Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House will be supporting the legislation.
I want to ask the member an important question.
A couple of weeks after the current government was elected, the Prime Minister was down in Manila for the first APEC summit with Mr. Obama. Mr. Obama was quoted as saying that the US and Canada would soon be signatories to the original TPP, and Mr. Obama asked the PM to ratify the deal as soon as possible. At that time, the Prime Minister was not in a hurry. He said that the deal was made by a previous government and that he had to consult about it.
This week we have two deals. We have the CPTPP and this new deal with the Americans.
In hindsight, does the member think that instead of dithering on that first deal it would have been better for Canada if we had the original TPP or does he think the situation we are in right now, where we have lost quite a bit in the new Canada-US-Mexico deal, is going to be a better situation, with two separate agreements?