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Results: 91 - 120 of 147
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Madam Speaker, let me just state very clearly for members of this House and for all Canadians that our government absolutely understands the importance of natural resources to the Canadian economy, and in particular, of the oil and gas sectors.
Canada is one of the world's leading oil and gas producers, one of the world's leading oil and gas exporters, and that sector provides hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs, including blue-collar jobs across the country. That is of great value and that is something our government supports.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I know this was a very difficult decision for the company and a very difficult decision for our country.
Let me say how I feel about our country's oil and gas sector. We secured the largest investment in Canada's history with LNG Canada. We approved the Line 3 replacement. We approved TMX, and we will get it built.
Our government understands that Canada is one of the world's leading producers of oil and gas and that the sector is the source of hundreds of thousands of great jobs across the country. We support the sector.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, let me tell the Leader of the Opposition what we all need to do.
We all need to recognize that reconciling ambitious climate action and getting energy projects built in Canada is complex and it presents complex challenges. It is not good for our country to have this debate be dominated by extremes on either side. We need to work sincerely together to find common ground and our government is committed to doing just that.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I do not agree with the members opposite about everything, but I think we can all agree that our country needs to find a path forward on getting big energy projects built and on acting ambitiously when it comes to climate change. It is simply untrue and false to suggest to Canadians that the path is simple. It is complicated. It is going to take all of us working together, and that is what we are going to do.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister showed leadership last week when he clearly said that the injunction must be obeyed, the law must be upheld and the barricades must come down.
I want to congratulate the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, who is in British Columbia today to work with her provincial counterpart and with Wet'suwet'en representatives.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I want to point out that the Prime Minister demonstrated leadership last Friday when he said that the barricades must come down. I also want to point out the leadership being shown today in British Columbia by my dear colleague, our Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations. People can talk, but we are the ones doing the work now.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to respond to the Bloc Québécois' question by pointing out that we are all working together to address an issue that is very important to the Canadian economy, and that issue is NAFTA. I want to thank all the Bloc Québécois members for their willingness to work with our government on the new NAFTA. The Bloc has proposed better control over aluminum, and we have had some productive conversations.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out to my colleague across the way that the answers given in the House are also the answers given to the media. I think all hon. members understand that.
With respect to the blockades, I want to point out that our Prime Minister demonstrated tremendous leadership last week. I also want to highlight the very important work that my colleague, our Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, is doing today in British Columbia.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, the NDP leader is also a B.C. MP, so I am sure he will be glad to know that we are working on this issue in very close collaboration with Premier Horgan, with whom I spoke at length last night. No premier has worked harder on reconciliation, and we should all acknowledge that. We should also all support the Province of B.C.'s efforts to get important natural resource projects built in Canada.
When it comes to meeting with the Wet'suwet'en leadership, that is what my colleague is doing today.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, let me be very clear and say something that is incontrovertible. Our Prime Minister has worked harder, and more sincerely, toward reconciliation than any Prime Minister in Canada's history. When it comes to a meeting with the Wet'suwet'en hereditary leadership my colleague, the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, is in B.C. with her B.C. counterpart doing exactly that.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I am very aware, and our government is very aware, of the pain and indeed, among many people, the despair in Alberta today.
I want to be very clear that when it comes to the oil and gas sector that our government is clear in its support. We understand that the oil and gas sector in Canada is the source of hundreds of thousands of well-paying, often blue-collar jobs, across our great country. It is not right to play with national unity.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House as an MP from Ontario, but also as a grateful daughter of Alberta. Let me say, I understand the despair in Alberta and I believe passionately—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I believe passionately that a strong Alberta is essential to a strong Canada. Let me say what we need for that, and I am going to quote the Calgary Chamber of Commerce: “We need real, decisive action on climate change.... The success of our businesses, the well-being of our families...depend on it.”
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I very much hope, and I rely on the hope, that one thing we can agree on on both sides of this House is that we all believe in the importance of national unity. We all understand that the economies of Ontario and Alberta and of Quebec and Alberta are intimately connected.
That is a firm conviction of our government. That is why I would urge the members opposite not to make national unity a partisan football.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, it was a Liberal government that created supply management, and it was a Liberal government that protected it.
I should point out that at the beginning of negotiations, the U.S. government wanted to completely dismantle this system. We defended our supply management system, and we will continue to do so.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, we welcome the proposals from the member for Elmwood—Transcona, and we will be formally amending the government's policy on tabling treaties in Parliament in line with his excellent suggestions. It has been a pleasure to work with him.
I also appreciate his work to ensure an expeditious ratification of the new NAFTA. It is a shame that I cannot say the same of the Conservatives, who used to be the party of free trade. Unfortunately, thanks to their weak and feckless leadership, it is up to the NDP to do that job.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, as the member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo is from B.C., I would like to thank Premier Horgan, with whom I spoke with at length yesterday about a trip I am making to Washington tomorrow to work on softwood lumber, NAFTA, aluminum and other issues.
Premier Horgan worked closely with our federal government. Softwood lumber is a priority, and I want to congratulate B.C. producers on the important recent Department of Commerce ruling, which has confirmed, as we have long said, the fairness of our softwood lumber industry.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I have a great deal of respect for our hon. colleague, but I must say that he is wrong. The new NAFTA gives a lot to the softwood industry. It is vital for the softwood lumber industry because it gave us chapter 19, which is crucial for the softwood lumber industry. The new NAFTA also guarantees a free market for softwood lumber. For that reason, I urge the Conservatives not to bicker, and to support the ratification of the agreement.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, it looks like the Bloc is trying to make the point that the Liberal government is not François Legault's government. I think everyone understands that.
There are issues on which we disagree with Quebec's premier. The fact that Quebec and Premier Legault do not always agree with us makes their strong support for the new NAFTA that much more significant. Like us, they understand that this agreement is good for Quebec.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, it was a Liberal government that created the supply management system and it is a Liberal government that is preserving it. It is worth noting that the American government's goal at the beginning of the negotiations was to completely dismantle the system. This agreement will provide access to markets, but also the assurance that the future of supply management is secure. That is very good for Canada's dairy farmers.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, we are not hiding anything. We are very proud of the new NAFTA. Steve Verheul, the chief negotiator of this agreement, who is respected on all sides of the House, was made available to the Leader of the Opposition immediately after the protocol of amendment was signed.
When it comes to the economic analysis being prepared by the chief economist of Global Affairs, as soon as this analysis is complete, we will publish it and share it with all members of the House.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, we did not agree to that.
I must point out that the new NAFTA is a good agreement for Canada, Quebec and our aluminum sector. Today, we have no guarantee for the aluminum used in North American auto manufacturing. Under the new NAFTA we will have a guarantee that 70% of the aluminum used is sourced in North America. I believe that 70% is better than nothing.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, with regard to Quebec and the new NAFTA, I want to quote the Premier of Quebec, Mr. Legault, who said, “I think that the Bloc must defend the interests of Quebeckers, and it is in the interests of Quebeckers that this agreement be adopted and ratified.”
I think it is the duty of all members from Quebec to stand up for the interests of Quebec. In order to do that, they must ratify the new NAFTA, which is in the interests of Quebec and all of Canada.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
moved that Bill C-4, An Act to implement the Agreement between Canada, the United States of America and the United Mexican States, be read the second time and referred to a committee.
She said: Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are gathered on the traditional territory of the Algonquin people.
I am truly honoured to speak here today in support of Bill C-4, an act to implement the new NAFTA. Canadians have come a long way since 2017, when Canada's most important trading relationship, indeed our national prosperity itself, was put at serious risk. The years that followed were among the more turbulent in our history. We have emerged not only with the essential elements of the North American Free Trade Agreement intact, but with a better, more effective and fairer agreement than before.
This agreement is better for steel and aluminum workers, better for auto manufacturers and factory workers, better for farmers, forestry workers and energy workers. This agreement is better for the thousands of people working hard in our service industries. It is better for Canadian artists, singer-songwriters and filmmakers and better for the companies that hire them.
Canada has always been a trading nation. We have trade agreements with Europe and the Pacific in place, and we are about to have a modernized NAFTA. That means free trade with 1.5 billion people around the world and makes us one of the world's greatest trading nations.
That we achieved this at a time of considerable uncertainty in global trade, with the rules-based international order itself under strain, is something of which all Canadians can be rightly proud. It is a testament to the unrelenting work of thousands of patriotic Canadians from all walks of life, representing every political view from all orders of government and from all regions of our great country. This truly has been team Canada at work.
A little more than 25 years ago, the North American Free Trade Agreement created the world's largest economic trading zone, but let us remember that it did not come about easily or without controversy. In fact, a federal election was fought over free trade in 1988, and my own mother ran against NAFTA for the New Democrats in the riding of Edmonton Strathcona. These were intense debates as many in the House will remember, yet today the Canadian consensus for free trade is overwhelming.
That consensus is a testament to NAFTA's long-term effectiveness as a vehicle for economic growth. More broadly speaking, it is also a testament to the fact that rules-based trade advances personal freedom, fosters entrepreneurial spirit and generates prosperity.
Today, Canada, the United States and Mexico account for nearly one-third of global GDP despite having just 7% of the global population. Every day, transactions worth about $2 billion Canadian and 400,000 people cross the Canada-U.S. border. Those are impressive numbers.
When we were first asked to renegotiate NAFTA, we were determined to improve the agreement, update it, refine it and modernize it for the 21st century. That is exactly what we did.
I would like to stress two points. Under the new NAFTA, 99.9% of our exports to the United States can be exported tariff-free, and when it comes into force, this agreement will be the most progressive trade deal our country has ever negotiated. Indeed, I believe it will be the most progressive trade deal in the world.
“Growth that works for everyone” is not just a slogan. It has been the animating, driving idea in our negotiations from the start.
Let us be honest: The negotiations that got us here were not always easy. There were some twists and turns along the way. There were, as I predicted at the outset, moments of drama. There were times when the prospect of success seemed distant, but we hung in there. Faced with a series of unconventional negotiating positions from the United States, a protectionist flurry unlike any this country has encountered before, we did not escalate and we also did not back down. We stayed focused on what matters to Canadians: jobs, economic growth, security and opportunity. That is how we stayed the course.
It was clear from the start that, in order to be successful, Canada as a whole had to come together and work as a team.
We began by consulting stakeholders across the country. We heard from Canadians in industry, agriculture, the service sector and labour. We sought and received advice and insight from across party lines. We reached out to current and former politicians, including provincial and territorial premiers, mayors, community leaders and indigenous leaders. We asked Canadians for their input and gathered over 400,000 submissions on the modernization of NAFTA.
We established the NAFTA council with people from different political parties, as well as business, labour and indigenous leaders.
I would like to thank every member of the NAFTA council for their wisdom, hard work and collegiality. Their insight helped guide our way forward at every step of the way, right up to the present moment.
I would also like to thank current and past members of the House for their contributions. With politics, there is always partisanship, but there can also be collaboration in the national interest. I know, from the many conversations I have had with colleagues across the aisle and across Canada, that every single one of us here shares the goal of working for Canada and Canadians. This negotiation has not been a political project. It has been a national one.
There have been many hurdles. During the negotiations, we were hit with unfair and arbitrary tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. We defended ourselves without rancour, but with firmness, imposing perfectly reciprocal, dollar-for-dollar tariffs on the United States even as team Canada fanned out across the U.S., reminding our friends, allies and neighbours that they rely on us for trade, too.
We were consistent. We were persistent. We never gave up. We just kept digging in the corners, if I may be allowed one NAFTA hockey metaphor.
The new NAFTA is a great agreement for Canada because we acted with resolve at the negotiating table to uphold the interests and values of Canadians. Our professional trade negotiators are, without exaggeration, the very best in the world. They are a group of true hard-working patriots, led by the inimitable Steve Verheul. I would like to thank them on behalf of all Canadians.
I would also like to thank Ambassador Bob Lighthizer. I found him to be a reliable and trustworthy counterpart, even though there were many times when we did not agree. He is someone who has become a friend. I would like to acknowledge his hard work, his professionalism and his willingness to find win-win compromises for our great continent. That made this agreement possible.
I would also like to recognize the efforts of my Mexican counterparts, who showed tremendous commitment, through a change in government, in renewing our trilateral relationship and in reaching a progressive outcome that raises working standards for workers across our shared continent.
Muchas gracias, amigos.
The benefits of this agreement for Canadians are concrete and considerable. The new NAFTA preserves Canada's tariff-free access to our most important market: 99.9% of our exports to the U.S. will be tariff-free. The agreement preserves the dispute settlement mechanism known as the famous chapter 19 in the original NAFTA, which provides an independent and impartial process for challenging anti-dumping and countervailing duties.
Critically, this mechanism is how we Canadians ensure a level playing field with a much larger trading partner. This mechanism is more valuable today than ever, with the WTO effectively paralyzed.
The new NAFTA preserves the general exception for cultural industries, which employ some 650,000 people across the country. These industries are an integral part of Canada's bilingual nature and our linguistic and cultural identity. This was a crucial factor, because those industries ensure that we can tell our own stories, as Canadians, in both official languages.
Our farmers are more crucial than ever to our collective prosperity. Canada and the United States have the largest bilateral trading relationship in the world in the area of agriculture, which is worth about $48 billon annually.
At one point in the negotiations, the United States demanded that we abolish supply management. We refused that demand. This agreement secures the future of Canada's supply management system for this generation and generations to come.
The new agreement strengthens labour standards and working conditions in all three countries. This is a historic milestone with, for the first time, truly muscular and enforceable labour standards. This agreement, for the first time, levels the playing field in North America for Canadian workers.
It supports the advancement of fair and inclusive trade. It addresses issues related to migrant workers, forced or compulsory labour, and violence against union members, including gender violence. It enshrines obligations related to discrimination, including discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation and gender identity.
This agreement modernizes our trade for the 21st century. Critically, it reduces cross-border red tape and simplifies procedures for Canadian exporters. It promotes increased trade and investment through new chapters dedicated to small and medium-sized businesses.
As well, the agreement preserves the provisions on temporary entry for business people. These provisions are essential to supporting cross-border trade and investments. Temporary entry ensures that investors can see their investments first-hand, and that service suppliers can enter the market to fulfill their contracts on-site.
At a time when walls are being built, temporary entry is a critical advantage for Canadians.
Crucially, the new NAFTA also shields Canada from arbitrary and unfair trade actions. For instance, our auto sector employs 125,000 people directly and another 400,000 indirectly through a network of dealers and after-market services. The side letter we signed with the new NAFTA protects this vital industry from any potential U.S. tariffs on automobile and auto parts.
The new NAFTA is great for Canadian auto workers. We see this in new, higher requirements for levels of North American content in the production of cars and trucks. We see it in the labour chapter, which includes key provisions to strengthen and improve labour standards in the NAFTA space.
One of our government's main objectives is to ensure that women have the opportunity to participate fully and equitably in the Canadian economy. The new NAFTA is no exception. The labour chapter includes a non-discrimination clause and addresses obstacles to the full participation of women.
Environmental stewardship is essential to our collective future. The new NAFTA includes a chapter on the environment that will help ensure that our trade partners do not receive unfair economic advantages because they failed to respect the environment.
The environment chapter requires that all the NAFTA partners maintain strong environmental protection and robust environmental governance. It introduces new commitments to address challenges like illegal wildlife trade, illegal fishing and the depletion of fish stocks, species at risk, conservation of biodiversity, ozone-depleting substances and marine pollution.
It also recognizes the unique role of indigenous peoples in the conservation of our shared biodiversity and in sustainable fisheries and forest management. This is a first. For the first time in a Canadian trade agreement, the new NAFTA confirms that the government can adopt or maintain measures it deems necessary to fulfill its legal obligations to indigenous peoples.
We should note that the obligations on labour and environment in the new NAFTA are subject to dispute settlement. This is a major accomplishment. This means any laggard can be held accountable.
In his speech to the U.S. National Governors Association in 2017, the Prime Minister referred to his father's famous metaphor about Canada, of our experience of sleeping next to an elephant. He said that, contrary to his father's phrase, Canada today is no mouse, more like a moose. This negotiation and its conclusion have shown how right he was.
Throughout the formal negotiations and in the months that followed, the Government of Canada has been intent on upholding the national interest. This work continued last year, culminating in a protocol of amendments signed by Canada, the United States and Mexico that strengthen state-to-state dispute settlements, labour protection, environmental protection and rules of origin.
Our government is committed to ensuring that the benefits of trade are widely and fairly shared.
The new NAFTA helps us accomplish that. It promotes progressive, free and fair economic growth. More generally, it strengthens rules-based trade at a time when those rules are in great need of strengthening. It brings back stability to the trade relationship between Canada, the United States and Mexico. Above all, this agreement provides stability and predictability for companies that employ hundreds of thousands of Canadians.
Our focus in bringing the new NAFTA to Parliament has always been on preserving and fostering opportunity for Canadian workers, businesses, families and communities across the country. That is what we achieved, and this is what all Canadians have achieved together. It is something that all Canadians and every member of the House can be proud of. We are all here to serve Canadians.
I encourage all members in the House and Senate to work co-operatively with us to swiftly pass this legislation.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, let me start by thanking the member for Oshawa for his personal commitment to Canadian workers and for the work he has done personally on this agreement. We have had a lot of conversations and I appreciate that.
I would also like to thank the member opposite and his party for their vote yesterday supporting the agreement and the recognition we just heard of the need for all of us to work together to bring certainty to the Canadian economy and Canadian workers.
When it comes to due diligence, I would expect nothing less from all the members of the House. Let us keep talking. As I said, the inimitable Steve Verheul is at the disposal of everyone here. He has worked with governments of various political stripes and I know all of us trust him very much.
When it comes to the conduct of the Prime Minister in this negotiation and in our relationship with the United States, here, respectfully, I must very strongly disagree with the member opposite. Our Prime Minister has been an exemplary leader for Canada in this often difficult negotiation.
The Prime Minister has, as I described the Canadian approach overall, pursued a course of neither escalating nor backing down. He has not been afraid to stand up for Canada and the national interest, and he has been successful at building and leading an effective working relationship.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for the question.
I think it is essential to explain clearly to Canadians, as I did yesterday with my colleague for the people from Saguenay who were here, that our government is committed to defending the aluminum sector and its workers. I can give you a very clear example of that commitment. We fought to have the U.S. tariffs on aluminum fully lifted. It is important to note that out of all the aluminum producing countries, Canada is the only one that managed to have the tariffs fully lifted, without quotas. That is a tremendous advantage for Canada, the aluminum sector and its workers.
I also want to note that the new NAFTA will guarantee that 70% of the aluminum to be used in cars built in the area covered by NAFTA will come from North America. Currently that percentage is 0%. That seems like a big win to me, since 70% is much better than 0%.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, let me start by thanking the member for Elmwood—Transcona for those thoughtful questions and for the work he has been doing on this agreement. We have had some very constructive conversations. I appreciate that very much.
Also, as someone who personally lived through some of the NDP's struggles with NAFTA, I very much appreciated the vote yesterday by the NDP. I think that is an important sign of the NDP's commitment to Canadian workers, a commitment we share.
When it comes to the specific questions the member asked, he spoke about consultation with stakeholders and Canadians and about our experience during CETA, the TPP and the new NAFTA. What I have personally learned during that experience is the value of consultation and the value of continued, and I would even say continuous, dialogue with key stakeholders. I think we are seeing some of the results of that in the fact the premiers and the heads of municipalities have come out and spoken in favour of the new NAFTA, and in the fact that we see labour, business and indigenous leaders doing so as well. That is because we have all been talking.
Therefore, in conclusion, I would say to the hon. member that I think an important lesson of this process is that working closely with stakeholders and having a process that involves Canadians is a help and not a hindrance.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I would like to welcome the member for Kings—Hants to the House and thank him for his thoughtful question.
Canadians remember clearly that one of the key, explicit negotiating objectives of our American counterparts was the complete abolition of our supply management system. It is no secret to Canadians that this has been an objective of long standing. In the face of that American objective, Canada stood firm. We preserved the supply management system for today and for generations to come.
My hon. colleague also asked an important question about compensation for farmers in the supply management sector. We have been very clear that just and equitable compensation is essential.
We are a trading nation and we need to do trade deals. In order to have popular support for those trade deals, we need to be fair to all Canadians as trade deals are concluded. That is what we are absolutely committed to doing. As farmers in the supply management sector know, we have already been working in detail with them for some time to put together the details of what is inevitably a complex program.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I do not agree with my hon. colleague at all. The reality is that the new NAFTA includes significant benefits for Quebec. As Premier Legault and others have said, the new NAFTA preserves $57.3 billion in exports from Quebec to the United States. It preserves the cultural exemption. I thought that was important to Quebec. We preserved supply management when the United States was calling for it to be dismantled.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, the only thing needed to understand the benefits of NAFTA for Quebec is some math skills. What we have to understand is that 70% is better than 0%. Those are the facts for the aluminum sector.
One Quebec leader understands this. Premier Legault said, “The Bloc Québécois has to defend the interests of Quebeckers, and it is in the interest of Quebeckers for this agreement be ratified and adopted.” I agree.
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