International Trade Committee on April 16th, 2026

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

As I'm sure you can understand, I don't want to get into that, except to tell you, as a sovereignist, that I was very reassured to see that certain ministers in the current Quebec government are very enthusiastic about free trade that, as we all agree, respects language issues.

Quebec has been a leader in buying Canadian products and making sure that Quebec products can be sold in other parts of the country, just as products from other parts of the country can be bought in Quebec. In every conversation I've had, the Government of Quebec has been a leading advocate of free trade in Canada.

I may have just answered your question. Given how enthusiastic members of the Quebec government are, we must not change the current constitutional structure.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC]

We disagree here. I have already said that you were one of the only ministers who gave clear answers to questions. You're letting me down today.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

It's such a hypothetical question.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC]

I would point out that even Jacques Parizeau's government signed a free trade agreement in early 1995. Our party has always advocated for partnership with Canada, should such a happy outcome arise.

In 30 seconds, I'd like to ask you if there are any consequences to be expected. When there's a free trade agreement, the same thing happens. Some companies benefit from the barriers, despite everything.

In this case, are there any consequences for companies that developed their business plans based on existing barriers?

Is there an assistance plan, if applicable?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

That's a very good question. I don't want to assume whose names will be on the witness lists, but that will be an interesting question to ask provincial government representatives. In private conversations, they recognize exactly what you're saying, Mr. Savard‑Tremblay.

I'm thinking of a scenario where a company decides to put out a call for tenders to buy an ambulance for a small Atlantic province and a Quebec supplier wins. However, there's a local company that manufactures ambulances. It employs 80 people. In the past, the province in question could buy its ambulances only from local suppliers. The types of political and economic impacts on those companies are immediately clear.

That's why I commend, without wanting to be pedantic, the courage and willingness of the provinces to accept the fact that it's in the interests of Canada, the Canadian economy and Canadian workers to remove and reduce these barriers, particularly because we have to face a tariff threat from the Americans that we don't have control over. Our provincial partners are demonstrating great courage in those conversations.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

We'll move to Mr. Mantle for five minutes, please.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for your attendance here.

In your estimation, do we have free trade in Canada presently?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

As I said to your colleague earlier, Mr. Mantle, the Government of Canada, in terms of what jurisdiction we have, has created a circumstance of free trade. Now we're working with our partners in the federation to do the remaining work that will in fact create a common market, a free trade circumstance, across the country.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

They're still working toward that goal.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Again, I don't want to sound like it's a constitutional lecture, but in a federation, you can imagine, Monsieur Savard-Tremblay, if we were to bigfoot a province and try to impose something juridically, constitutionally, it wouldn't be successful. It's not a good way to build partnerships to try to do that, so that's why I'm optimistic that we can do that collaboratively.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Thank you.

You did mention constitutional jurisdiction, so I'll put to you, are you willing to use the constitutional authority that the federal government has to create free trade in Canada?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

It's a hypothetical question. I don't think we'll have to consider that sort of option—

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Are you suggesting that the powers in the Constitution are hypothetical, that paragraph 92(10)(a) is hypothetical?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

No, but I'm not going to give you legal discussion of the government's constitutional options when I'm confident that we can achieve it collaboratively, because provinces in many respects are leading this conversation. I get you want to have a clip of me talking about a constitutional sledgehammer, but I'm not going to go there.

It's an interesting discussion. You should invite some law professors or deans of faculties of law—

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Minister, I would settle for some constitutional courage from the federal government.

Let me give you a law professor, Professor Malcolm Lavoie, who's an adviser to Alberta right now. He's a pre-eminent scholar on this. He says, for example, “Interprovincial trucking undoubtedly falls under Parliament’s section 92(10)(a) power over interprovincial undertakings. Parliament would merely need to reassert its authority in order to bring greater harmonization to the trucking industry.”

Do you agree?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Again, far be it from me to argue with an august legal scholar like you just cited. The good news though is that is hypothetical, because we've achieved it by signing a mutual agreement with the provinces and territories. We've been able to achieve that without—

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Has trucking been harmonized? Are you announcing that today?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

I'm not announcing anything. It's not a surprise. As I said earlier in November, the provinces signed an agreement to remove the barriers on interprovincial trucking.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Well, I guess we'll wait to see if that actually happens, because that hasn't happened as of today, and I wish the federal government would exercise some courage there.

Minister, you opened the door to a few questions on our Canada-U.S. relationship and I wanted to ask you about that.

Last week, Mr. Greer was at the Hudson Institute and said, “We've worked really closely with the Mexicans over the past year; they resolved a lot of issues, the Canadians, we have some issues with them that haven't been resolved”. Then the U.S. ambassador said that there have been no “substantive” discussions in five months.

What are the issues that haven't been resolved and why aren't we at the table?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Madam Chair, through you, I disagree with I think two premises of the question. We are at the table—

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Do you disagree with Mr. Greer?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

It was Mr. Greer who said that. I think you were quoting the ambassador—

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Mr. Greer said that they “have some issues” with the Canadians “that haven't been resolved”.

Do you disagree with him?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

No, we're at the table, to the later part of your question—

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

You disagree with the ambassador.