Mr. Speaker, certainly, this is a topic that I am very engaged on and I am glad to ask a question of the member.
In her speech she referenced some changes to the preferential tariff of $330 million. This is an area on which the government has been transparent. There is a preferential tariff that is given to certain countries, such as Brazil, Russia, India and China. Some of the places where we have seen the most economic development and growth are among many of the nations there.
I would like to ask the member to clarify her party's position. From my understanding, the NDP always seemed to support tariffs to encourage local manufacturing, meaning within Canada.
Second to that, by allowing this preferential rate, when would the member look at removing it?
Lastly, it seems that this government has always said that if we can have free trade agreements with many of these countries, we would have them.
That is the old fashioned way of taking away these tariffs.