Even if my colleagues opposite will perhaps say that I am yet again brandishing my NDP label, I support my colleague in saying that the New Democratic Party is not opposed to free trade.
There are several reasons that explain why the manufacturing sector has declined. I am not an economist and I could not rhyme off all the reasons to you. I do however know that one of the reasons is the growing number of treaties. For example, there was NAFTA under Mulroney. Since the Mulroney era, Canada has continued to engage itself in free trade agreements, such that labour is migrating towards other countries, notably Mexico and the United States.
Given the government’s new leanings, targeting the negotiation of an ever greater number of free trade agreements, do you not fear that the number of jobs in the manufacturing sector in Canada will decline even further? How will the Trade commissioner service of Canada be able to allow Canadian companies to recover from this crisis given that they will probably see their profits decline markedly?