Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak to this important motion today. It is important because in my riding, like many rural ridings across Canada, trade is the lifeblood of our economy. Trade is facilitated by building strong interprovincial and business relations. When our Prime Minister creates diplomatic incidents, he undermines those relationships, and consequently, trade suffers. This point leads into my final comments, which will be about the disturbing actions of our Prime Minister, who seems content to throw the reputation of his own Liberal members, and members of our professional public service, under the bus to protect his own skin. These are not the actions of a leader. This is shameful behaviour.
It goes without saying that the Prime Minister's recent trip to India was a diplomatic disaster. This tour has undermined the confidence of the Indian government that Canada can be depended upon as both a trading partner and a trusted ally. The Prime Minister went to India with a trunk full of colourful costumes, ready to show off his dance moves, but he failed to do his number one job as Prime Minister: to advance Canada's interests.
Pulse farmers in my riding of Sturgeon River—Parkland and across Canada are suffering because the Liberal government failed to negotiate a deal on tariffs with India. Consequently, the prices for lentils have dropped significantly, and Canadian farmers are finding themselves increasingly shut out of global markets.
The increased tariffs on lentils announced after the Prime Minister's trip illustrates his complete inability to get the job done. Prices are down for lentils across Canada, and India, one of Canada's top export destinations, continues to slap new tariff and non-tariff barriers on our world-class products. I see the impact of this in my riding. Farmers, including members of my family, are losing out because the Liberal government has failed to deliver serious and meaningful action on this critical trade issue.
Furthermore, on the issue of fumigation, the Prime Minister failed to gain an exemption from the Indian government that would prevent the use of an environmentally destructive chemical on our crops, a fumigant that is not required in Canada. Why was our Minister of Agriculture not doing the hard negotiations in the backrooms while the Prime Minister and his taxpayer-funded entourage posed for selfies with extremists? Since the Liberals have failed to gain Canadian farmers access to the Indian market when it comes to lentils, how can they be depended upon to ensure that Canada's liquefied natural gas resources get to market?
The Indian economy is undergoing rapid reforms that will require the use of cleaner fuels in order to meet its climate change and economic growth goals. Currently, many impoverished families in India spend hours every day gathering biomass fuel that wreaks devastation on forests and burns even dirtier than coal. Biomass pollution harms the health of women and children. Canada has a solution, natural gas, or as we in Alberta call it, God's gas. Canada's environmentally responsible natural gas can provide the low-carbon intensity to power India's economic expansion. It will also provide the clean, reliable fuel that will ensure poor families have healthier air in their homes. India needs Canada's natural gas, but the government has failed to secure deals necessary to ensure that Canada and India can benefit from this mutual exchange.
Let us look at the record of this trip. The Prime Minister took 20 members of the Liberal Party on this taxpayer-funded junket and photo-op tour. What do they have to show for it? Supposedly, there is $1 billion in investment, but when looking closely, it becomes apparent that 75% of this investment involves Canada investing in India. Only a few short weeks later, the President of France announced 16 billion dollars' worth of deals with India and was even met at the airport by the Indian prime minister, not exactly a proud moment for Canada, as we struggle to attract foreign investment while this Liberal government relentlessly raises taxes and increases red tape.
What else did the Liberals achieve on this trip? Recent media reports paint a disturbing picture of the Prime Minister's entourage. A Liberal member of Parliament argued with security officials tasked with defending Canada's embassy so that he could cut in line and sneak a few friends into a party. They drank the bar dry of Crown Royal, and succeeded in angering Indian officials who patiently waited in line. This sort of Animal House behaviour belongs in a dorm room, not on international trips meant to highlight Canada's serious commitment to our relationship with India.
It appears that the priority of this vacation, I mean diplomatic visit, was for the Prime Minister to show off his fancy costumes and dance moves. His reckless disregard for Canada's international reputation and the security of the delegation resulted in a convicted terrorist being invited on the trip, a terrorist who was convicted of attempted murder against an Indian politician while on Canadian soil.
What kind of message does this send to our ally when we invite on our delegations those who have promoted extremism and violence against the state of India? I know Canadians would not take kindly to a foreign government inviting advocates of separation in Canada, least of all violent separation, and yet that is exactly what the Prime Minister has done.
To make matters worse, the Prime Minister failed to take responsibility for the actions of his team. Real leaders understand that they have command accountability for the actions of those under their leadership, but this Prime Minister has once again abdicated that personal responsibility. He laid the blame on everyone, from one of his own Liberal members to the supposed actions of the Indian government.
I can certainly understand why the Prime Minister is frustrated. I am sure he truly believes he is a far superior prime minister to Stephen Harper, yet globally the evidence continues to mount against him. That frustration does not excuse his conspiratorial accusations that somehow it is the Indian government that is responsible for this disastrous trip. Even if there is a shred of truth to the Prime Minister's outlandish claim, surely it would make the best diplomatic sense not to make this claim publicly.
Now we have an important ally accusing our Prime Minister of making baseless accusations. It is bad for India and it is bad for Canada, and yet the Prime Minister has recklessly gone ahead. It will take a new government to restore that trust.
It is apparent that the Prime Minister places priority on his own image and not the best interests of Canada. By parading his national security adviser in front of a select media audience, he has chosen to use the non-partisan professional civil service as a shield for his own incompetence. When parliamentarians and Canadians ask for the same privileges that the media received, the Prime Minister refuses to allow his national security adviser to have these claims tested before committee.
It is clear to me that the national security adviser has been used by the Prime Minister to deflect from his embarrassing failure, and that is one of the great shames of the government. Despite the Liberals' claims to support a non-partisan professional public service, they are all too ready to use and abuse public servants to advance their own partisan ends.
Just a few years ago, I had the opportunity to watch as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi disembarked from his plane on the tarmac in Ottawa. This important visit from the leader of the world's second most populous nation and one of the fastest-growing economies in the world highlighted the respect held by India for Canada. A few years ago, the Liberal government declared that Canada is back, but now the Prime Minister of India could not even be bothered to meet with our Prime Minister when his plane landed.
The contrast is illuminating. Under our serious Conservative leadership, international leaders came to Canada and respected our prime minister. Under this incompetent Prime Minister, we have become the butt of international jokes, snubbed when visiting our most important allies. The only thing that will restore the trust for Canadians and for the Indian government will be a new government.