Chrystia Freeland

[Business of Supply, June 5th, 2025]

Mr. Chair, I want to congratulate my colleague, and I am even going to say friend, from Northumberland—Clarke on his re-election. He has a wonderful family, and I would like to congratulate them too.

Our commitment as a government is to do everything in our power to get free trade in Canada by Canada Day. As the member knows, it is not entirely, not even chiefly, in the power of the federal government, but I am proud of what the—

[Business of Supply, June 5th, 2025]

Mr. Chair, that is a great idea.

I also want to give a shout-out to the Deputy Minister of Transport, who is organizing a hackathon at the beginning of July for transport ministers and officials from across the country to get those barriers down, so that truckers can drive a truck from one end of the country to the other.

[Business of Supply, June 5th, 2025]

Mr. Chair, that is another excellent question. I jest a little, but only a little, because one of the things that is really heartwarming to see in Canada right now is the unity among premiers, Conservative premiers, Liberal premiers and NDP premiers, around the idea of getting rid of trade barriers between us. I hope all members of this House will join the premiers and join our government in supporting that initiative.

I think in asking for that generosity, it behooves me and our government to be generous in turn. Let me offer a few name checks to Conservatives who have led the charge on interprovincial trade: Premier Tim Houston of Nova Scotia, with his mutual recognition approach, is doing a great job; Premier Doug Ford of Ontario, as head of the Council of the Federation, is also leading the charge; and I do want to recognize someone who was a colleague of some of us in this House, the Hon. Jason Kenney, who has been—

[Business of Supply, June 5th, 2025]

Mr. Chair, I want to start by thanking the member for Winnipeg North. Those of us who know him in this House know how energetic, loquacious and well-informed about everything he is. I have spent time with him in his constituency in Winnipeg, and the high respect with which we hold him here is nothing compared to the love and adoration he has from his constituents. He is there for them, and he is there for us too, so I am—

[Business of Supply, June 5th, 2025]

Mr. Chair, that is yet another good question. We are just getting so many good questions right now.

I really hope that one of the issues that, and this is perhaps rare but it exists, we will be able to agree on in the House is the need to lift barriers to interprovincial trade. It is something that premiers agreed on, including Conservative premiers, NDP premiers and Liberal premiers.

The numbers are actually astonishing. It is really astonishing that these measures, which do not need to cost us a penny, can increase Canada's GDP by 4%. They can add $200 billion to our economy. There is a human benefit from this as well. That 4% of GDP is about Canadians working together more closely and doing more business with each other.

This is a policy that does not cost us any money, will make us richer and will draw our country more closely together. What is not to like?

[Business of Supply, June 5th, 2025]

Mr. Chair, that is a great question. Earlier today, I had the privilege of meeting with the Premier of the Northwest Territories and with two chiefs from that beautiful part of the Canadian north. A principal issue they discussed with me was transport and air travel. They are also very interested in improving roads.

I really believe that today, at a time when Canada's sovereignty is being challenged, at a time when securing our presence in our north is more important than ever, ensuring that we have good, effective transport, whether it is roads or airports, is more important than ever.

[Business of Supply, June 5th, 2025]

Mr. Chair, I can absolutely confirm that. Although I have been transport minister for only a few weeks, it has been a real pleasure to begin meeting with the leaders of our great airports across the country and speaking with them.

Canadians depend on airports to get around, to go to work and to spend time with our families. This summer, I think a lot of us are going to be taking holidays in Canada and relying on our airports to help us do that. It is a really important question, and it is absolutely a priority of our government to invest in our airports.

[Business of Supply, June 5th, 2025]

Mr. Chair, let me begin by congratulating my colleague on his recent election and welcoming him to the House and, if I may, to our Liberal team. It is a very distinguished riding he represents, and we are all very glad to have him with us on the benches.

I was really glad to hear the member talk about the importance of transport and the importance of rail to our country. We all know, and we heard from the member of Taiaiako'n—Parkdale—High Park, about the iconic role that the railways played in knitting our country together. As we heard from my colleague from Quebec, railways are about our economy, they are about moving goods quickly across our vast land, and they are also about people and about people getting around in an effective, environmentally friendly way.

[Business of Supply, June 5th, 2025]

Mr. Chair, I would say high-speed rail between Quebec City and Windsor; what a great nation-building project.

[Business of Supply, June 5th, 2025]

Mr. Chair, the fact is that it is too hard to drive a truck across Canada. It should be as easy to drive a truck from Halifax harbour to the port of Vancouver as it is to drive between Toronto and Kitchener. There is no reason that crossing a provincial border should be an obstacle to moving goods and people across the country, but it is.

At the FMM, Premier Houston of Nova Scotia, and I do not think he will mind me saying this, said that if something is good enough to drive in any part of Canada, it's good enough to drive in Nova Scotia. I think that attitude of “Let us trust each other; let us really build one Canadian economy,” is going to be so powerful in making all of us richer. Actually, it is going to bring us together as a community, because it will make it easier for us to work together.