Damien Kurek

[Canada—United Kingdom Trade Continuity Agreement Implementation Act, March 9th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, it bears pointing out a simple number and a simple word: 35 days of prorogation. We would be in a very, very different sort of scenario had the government not decided to try to cover up its scandalous ways. I think that is the unfortunate context. It is unfortunate for all Canadians, the context that we were in.

When it comes to Bill C-24 and a lot of other very important legislation, Conservatives have worked with the government. In the midst of a global crisis, we have seen that when we work together, things get done. It is unfortunate that the Liberals continue to play politics with this issue and blame the official opposition when, in many cases, they have had to bring legislation back numerous times to fix the errors that would have been remedied had the legislation been debated properly in the first place.

[Canada—United Kingdom Trade Continuity Agreement Implementation Act, March 9th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I will try to answer both parts of the member's question. I will answer the second part first.

I did not get a chance to talk about this in my speech, but it is interesting that the House, Canada's democratic institution, actually required the government to keep it informed of the status of negotiations. Certainly, there was not a lot of information provided, and that is a shame. In fact, it verges on contempt. Often, we see the government make grand statements about how it is the most transparent government in the history of the universe, but the evidence is certainly the opposite of that.

To the member's point on protecting our supply-managed sectors, that could be a valid discussion, but I would simply turn it around and ask the member this. He is worried about the agricultural industry in Quebec, but I certainly find it very, very troubling how the Liberals seem to be quick to target the energy industry in Alberta. It is unfortunate that there is no reciprocity in building a Canada that works for all Canadians.

[Canada—United Kingdom Trade Continuity Agreement Implementation Act, March 9th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Surrey Centre.

On another practical housekeeping item, my kids are getting ready for bed right now, and so to Matthew and Emerson: Good night and love you guys. I will also tell them to listen to their mother.

It is just about 9 p.m. on a Tuesday, and generally the House would have adjourned hours ago, but Conservatives have made it clear that we are willing to work with the government when it is willing to be a good partner. I think that is demonstrated by us wanting to make sure that two things happen tonight. The first is that legislation before the House has the scrutiny that it deserves. As a legislator, I take seriously my obligation to review, debate, discuss and dialogue about the most serious issues facing our country. Tonight, we are talking about an important trading relationship, which is representative of how important it is that we have that dialogue. The second is that people, and their perspectives, from across our country have their voices heard.

I often am asked why there are so many empty seats in Parliament. Certainly during normal times there would be one explanation, but as of late there is a different reason, which is making sure that there is safe physical distancing so that we can stand together in the fight against COVID. However, for the first time in our history, we are seeing members of Parliament join in debate in this place virtually, which is a significant milestone. It is so important that we can have these very important discussions.

When it comes to trade overall, one of the most serious obligations of Canada's Parliament, as laid out in the founding documents of our country, is that this place would be responsible for navigating global trading relationships, whether 150-some years ago as a new country as part of the British Empire, or today. We share a system, and the first words of the British North America Act talked about how we have a structure similar to that of the United Kingdom. We share much of our history, legal systems and structures. In fact, the green carpet we have the honour of debating from represents the foundation of democracy, not just in Canada, but some of the earliest democratic structures in the modern world. It is within that context that we enter into debate here tonight, and it is good to be able to ensure that there is stability in one of Canada's very important trading partners. We will certainly work with the government.

I will get into the substance of the bill in a moment, but during question period today I heard about how the Liberals were blaming the Conservatives for all of these delays on different things. I find that ironic, because the Liberals control the agenda of the government. It seems that whenever it is inconvenient for them, they will simply blame the opposition. They are inserting tactics and politics into the debate, not to mention prorogation, when we lost approximately 35 legislative days. We have had to debate many bills multiple times to fix mistakes made in previous bills. As well, there were many months where the House did not sit in a substantive capacity, although there are practical reasons for that. Certainly, democracy is an essential service, and I was proud to stand and debate that coming up a year ago as we enter into the second year of COVID-19.

Regarding the debate at hand, I find it very interesting. Although just elected in 2019, I had spent a little bit of time in Ottawa and was a staffer prior to getting elected.

It is always great to see the legacies of good governments, and when it comes to what we are debating today, in substance it is actually a Conservative legacy. If we go back to the beginning of the CETA negotiations, we see that the signatures on the page took place after the 2015 election, but the substance of that agreement, one of the largest agreements signed in Canadian history, was negotiated by a Conservative government, acknowledging fair and free trade and how important that is for a resource-rich country with great expertise in products and manufacturing capacity, secure supply chains and technological innovation. Conservatives led the charge in ensuring that we had a wide variety of trading relationships. There was massive growth in the number of countries that Canada had trade agreements with over the close to 10 years that Stephen Harper was prime minister, and it is an honour to sit in caucus with the member for Abbotsford and hear some the war stories of some of those trade negotiations.

As for the substance of the bill we are talking about today, although the United Kingdom's position in the European Union has changed dramatically over a number of years, when we get into the nuts and bolts of the continuity and the recent history of that trade agreement, it really comes back to Conservative expertise in getting us to this point. Although I was not elected at the time, I saw news articles about how the Liberals almost dropped the ball on CETA, yet were able to get what is largely a Conservative legacy across the finish line. I am thankful for that. Good, strong, free and fair trade is the right thing for our nation.

What we are debating today is a little unfortunate, because it was a comedy of errors that got us to the point where we are now. It was about a year and a half ago that the negotiations broke down between Canada and the United Kingdom. The Liberals were quick to say that it was bandwidth issues with the United Kingdom, and in fairness, the United Kingdom is faced with a myriad of significant challenges associated with its exit from the European Union, but that did not stop the Australians or other jurisdictions from negotiating good, strong improvements to their trade deals.

It is unfortunate that negotiations broke down between our two countries and that it was not until the eleventh hour that this interim agreement was brought forward. The agreement lacks clarity. Trade and global investments and commerce depend on certainty, and that is what is required. This is a good step in the right direction, but it is unfortunate that the bill lacks a definitive timeline to ensure that there are concrete steps taken toward a long-term agreement. Some of the things that such an agreement should include are our tremendous expertise and tremendous resource capacity. I am proud to come from an area where net-zero oil comes from the region that I represent. It is a proud legacy that we have the most environmentally sustainable and ethically produced energy in the world. We have such a strong legacy of that, as well as so many opportunities to develop agriculture. I come from a strong agricultural region with so many opportunities.

As I see my time is almost up, I want to say that it should give Canadians pause to see that ideology seems to have got in the way of the Prime Minister and the Liberals negotiating with a Conservative government from another jurisdiction. It is unfortunate that it is truly Canadians who end up paying the price for the ideological blindness, I would suggest, that sometimes takes place on the Liberal side.

It is an honour to discuss this important bill and to support continuing the development of a strong trading relationship with the United Kingdom as it undergoes significant change. I am looking forward to taking questions from my colleagues.

[Public Safety, March 9th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, Liberals claim to care about public safety, but they do not. With the PM gunning for an election, he is desperate to cover up his many failures on COVID and everything else, so he returns to the old Liberal playbook and flips to the page on targeting law-abiding firearms owners. Voila: Bill C-21 was born.

Canadians are not fools, though, and Liberal hypocrisy shone through when they introduced only a few days later Bill C-22, which lessens penalties for the real criminals who commit crimes with the real problem: illegal guns. Liberals are playing politics, and Canadians are paying the price. With last year's OIC and Bill C-21 and Bill C-22, Liberals have shown that they do not actually care about public safety, nor are they willing to get tough on crime.

Canadians deserve better, and Conservatives are ready to respect responsible firearms owners' rights and deal with the real problem: smuggled guns and gangs.

[Business of Supply, February 25th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to listen to the member speak. He talked about all sorts of things the Liberals supposedly succeeded in doing. However, when we look at the vaccine rollout, we see it has had a disproportionate effect on seniors because seniors have been most affected by COVID-19.

Could the member expand on whether or not seniors can expect the government to actually act on some of these promises, without the dithering and delay we have seen thus far?

[Business of Supply, February 25th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, it was very interesting listening to the member. She talked a lot about promises made, but very little about promises kept.

One of the issues I have heard time and again from seniors is the cost of living increases, the cost of the carbon tax. With the cancellation of Keystone XL, there were seniors who finally did not have to choose between buying groceries and paying their bills because they had a boarder, a local worker, in their home. There are tremendous challenges faced by seniors across our country.

Specifically, the member mentioned the resources provided to not-for-profit organizations across the country. One of the challenges faced by many organizations in my constituency, because I represent a large rural area, was they did not have access to those supports because they were rural. I would like the member to comment on that.

[COVID-19 Emergency Response, February 25th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, here is the COVID vaccine rollout summed up: grand announcements, then failure; backroom deals with dictatorships; platitudes and promises with little substance; then constantly evolving deadlines.

Let me now explain what the Liberals are good at. They take failure and masterfully spin it to proclaim victory. We will eventually get vaccines, but we will not forget the lives lost, hundreds of billions of dollars of lost economic productivity and the months of uncertainty.

The sad reality is that this trend reflects every Liberal promise, announcement and tag line followed by incompetence and mismanagement. Then, finally, they either condemn the promise to eternal bureaucratic misery or a result that is only a shadow of what the initial promise was.

Canada deserves better; Canada deserves competence. The Conservatives are ready to form a government that will secure our future.

[Petitions, February 25th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise and present a petition on behalf of constituents who have brought to my attention the disruptive actions of former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, specifically in regard to his national energy program, which had a disproportionate effect on the province of Alberta, made especially relevant with revelations from the U.S. State Department this week, with his actions regarding Quebec.

The petitioners call upon the government to have the current Prime Minister of Canada apologize for the actions of former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and his government's destructive national energy program and to affirm the rights of provinces to develop, manage and market their natural resources.

I present this petition to the House of Commons for the consideration of it.

[Petitions, February 25th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to once again present a petition that takes particular relevance this week after there were revelations from the U.S. State Department that former Prime Minister Trudeau was systematically using his authority to affect jobs in Quebec. Many of my constituents who have been around longer than I have will say, “Like father, like son.”

Constituents therefore petition the government to do two things: have the current Prime Minister of Canada apologize for the actions of former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and his government's destructive national energy program and affirm the rights of provinces to develop, manage and market their natural resources.

It is incredibly frustrating, the legacy that—

[Citizenship Act, February 24th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I apologize, but the interpretation for the question was not working.