Madam Speaker, the member across the way asks, “How is that going?” The Prime Minister continues to meet and have dialogue with the provinces. This has had a positive impact on Canadians and our economy. Building Canada strong means trying to get those national trade barriers taken down. The member across the aisle from Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman made reference to Crown Royal. There has been a bit of a discussion. Crown Royal is produced in the province of Manitoba. We do not want the Province of Ontario boycotting Crown Royal. Those are good jobs in Manitoba, and it is a Canadian product.
There are all forms of irritants between provinces, and the Prime Minister continues to work with the provinces in an attempt to bring down those irritants and to create, whether it is for labour or otherwise, freer mobility between provinces. However, what I really want to amplify is that when we talk about building Canada strong, Canadians know that there is a difficult relationship today with the United States, and we hope to be able to resolve that in a positive way and have a trade agreement continue on with the United States. We understand how important that relationship is, unlike the Conservatives.
When we had the first round of trade agreements with the United States and Donald Trump, I remember that the Conservative Party capitulated and said to sign any agreement. That is not what the Prime Minister is going to do or what this government is going to do. We are going to hold out and get the best deal for Canadians, and if that is going to take more time and cause the Conservatives to be uncomfortable, so be it. We are going to strive to get the best deal for Canadians. In the interim, we are looking outside of the Canada-U.S.A. border.
The Prime Minister and numerous ministers are travelling abroad, opening up opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses to export their products, while at the same time attracting billions of dollars of investment into Canada. This is because the Prime Minister and the ministers are aggressively looking for markets that go beyond the Canada-U.S.A. border, and we have already seen tangible results.
When we talk about the last election campaign and the platform issues, the number one issue was providing a sense of comfort related to trade, President Trump and the actions that have been taking place in the south, and the need to be able to bring Canada together. We have been very successful as a government because of that team Canada approach. There are premiers, mayors and stakeholders recognizing the value of a team Canada approach, and the government is aggressively looking outside of the Canada-U.S.A. border to improve exports.
We have legislation before us that would increase trade. We can look at Indonesia. Legislation is there. We have legislation regarding Northern Ireland and England before us. The Prime Minister travelled abroad with a contingency of ministers, including the Premier of Saskatchewan, to deal with some irritants that China had with Canada, and we were able to resolve them, at least in good part. Whether it is the canola farmers from the Prairies or seafood products from Atlantic Canada, dealing with these issues is going to provide opportunities, jobs and investment.
I am very proud of what is happening between Canada and the Philippines. I want to see a trade agreement between these two great nations. The potential is there. It is real, and the Prime Minister actually met with President Marcos and talked about how we should work towards getting a free trade agreement in 2026. However, it is not only the Philippines but also India. Again, we have a commitment from two world leaders to talk about the importance of trade and, in this situation, whether Canada can get a trade agreement with India.
The government is committed to doing what it can, upholding Canadian values and making sure that we are expanding our markets in a very tangible way, a way that is going to deliver for Canadians. Trade matters.
As I indicated yesterday, Canada's population is about 0.5% of the world population. We can contrast that to the amount of trade we do. We contribute 2.5% of world trade because we have a government that is looking for more markets and more investment. We can look at what happened when the Prime Minister went to the Middle East. There were commitments of literally billions of dollars of additional investment coming to Canada. These types of investments matter, because they are going to make a difference for all of Canada.
The Conservatives are starting to criticize, saying that the Prime Minister does a lot of international flying. The Prime Minister is the single greatest asset ambassador that Canada has and will enable doors to open and allow us to get into these markets. We should not be discouraging it. We should be recognizing the true value of it and encouraging it if we continue to see the types of results that we are getting. That was a major part of our platform.
When we talk about other aspects of the platform, building Canada strong is more than just trade, international trade and bringing down provincial barriers. We need to build Canada's infrastructure in a very real and tangible way.
We got Bill C-5 passed last June. I would point out that the leader of the Conservative Party was not elected at that time, but we were able to get support from the Conservative Party in order to get that legislation through. Thank goodness we got it done in June, because it enabled the government to move forward, pushing and advocating for these major projects.
I would also note that the Major Projects Office is located in the Prairies. That in itself provides an additional incentive. Having that local office says something. Contrary to the member opposite who stood in her place to introduce the motion and be critical of the government on energy, the Prime Minister and the government recognize that we will be a superpower on both clean energy and all forms of energy. We can be, and we have demonstrated that, more so than Stephen Harper did.
When I asked the member to tell me how many inches of pipeline the Conservatives built directly to tidewater through B.C., she sidestepped the question. She said we built some that went down to the States. Four, I believe, is what she said. The leader of the Conservative Party can take credit for the four pipelines that he built down to the States. However, the market is to Asia. That is something we have been able to accomplish.
Members should take a look at those major projects, whether it is the LNG tube coming out of British Columbia, working with a New Democratic government, or the Darlington project in Ontario dealing with nuclear energy and the potential that is there, working with a Progressive Conservative government. In Montreal, we are expanding the port, which will create tens of thousands of jobs while supporting the jobs and infrastructure that are currently there. The impact of that on the community of Montreal and beyond is great. These are the types of major nation-building projects that this government has realized in co-operation with other stakeholders, including our provinces.
I know the Province of Manitoba wants to see the port of Churchill get off the ground. For the first time, we have a premier and I believe a Prime Minister who really want to make that happen if it is at all possible. I believe it is possible to develop that port. That could help all of Canada.
Major projects include things such as what is taking place in, again, B.C. with copper and gold, or with copper in the province of Saskatchewan. These projects are all part of the platform we presented to Canadians.
What the Conservatives are actually proposing today is a Conservative agenda. They want to replace the Liberal agenda with it. I would suggest that, at the end of the day, Canadians have already made that decision. What we should be working on is how we can meet what Canadians want this Parliament to do. That means, for example, supporting the initiative that the Prime Minister announced yesterday: a grocery and essentials benefit for Canadians that would take effect on July 1, putting money in the pockets of Canadians. Members should support that initiative. They should be clear and concise. They should not dither. It is just like when we made a commitment to make the national school food program permanent in our schools. We had one Conservative say it was garbage. We had other Conservatives mock the program. It is actually feeding hundreds of thousands of children.
We have an agenda before us with probably the largest pieces of crime legislation that we have seen in generations. It could make a difference. Unfortunately, the Conservatives are filibustering it. I can tell the House that there are Canadians in Conservative ridings who want the Conservative members to vote for many of the initiatives we are putting forward.
I think it is time for Conservatives to start putting the Canadian agenda ahead of their own Conservative Party of Canada agenda.