Gerry Ritz

[Committees of the House, April 10th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the chair of the committee has tabled this report today. It is a good report. The general consensus—with a few exceptions, of course—is that this is a gold standard trade agreement. I would be remiss if I did not give a lot of the credit to my friend and colleague the member for Abbotsford, and of course Kirsten Hillmont was the chief negotiator and did a fantastic job.

What is going on now, with the U.S. withdrawing, is there is a bit of a limbo. There is a period when no one knows what is going to happen. However, there is a tremendous, growing need for this to be done. Japan is leading that, as well as Australia and New Zealand, and they are looking for some leadership from Canada, the leadership they got used to when we were negotiating this deal.

[Petitions, April 3rd, 2017]

Madam Speaker, I have a great petition here from 100 or so members of my constituency, from Battlefords and North Battleford.

The petitioners call on the government to take palliative care seriously, to actually follow through on some of the promises it has made, and to ensure that this is covered under the Canada Health Act so the provincial and territorial governments will be entitled to the funding that is required for it.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Return, March 20th, 2017]

With regard to the Minister of International Trade authorizing supplementary import permits for all categories of dairy products, including butter and cheese between November 4, 2015, and December 13, 2016: (a) how many supplementary import permits were approved by the Minister, broken down by category; and (b) for each categorized supplementary import permit, what is the breakdown in terms of (i) the amount in tonnes, (ii) who received the allocation, (iii) the name of the exporting country or countries, (iv) the market value in Canadian dollars, (v) the duration, (vi) the date range, (vii) the expiration date, (viii) the date of the application, (ix) the date of authorization, (x) the dates the imported products entered Canada, (xi) the end users of the imported product?

[Preclearance Act, 2016, March 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, it has been great to be a part of the debate here today. I had to get up and ask a question because Billy Bishop airport has been mentioned a couple of times. It is going to have pre-clearance now which is a great thing, but at the same time the Liberals, about two minutes after the election without any science-based data or all of this data they were going to have before making a decision, shut down the ability of Billy Bishop airport to extend its runway to make this worthwhile, to fly farther, and make use of pre-clearance. Will you reconsider that untimely shutting down of the expansion of the Billy Bishop airport to allow it to really make use of this pre-clearance?

[International Trade, March 6th, 2017]

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?

[International Trade, February 23rd, 2017]

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?

[International Trade, February 23rd, 2017]

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?

[International Trade, February 17th, 2017]

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?

[International Trade, February 17th, 2017]

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?

[Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, February 15th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians welcomed the news today of the European parliament approving the comprehensive trade agreement between Canada and the EU. The House overwhelmingly approved CETA just yesterday.

I would like to thank the Liberal government for recognizing how important this deal is for Canadian jobs. A special mention goes to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of International Trade who will continue this valuable work.

This would not have been possible without the vision and ambition of our former prime minister, the Right Hon. Stephen Harper. CETA was conceived, negotiated, and concluded under his leadership and that of the members, and friends of mine, from Abbotsford and York—Simcoe.

The heavy lifting was done by our world-class trade negotiators. Led by Steve Verheul, his team worked tirelessly on this historic agreement. For people like Steve, it becomes a part of their DNA and in turn a part of our history and success as a free trading nation.

I am proud to have been involved in such a historic agreement. Let us not stop with CETA. Let us also move forward with our allies in the Asia-Pacific and make Canada the gateway to North America for both Europe and Asia.