Maninder Sidhu on An Act to Implement the Protocol on the Accession of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership

Mr. Speaker, I hope to answer my colleague one day in French, as I am learning. I do miss my time on the trade committee with the member opposite.

We are in a crisis today, and the Prime Minister has been very clear about this. This is not a speed bump. This is a rupture in the current trading environment.

I spent 13 years in international trade prior to politics, facilitating trade for hundreds of businesses. If I were asked back then, I would have said that businesses were not ready to look at global markets because of the conditions that existed at that time with the U.S. Twenty-five years ago, 90% of our trade was with the U.S. It is now around 75%, and we have to move fast. That is exactly what the government is doing.

We are moving quickly because we want to make sure that these trade agreements are in place. This is what stakeholders are asking us to do. This is what Canadians are asking us to do. As we sort this out and have those discussions with the U.S., we need to continue opening new markets.