This bill is from the 42nd Parliament, 1st session, which ended in September 2019.
Bill Morneau Liberal
This bill has received Royal Assent and is now law.
This is from the published bill. The Library of Parliament has also written a full legislative summary of the bill.
This enactment provides for the repeal of subsections 55(5) and (6) of the Customs Tariff and their subsequent re-enactment two years later. It also makes consequential amendments to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act.
All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.
Second ReadingCustoms TariffGovernment Orders
The Assistant Deputy Speaker Carol Hughes
Order. The time is up.
I just want to remind members again that if they have questions and comments they should wait until it is time for questions and comments. They should not be yelling, shouting and heckling.
Questions and comments, the hon. member for Malpeque.
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
Madam Speaker, one thing I can certainly say about the member for Abbotsford is that he can string quite a line together, but not with much fact.
The facts of the matter are that pretty nearly all during the Harper years we had huge trade deficits. The member talked about the TPP. It was this government that had to complete the negotiations because the Conservatives could not. He talked about the 46 different trade—
Second ReadingCustoms TariffGovernment Orders
The Assistant Deputy Speaker Carol Hughes
Order. The same goes for what I just indicated to all the members in the House. Whether it is the government side or the opposition side, there needs to be respect on both sides.
Perhaps the member for Malpeque could wrap up and ask the question so we can get the answer.
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
Madam Speaker, the member talked about the 46 different trade agreements the Conservatives signed. We did some research when the Conservatives were still in government. Do members know how much trade that really amounted to? It was four and a half days' trade with the United States. They are just numbers on the table. They are not really effective agreements. Four and a half days' trade with the United States was all the Conservatives negotiated.
Why does the member for Abbotsford not admit that the Prime Minister and the international trade minister completed the deals that the Conservatives could not complete? They also stood up to Donald Trump the way he should be stood up to.
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
Madam Speaker, that is funny. The member started off by saying the Liberals completed the agreements. He then said the agreements are not effective. We are talking about the largest consumer market in the world, the European Union, negotiated under the former Conservative government of Stephen Harper. It is the second-largest trade agreement we would have with any other trading partner in the world, the U.S. being number one. The one thing he said that is truthful is that the United States is our largest trading partner and our bilateral trade is some $850 billion.
However, the second-largest consumer market in the world is the European Union, a well-heeled market under which trade is growing. There are huge opportunities for Canadians to now penetrate that market and drive economic growth and prosperity here at home.
Karine Trudel NDP Jonquière, QC
Madam Speaker, the Liberals seem to be having fun this evening and not taking this seriously, but I want to come back to Bill C-101.
We are talking about workers who are being affected and who are facing an uncertain future because of the Liberals' inaction. If the Liberals had taken action when they should have, we would not be here talking about this right now.
I would like to know what my colleague thinks. In his opinion, how did we get to this point? Why did the government throw thousands of people into uncertainty by failing to take action?
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
Madam Speaker, that is a great question. I am a former steelworker. As a UBC student, I worked summers at Wrights Canadian Ropes, a steel mill. I earned my way through university. It is absolutely critical that we understand the needs of Canadian workers, that we implement policy in a timely way.
What happened here is that the concerns of the United States were not listened to. We had a Prime Minister who thought he could bluff the United States and pretend that we are going to go on our merry way and not worry about surges and about dumping. Then the United States said to Canada, “Okay, you are not listening to us. Even though you are a security partner of ours, we are going to trigger section 232, impose very harmful steel and aluminum tariffs that are going to impact steelworkers across the country and many other workers.”
This includes industries in my hometown of Abbotsford, like Mayne Coatings that uses extruded aluminum to manufacture what is called longboard. It made a $100-million investment in Abbotsford and suddenly, overnight, it was told the Prime Minister was not paying attention or being respectful to the Americans and tariffs were being imposed on exports into the United States.
That is what happened. It has been devastating for many companies across Canada.
Second ReadingCustoms TariffGovernment Orders
The Assistant Deputy Speaker Carol Hughes
Members want to ask questions, so I do want to go to questions and comments.
The hon. member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell.
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
Madam Speaker, I listened to my colleague from Abbotsford talking a good game, but he failed to deliver on CETA and failed to deliver on the TPP. Speaking of steelworkers, what does he have against the Canadian Steel Producers Association, or the mayor of Sault Ste. Marie who sent his leader a letter asking him to pass this bill right now? What does he have against Canadian steelworkers?
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
Madam Speaker, that is quite something. Liberals are standing in the House claiming the high ground on trade, but everyone who knows anything about trade knows that the previous Conservative government under Stephen Harper was the most successful government when it came to opening up new doors for trade all over the world.
There has been a lot of gamesmanship going on across the way with the Liberals. They know that their time as a government is coming to an end. On October 21 there will be a reckoning coming when they will have to account for their failed trade policies, for breaking promises on balanced budgets and on electoral reform. They are going to have to account for mismanaging the relationship with first nations, the provinces and territories. Their time is coming on October 21. Watch for it.
Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON
Madam Speaker, I hear the Liberals and it has been a litany of disasters on the trade file.
Two weeks after the Prime Minister was elected, he was in Manila and U.S. President Barack Obama said that Canada—
Second ReadingCustoms TariffGovernment Orders
The Assistant Deputy Speaker Carol Hughes
The member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell had an opportunity to ask a question and if he has another question, he might want to hold his comments until then so that we can hear what the hon. member for Oshawa is asking.
The hon. member for Oshawa.
Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON
Madam Speaker, I want to quote the most progressive president in United States history, Barack Obama, who said at the APEC summit just two weeks after the Prime Minister was elected, that Canada and the United States would both soon be signatories to the TPP. The 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership was signed October 5, and it was one of the topics they were discussing.
I would like my colleague to talk about this. If the Prime Minister had signed the original agreement, which was also the renegotiation of NAFTA, that would have been 13 or 14 months before Mr. Trump was even in office. The deal could have been done, but he could not get that deal done because Australia, New Zealand, Japan and all of the Asian members were upset at Canada.
Could the member please comment on the incompetence that started almost from day one with the government?
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
Madam Speaker, as a former trade minister involved in the negotiation of the TPP, I can tell members that I was aghast, and all of my Conservative colleagues were aghast, at what happened in Vietnam. The 11 remaining partners of the TPP had completed negotiations and they all agreed that they were going to meet the next morning to sign the TPP, finalize everything and have a formal announcement. They all got together the next morning, except that there were two chairs empty. Canada's trade minister was missing and Canada's Prime Minister was missing. They were missing in action. They did not show up.
It is among the most embarrassing trade moments that Canada has ever been responsible for. I can tell members that under the next Conservative government, that kind of embarrassment will never happen again.