International Trade Committee on April 16th, 2026

[Jason Groleau, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Thank you for that.

Your government has appointed an ambassador to the United States who is against supply management. We have not only steel producers, but also agricultural producers.

Do you think it's a good thing to appoint someone who is against supply management when all parliamentarians are in favour of it? I find that to be a terrible choice.

First, is that a good appointment? Second, are you going to sacrifice supply management?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

As to whether that's a good appointment, I would say that it is. Are we going to sacrifice supply management? Absolutely not.

[Jason Groleau, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

You're confirming that you won't give up an inch.

Is that so?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

That's confirmed.

[Jason Groleau, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

You're confirming that you will not touch supply management in any way, shape or form.

Is that correct?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

This is the third time you have asked me the same question.

[Jason Groleau, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

I love it.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

I understand. I used to be an opposition member. I very much understand the nature of your work, and I respect that.

The Prime Minister decided to appoint Mr. Wiseman. I, for one, have seen the exceptional work he has been doing since arriving in Washington. I talk to him often. He does important work for Canada. I'm very proud of that.

[Jason Groleau, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

However, it must not be helping you.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

I'm encouraged by the work he's doing. However, you will also understand that it isn't Mr. Wiseman who determines the Canadian policy on supply management.

A bill was passed unanimously by all political parties. I'm sure he is aware of that. He also heard the comments of his boss—my boss—that we're not going to negotiate this.

I understand that you're trying to make a connection, but there is no connection between Mr. Wiseman's important and effective work and the Government of Canada's position on protecting supply management.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Naqvi.

[Yasir Naqvi, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Thank you very much, Chair, for acknowledging me.

Minister, welcome back. It's always good to see you.

I want to go back to the aim of this study while you're here, which is to talk about internal trade and the work that is being taken up by both the federal government and the provinces. I am quite mindful of sections 91 and 92 as well.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

You were attorney general of Ontario. You'd be a leading scholar in this area.

[Yasir Naqvi, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Well, I don't know about the leading scholar part, but I've definitely had some involvement on the internal trade part and the role the provinces play in that regard.

I appreciate the fact that you're raising that the federal government has done the important work necessary at the federal level, which is within our jurisdiction, and now a lot of the difficult, challenging work needs to happen at the provincial level. I'm interested in learning from you the kind of vigour and expectations that are being set at the first ministers table. Whether it's in your FPT context or it's the Prime Minister, what kind of engagement are we on? Are we setting up deadlines? Are we setting up milestones to meet in accomplishing this very important goal?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Mr. Naqvi, that's a very good question.

I think you've worked with the Prime Minister enough to know that he is extremely focused on outcomes and results. He transmits that in his conversations with provinces, such as the Premier of Manitoba this week. He is relentless in asking them to continue to step up. Expediting major projects, “one project, one review”, as an example, speaks to better internal trade indirectly as well.

At the first ministers table at the end of January, just to use the most recent example, I was in those meetings with him. At the dinner the night before with the premiers and then the meeting the following day, he was insistent that there be specific timelines, for example, around mutual recognition in terms of labour mobility in the skilled trades to deal with some of the urgencies in housing, construction and major projects. He's very much focused on that.

Madam Chair, in terms of the specific question, Jeannine could probably add some better examples.

[Jeannine Ritchot, Assistant Deputy Minister, Intergovernmental Affairs, Multilateral Relations and Internal Trade, Privy Council Office]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yes, I can say that we have supported the Prime Minister in organizing a number of first minister meetings that there have been since November 2024. Internal trade has been top of mind for all first ministers.

At the last first ministers meeting, which Minister LeBlanc has referenced, there were a number of key commitments that have hard deadlines, and all first ministers did, indeed, agree to those.

The specifics I can offer to that end are that the first ministers stressed the need for expanding the mutual recognition agreements by the end of 2026. That is what Minister LeBlanc referenced, that there has since been agreement to expand services.

They also agreed to promote greater harmonization for the approval of new building materials and prefabricated homes by the end of the year. That's a very active space as well.

On labour mobility, I believe the minister has already mentioned some of the work being done on digital credential recognition for tradespeople by spring 2027 and accelerating work to prioritize occupational health and safety requirements in the construction sector by fall 2026.

There are ambitious timelines being pursued by all.

[Yasir Naqvi, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Thank you.

Minister, I think you quite ably said that the first 20% will be the easy stuff and that the next 10% is going to be somewhat challenging, but we'll figure out a way, and then there's just the little part, which is going to be the political challenge. I think we all understand those realities.

Do you think the moment we find ourselves in with everything that's happening around the world vis-à-vis the United States that the political moment may be here and that the premiers and your counterparts who you're dealing with are cognizant, aware and willing to really push the agenda?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Madam Chair, very directly, Mr. Naqvi, absolutely.

If you think about 11 out of 13 jurisdictions agreeing to allow direct-to-consumer alcohol sales by the end of next month, in a few weeks from now, and enthusiastically and happily agreeing with each other in front of everybody, that was imperative. Think how hard it's been, and think of the different provincial monopolies that have existed for decades.

There's an example. We talk about the hardest part. That's one of the most visible. Some people have private members' legislation on this issue, which is very interesting. “Free the beer”; we've heard that. We've taken note of Mr. Poilievre's news conference with respect to this. We agree with that, but so do the provinces in the sense that they have taken these concrete steps.

I'm optimistic that the moment behooves all of us to continue that progress and to get to a real free trade economy within the country. I have a lot of optimism about that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

Given the fact that we did start a few minutes late, Minister, and we're so happy to have you here, we'll have a minute go over to Mr. Chambers, and a minute can go over to this side, and a half of a minute can go over to Mr. Savard-Tremblay.

Go ahead, Mr. Chambers.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Thank you.

Minister, there seems to be a mistaken impression or a narrative that a member of Parliament, in order to serve their country, has to serve on the government side of the House.

If I could leave you with some inspiration, I'm wondering why the government hasn't taken it upon itself to strike an all-party committee, similar to what they do with NSICOP, allowing members of Parliament from all parties to join, which could assist the government in its negotiations with the Americans in order to bring this deal to a quicker resolution.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

A quicker resolution.... The speed of the resolution is not only in the hands of the Government of Canada or Canadians.

We're always interested, Mr. Chambers, in working with parliamentarians. I've had conversations with a number of your colleagues that I thought were very constructive, and your leader, when he travelled in the United States, was also very constructive in this regard. I think we should be happy as parliamentarians by this shared purpose.

I don't think we need another structure to do the work that Canadian industry expects us to do. The challenge is to get the Americans to a position where they want to make a deal that's in the interest of both economies.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Thank you.

Briefly, I have one final question. I won't ask whether you believe what the ambassador has said, but why is it the impression of the Americans that there have been no substantive discussions in five months on this very important deal that is a priority for your government, as you say?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

That's a good question. I would speculate on why certain things in public opinion in the United States are what they are, but I'm not sure it's particularly constructive.

This is in the public record. As I said earlier, we had made considerable progress. I was with the Prime Minister when he went to the White House, the Oval Office and the working lunch afterwards in October. In the days and weeks that followed, Mr. Sabia and I and then Ambassador Hillman advanced things considerably. The Americans decided to suspend that work. That was of public record. The conversations have restarted, but—

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

I think they said you decided to suspend that work.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

—they restarted in private.

As I said, my conversation with Secretary Lutnick on Monday last week was a 45-minute positive private conversation.