Mr. Speaker, it is no surprise that the minister and the Prime Minister cannot get the governor on the phone themselves, because, of course, they have done nothing but fail in Canada-U.S. relations for the last five years.
They failed to get a buy America exemption, as Harper did under Obama. They failed to resolve the softwood lumber dispute, as Harper did under George W. Bush. They have had three presidents to work with, and yet no concessions whatsoever. The U.S. President will not even intervene right now to help save this vital energy link on which thousands of jobs and our entire energy system in central Canada depend.
Why should we have any confidence that they will do better this time, after their failures the last times?