.S. When will the trade minister stop treating these jobs as an afterthought and solve this dispute before livelihoods become Liberal collateral damage?
It is just 15 months late, and they are finally getting around to meeting with Amy, Mr. Speaker. That is just not good enough. Frankly, Canadians deserve and expect a lot better from their government. The member opposite talked about meeting with Amy months ago, which never really happened. It was all a figment of his imagination.The minister talks about following this file closely. She should be leading this file. She said three weeks ago that she was seized with this opportunity, but if that means rusted and immobile, she is absolutely right. They all have the credibility of a big yellow duck. When will the Prime Minister get involved and fix this?
Mr. Speaker, we all welcome the opportunity to study this again. Of course, the former chair of the trade committee for the House of Commons had hearings while that negotiation was going on. We welcome the minister's epiphany on the road from Davos to signing the TPP, but there is also a meeting of TPP ministers the day before that signing that is also very important as they study prospective new partners in the TPP. Has she been invited to that meeting, or have we been left out just like we were in Paris?
Mr. Speaker, it is wonderful that the minister is getting his passport stamped but we are here to see results.During the final TPP negotiations we had the CETA agreement signed in principle and used it to obtain better outcomes for Canada in the TPP. We must now do the same with the TPP and use it with Mexico as leverage in the upcoming NAFTA renegotiations.Why will the new trade minister not do the right thing and ensure that Canada enters NAFTA negotiations from a position of strength by ratifying the TPP?
Mr. Speaker, America is well known as the land of the free, not the land of free personal travel for Canadian ministers. It was $20,000 for an unplanned last-minute sleepover. That is a lot of orange juice.On Monday, the House leader stood in his place and tried to justify this excess by claiming, The minister signed important agreements during her visit to California. If that is even remotely true, will the trade minister do her job and table those agreements?
Mr. Speaker, at last week's G7 meeting in Japan, the Prime Minister showed real indifference to Prime Minister Abe's push to seek early ratification of the TPP. The Prime Minister, however, seems much more inclined to push for an early deal with China. While that is a very important market for us, the Prime Minister has also said, Its important that people know that when they sign a deal with Canada, a change of government isnt going to lead to the contract being ripped up. Why will the Prime Minister not prioritize ratifying the TPP before holding trade talks with China?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister famously promised Canadians to have the structure of a new softwood lumber agreement completed within 100 days of his family reunion in Washington.While we were in government, we negotiated an extension to the softwood lumber agreement during a U.S. election year. The member for Abbotsford did the job with President Obama under the same circumstances we see in the U.S. today.What is the Prime Minister's excuse for failing Canada's forestry workers and putting thousands of good paying jobs at risk?
Mr. Speaker, just like COOL, the heavy lifting has been done on TPP. Canadian business may welcome the minister's statement in the last couple of days. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Council of Chief Executives, Canadian Agri-food Trade Alliance and Canadian manufacturers have been telling the minister to ratify TPP to maintain our strong portion of global supply chains.If she really thinks she is Canada's chief marketing officer, when will she listen to these stakeholders and ratify this important agreement?
That they got neutral, Mr. Speaker. Those jobs are for half as long.The leaders' declaration from the G7 in Japan is a clear commitment to regional trade agreements like the TPP. Yet the Prime Minister seems more inclined to push for an early deal with China. While that is a very important market for us, the Prime Minister has also said, It is important that people know that when they sign a deal with Canada...a change in government isn't going to lead to that contract being ripped up. Since he supported the leaders' declaration, why will the Prime Minister not prioritize the TPP before holding trade talks with China?
Mr. Speaker, they all happened to be sitting on the same panel show, so they do not count as individuals.Either the minister signed important agreements or she did not. If she did, then she should table them right here so we can all have a look at them. We know her own bureaucrats were in the dark, with 500 pages of emails in two days trying to figure out what she was doing there and why it would cost $20,000 to have her there.Is the House leader going to stand and apologize for misleading the House yesterday if there were no signed agreements?
Mr. Speaker, the greatest opportunity to get the TPP ratified is before the next U.S. president takes office. Former Obama defense secretary Leon Panetta says there is a low probability of its passing Congress if it is not passed before the end of this presidential term. Yet the Liberals are engaging in endless consultations here and the minister says it is not her job to promote the TPP. When will the minister spend more time on trade promotion and less time on vanity trips to L.A.?
Mr. Speaker, we all know the Minister of International Trade's sole purpose for being in LA was to be on television.Yesterday, when the government House leader tried to defend the minister's unplanned vanity trip, he said, The minister signed important agreements during her visit to California. If that is the case, will she table these important agreements immediately, keeping in mind that credit card receipts and the waiver for Bill Maher do not count?
Mr. Speaker, the deal was gift-wrapped and left on the doorstep for the Liberals to carry in. The trade minister, at the beginning of her mandate, said, Its not my job to persuade anybody that TPP is good. I guess the same now goes for CETA, as the world witnessed last Friday Canada's trade minister's meltdown as she was throwing in the towel and fleeing the scene of important implementation talks with the EU. The deal was done and signed in principle, but her Liberal need to placate every opponent of free trade across Europe has caused this mess. If she cannot get a deal with Wallonia, what makes her think she is up to the job of getting a deal with China?
Mr. Speaker, that is rich coming from a member who spent more time in LAX than she spent in meetings.One agreement that is not fake is the trans-Pacific partnership. If the trade minister will not table the supposed California agreements that she did not sign, will she do her job and bring forward the TPP agreement that she did sign?
Madam Speaker, for more than a year now Canadian citizens John Chang and his wife Allison Lu have been held in jail by China's general administration of customs. Their company, Lulu Island Winery in B.C., has successfully exported to China for some six years, so they know the system well. The arrest of Mr. Chang and Ms. Lu for a fabricated customs violation is an assault on their basic rights, a breach of China's international trade obligations, and China's own customs laws. This is clearly a trade issue, not a consular issue.Why will the Prime Minister not intervene in this new era of the Canada-China relationship?
Mr. Speaker, the real advantage for pork is in the TPP.Yesterday, the president-elect stated that the U.S. would withdraw from the TPP on his first day in office. In Canada, we have a Liberal government that does not know what to do about the TPP after the first year in office. The Minister of International Trade loves to espouse the pro-trade mantra, but her actions do not quite match up. Why will the Liberal government not get beyond consultation and move toward liberalizing trade in the Asia-Pacific with our remaining allies?
Madam Speaker, NAFTA will be under renegotiation. The President has made that very clear. The outcome, of course, will be unknown.It is more imperative than ever that Canada pursue other trade opportunities, like the TPP. The Conservatives have been saying for over a year that regardless of what the U.S. does, we should continue to move forward with like-minded countries.Will the minister commit to completing an Asia-Pacific deal before any bilateral with China begins?
Madam Speaker, the Liberals claimed they had a 100-day fix 300 days ago. That did not work out.President Trump has made his intentions clear that he will tweak NAFTA. The Americans have already insisted that supply management, dispute mechanism settlements, and even COOL are back on the table.What will the Liberals put on the table during NAFTA negotiations? Nobody really knows. Jobs are at risk, and Canadians deserve to know. What will it be?
Mr. Speaker, there was a full round of consultations last spring when we were still in government as it led up to the TPP. On April 20, Canada's lead negotiator for the TPP is quoted in The Hill Times, so it must be accurate, saying that this coming year is looking exciting. She will be assisting the international trade minister in ratifying the TPP deal that she worked so hard on, and we agree with that. Now that we have confirmed the Liberals have already made up their mind, will the minister bring the TPP to the House for ratification and start spending more time on trade promotion instead of costly self-promotion?
Mr. Speaker, when the now trade minister was in opposition as trade critic she said, Mr. Speaker, on CETA, we in the Liberal Party are adults.Unfortunately, she was unable to follow her own advice last week as she stormed out of the room during important talks. Since the trade minister cannot get it done, will the Prime Minister spend some of his shrinking political capital, get on a plane to Brussels, and finalize this important deal?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals left out the one thing Ukraine really wants, which is satellite imaging.The Minister of Foreign Affairs said in this House that when it comes to trade deals, we need more transparency on what is happening. We need not just great photo ops, but the details of what is going on.Why is it then that secret bilateral trade meetings were held last month in Beijing before public consultations were gazetted here last week? Why is the minister not open and transparent with Canadians? What has already been agreed to with China besides the selloff of our seniors complexes?
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change has now admitted that in order to meet Paris targets, Canadian taxpayers will have to pay billions of dollars to countries like China. Canadians deserve to know why they will be taxed to death so their hard-earned money will be sent to major emitters, like China.When will the Liberal government unmuzzle the economists and come clean with Canadians about the hidden costs of this Liberal scheme?
Mr. Speaker, the committee has not done any work on China, and it is all about consultations until it should.The Liberals have turned the softwood lumber deal into a crisis. The Liberals are failing Canadian farmers on pulse exports to India; that deal is up in March. The Liberals rolled over on negotiations on NAFTA without really knowing what they are putting at risk. Now, the Liberals are engaged in secret negotiations with Chinese officials. It is more of the same.Why do the Liberals not start cleaning up the messes they have already created before they launch new negotiations with China?
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has stated in this House that when it comes to trade deals, we need more transparency on what is happening. We need not just great photo ops, but the details of what is going on. Therefore, it seems a little strange then that only Chinese state-run media is reporting that Canadian officials have been in Beijing since last Monday for secret meetings on a bilateral trade agreement. Will the minister be open and transparent with Canadians and tell us if she is negotiating a free trade agreement with China, yes or no?
Mr. Speaker, since the Prime Minister's phone call with the president last week, Trump has gone from small tweaks to massive changes on NAFTA. Job well done. Canadians are right to be worried, because the Prime Minister will not say what he is putting on the table. Since he does not actually have a NAFTA plan, will the Prime Minister at least ensure that Canada enters talks from a position of strength by ratifying the TPP, as Japan and New Zealand have already done? It is the right path forward, economically and strategically, and we would not even mind if the Prime Minister claimed to be the architect of such a bold idea.
Mr. Speaker, the two years was budgeted early on for the legal scrub and the translation that would be required. The minister finds herself in the unenviable position of being on the podium but not even playing in the game.For the last year, the Liberals continued indecision on the TPP has put Canada at a further disadvantage. The Prime Minister has sidelined Canada's economic interests and future prosperity, while six countries forge ahead with a TPP agreement. Why will the government not work with these progressive countries to implement this specific trade agreement and get it done?
Mr. Speaker, since the U.S. withdrew, high-level TPP discussions have continued in Chile, here in Canada, Vietnam, and will happen next in July in Japan. The message coming out of these meetings is always positive. The remaining countries will continue to work to bring the TPP into force by the end of this calendar year. Silence from Canada though. Japan and New Zealand have already ratified and Australia and Mexico are not very far behind. Japan has also said we will not get a better deal in the bilateral agreement than we have in the TPP.When will our trade minister join our allies to bring a TPP into force here in Canada?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has finally admitted what we knew all along, that the questionable detention of Canadian citizens, John Chang and Allison Lu, by China customs is a trade matter and should have been resolved months ago. Instead, Mr. Chang has been languishing in jail for 15 months, and the Prime Minister has done absolutely nothing to secure his release and safe return. It would take one phone call from the Prime Minister to his new BFFs in Beijing to resolve this. When will the Prime Minister pick up that phone and make the call? It is never too late to do the right thing.
Mr. Speaker, we know well that the softwood lumber file has never been a priority for the Liberal government. It was not in its budget, it was not in the throne speech, and it is not in the minister's mandate letter. We have never had a government whose deadlines have been disregarded, even the 100-day self-imposed one last spring. They have removed the stability and predictability that is vital to our forest industry jobs and the communities those people live in. Would the minister at least get on the phone and secure a standstill of American litigation while negotiations are ongoing?
Madam Speaker, privacy has been out the window for the last 13 months.The family and the Changs deserve a lot better from the government. They have been making application after application. Talking about this is a trade issue not a consular issue. They constantly get this consular issue dribble that really gets no results. This is now a matter of timing. One week from today, John Chang faces a closed court in Shanghai that will decide his fate. He has had three visits in the past 13 months from consular officials. That is just not good enough. Canadians deserve and expect a lot better than this from their government when they get in trouble
Mr. Speaker, the newly minted Minister of International Trade continues to confuse Canadians with statements like: it is not her job to promote trade. Of course, she is not ratifying the TPP until the Americans do. This deal has been years in discussion and is now the gold standard on environmental and labour chapters. She claims to be pro trade, so when will she stop stalling and sign this deal?
Mr. Speaker, the House leader is once again being thrown under the bus by his friends on the front bench. He has turned himself into a human pretzel trying to defend the justice minister's questionable fundraising, and he is now assuming the position for the trade minister and her Hollywood agreements.Will the trade minister finally table those agreements, or is she prepared to pay for the ongoing House leader's chiropractic treatments with her own money?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals signed the deal into the next stage, but it was already done when we left in 2014. This has been a lost year for Canada with regard to trade opportunities. Last spring I called on the Liberal government to be ready to forge ahead with the progressive TPP signatories in the event the Americans got cold feet, which they have. Reports coming out of the APEC summit in Lima, Peru indicate that six countries, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore, have committed to pursuing the TPP trade agreement with or without the United States.Why are our Prime Minister and our Minister of International Trade MIA, allowing Canada to be left out of this important deal?
Mr. Speaker, Canada had done its job up until October 19, 2015. Now the Minister of International Trade has turned her back on not just the EU, but have given up on Canadian jobs when she walked out last Friday. She has failed to deliver now on two vitally important agreements, softwood lumber and now CETA.Since the Minister of International Trade is incapable or unwilling to do her job and ratify this vital trade deal, will the Prime Minister grab some adult supervision, get on a plane, and go back over to Brussels and get this job done?
Mr. Speaker, Pulp Fiction was a cult film that became the title of Liberal softwood policy. They continue to blame everyone but themselves for their failure in getting a new softwood lumber deal across the finish line. Now, almost 400,000 workers and whole communities in the forestry sector are hostage to an impending Liberal trade war with the U.S. When will the trade minister stop treating these jobs as an afterthought and solve this dispute before livelihoods become Liberal collateral damage?
It is just 15 months late, and they are finally getting around to meeting with Amy, Mr. Speaker. That is just not good enough. Frankly, Canadians deserve and expect a lot better from their government. The member opposite talked about meeting with Amy months ago, which never really happened. It was all a figment of his imagination.The minister talks about following this file closely. She should be leading this file. She said three weeks ago that she was seized with this opportunity, but if that means rusted and immobile, she is absolutely right. They all have the credibility of a big yellow duck. When will the Prime Minister get involved and fix this?