Mr. Speaker, I know members opposite would love to drown out her words, but I would like to repeat them in the House. She said:
I have concerns and questions with some of what your party has presented. We are encouraged by your effort—
That is good news, guys, that you get an A for effort.
—but skeptical that this plan can restart idled Canadian facilities. In fact, we fear it may prevent potential future growth....
Again, that was from the Unifor national president, but I will not stop there, because I know the members opposite want more.
This is from Tom Venetis, an industry expert, who said, “I think some of these ideas are sort of reviving an aspect of the old 1965 Canada-U.S. auto pact.” He went on to say, “They don't seem very well thought out. It's an argument that I don't think he understands will not work.” An auto expert said that the Leader of the Opposition, in his words, does not understand that it will not work. That should not surprise anybody except Conservatives, who are living in the 1960s, quite literally, as it relates to this motion.
However, the other issue about the auto sector today, versus the 1960s, leads to the second denial of reality from the Conservatives, which is about the trade relationship that exists with the United States. I do not know if they have not been paying attention or have had their heads in the sand for the last year, but I would like to explain in as clear terms as I possibly can to my friends across the way about the reality of what is going on in the United States. I am about to use an economic term, so I want them to really focus on this. The United States right now are relying on something called protectionism. This happens periodically throughout history as different countries look to internalize, resist and shut off all trade coming and going from their country. The United States of America is currently in a period where they are employing and putting forward and bringing in protectionist policies. These policies are meant to prevent trade. They are meant to bring jobs back home.
Now, economists around the world will argue that it is a horrible policy, and I completely agree with that. Our party agrees with that, but the fundamental fact here is that Conservatives are denying the fact that it exists. They are saying, “Hey guys, here is our plan. We have this great plan for how we are going to kick-start it,” but what does that plan rely on? That plan relies on the Americans actually wanting international trade. Now, I think I clearly laid out that they do not, and that is the reality, so the Conservatives' plan is genuinely a non-starter. This is why we decided, since we are a country that still believes in trade, that we will find partners that also want to participate in trade, rather than denying the fact that this is the world we live in.
Nostalgia is great. Let us be nostalgic. I remember what my life was like back in the 1990s. I recently shared a post about it, but that does not mean I think I am still that person today, because things change, and nostalgia is not a strategy, even though the Conservatives tend to think it is.
It is interesting that the Conservative member for Oshawa said earlier that she had been listening the whole day and that we have to know what the person we are negotiating with wants. The Conservatives literally do not understand what Donald Trump wants. He does not want trade. That is why he has tariffs. Tariffs are meant to prevent trade. By the way, it is not just with Canada. It is with just about every developed and developing nation throughout the world. The U.S. administration has put tariffs on trade. Why are the Conservatives hell-bent on trying to insist on something that is never going to happen?
I will go to my third and final point about denialism with respect to the Conservatives. I have given this speech so many times in the House, but they deny the fact that our entire auto industry is on the way to being completely electrified. One in four cars sold in the world right now is an electric vehicle. If the Conservatives want to think that somehow North America, in particular just two countries, are going to form a coalition that hives themselves off from the rest of the world, it is absolutely ludicrous. We are electric.
The member for Dufferin—Caledon, who talks about this, should look at what is called the “innovation curve”. He will see along the innovation curve that once we get to one out of four, which is 25%, of penetration of a new technology into the market, we are going to eventually get to the point where that technology fully and completely makes its way into the market.
Conservatives can use this idea of nostalgia to dictate everything they do, but I would caution them that maybe it is time for self-reflection. Maybe they should think about why it is they are where they are, and I mean that both metaphorically and physically speaking, in the House of Commons. It is because they do not have foresight. It is because they insist on using all political tactics in terms of rage-baiting and looking for opportunity, rather than really dedicating themselves to finding solutions that will benefit our country well into the future, which is what the Prime Minister is doing.
The Prime Minister is looking for the solutions that will benefit Canada, not just in the next month or two months or three months, but into the future, so that when we look back at this generations from now, when our markets have diversified, we can say, “At that particular moment in time, we did the right thing. More importantly, Canadians did the right thing, and that was not listening to Conservatives.”