Ed Fast

[International Trade, May 6th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, it is this Conservative government that has taken action on trade. In fact, over the last nine years we have concluded trade agreements with 38 different countries and there are many more to come.

Compare that to the awful Liberal record on trade. Over 13 long years, there were three small trade agreements. The Liberals got absolutely nothing done.

This government understands how important trade and investment are in driving future economic growth in our country. The Liberal Party has proven time and again that it has absolutely no credibility on trade.

[International Trade, May 5th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, we will put up our record on trade against the Liberal record any day.

The last time the Liberals spoke seriously about trade was in 1993 when they were threatening to tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement. Today their idea of trade is to legalize the illegal trade of marijuana.

On this side of the House, we are standing up for law-abiding citizens.

[International Trade, May 5th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said many times in the House, our government continues to promote Canadian interests across all sectors, in all regions of Canada at the TPP negotiating table.

That has never prevented us from actually securing trade agreements that protect our farmers and promote the interests of our farmers. We make no apologies for ensuring that any deal reached must be in Canada's best interest.

As always, we will only sign an agreement that is, indeed, in Canada's best interests.

[International Trade, May 5th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, no government has done more to advance Canada's trading relationships. We concluded trade agreements with 38 different countries over 9 years. What is more, last year, Canada's trade surplus was $5.2 billion, which was a turnaround of $12 billion. Exports last year were up another 10% from the previous year.

Our government remains focused on creating jobs through aggressive trade promotion, while of course the NDP wants to raise taxes on the middle class. That is not what we are going to do.

[Employment, April 30th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, there is no government that has done more for the manufacturing sector than this Conservative government. The results speak for themselves. The programs that she refers to, since 2003, financing agreements like this one have generated almost $49 billion of business and sales for more than 5,000 Canadian companies.

Unlike the opposition parties, we will not abandon our manufacturers and we will certainly not tax them to death like the NDP wants to.

[Employment, April 30th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, our thoughts are with the workers and their families in Oshawa during this very difficult time.

However, the member has it all wrong. This support is about creating new jobs and export opportunities within Canada. This is an interest-bearing loan, not a grant or subsidy. In fact, this loan will actually open the door for Canadian manufacturers to export their products to global companies.

Sadly, the opposition parties want to raise taxes. They want to abandon manufacturing. That is something this government will not do.

[Ongoing Situation in Ukraine, April 29th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, I thank the member for his comments, because he and I share a common heritage. My mother was actually born about 30 miles from the eastern Ukraine border, so I understand his passion for supporting Ukraine.

Economic support is as important as the support we are providing in terms of non lethal military assistance and the training we have recently agreed to undertake in Ukraine.

The economic dimension of this relationship between Canada and Ukraine cannot be underestimated. We have somewhere in the order of 1.2 million Canadians of Ukrainian descent, many of whom are business people and many of whom are prepared to engage economically with Ukraine.

When I was there on my two trade missions, I was accompanied by quite a number of Canadian companies whose owners had Ukrainian heritage, and they were impressing upon us the importance of getting a trade agreement in place, of removing some of the trade barriers, and of removing some of the investment barriers and the lack of transparency in the economy.

I am absolutely confident that if we do this right, Canada can play a major role in allowing Ukraine's economy to recover.

[Ongoing Situation in Ukraine, April 29th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, I thank the member for that question, which focuses on Canada's trade relationship with Ukraine.

We have completed a number of rounds of negotiations with Ukraine. A time frame would be very difficult to set, if not impossible, understanding that the capacity of Ukraine's government to engage in a timely way in things such as trade negotiations will be very challenging.

That said, we have actually, on our side, made significant efforts to assist Ukraine in continuing to prepare themselves to conclude negotiations. As I mentioned earlier, there is a trade and development facility Ukraine actually can draw on, which would assist them with the capacity restraints they have, as they negotiate a trade agreement with Canada.

Understand that the standard we always set when we negotiate trade agreements is that it has to be a trade agreement that reflects Canadian interests, that is in the national interest. However, in Ukraine's case, we also have additional motives, which are to assist Ukraine in restoring its economy to health. That will be a long-term project for the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian government and for us as Canadian partners.

We believe that liberalizing trade, opening up trade between our two countries, is one measure we can take to enhance the prospect of Ukraine benefiting from the Canada-Ukraine relationship.

[Ongoing Situation in Ukraine, April 29th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, I thank the member for her interest in Ukraine. I sense that there is a consensus in the House that Ukraine does need Canada's support.

With respect to transparency and anti-corruption measures, clearly, that is a significant challenge Ukraine faces. Much of our engagement with Ukraine, especially on a minister-to-minister basis, has been on addressing our concerns about governance and corruption.

I can tell the member that I was sincere in my comments when I said that I do believe that the ministerial team President Poroshenko has put together has a sincere commitment to addressing those issues. It is going to be a long road. Many of the challenges within Ukraine are endemic. We have already, of course, provided expert advice to Ukraine. That will be ongoing.

We have also reminded the government of Ukraine that Canada has a trade and development facility under which we can enhance their ability to access foreign markets and make their small and medium-sized enterprises aware of export opportunities within Canada. They also are able to assist Ukraine with addressing governance challenges within the country.

We are working very hard to try to bring all of these things together. It is going to be a long journey, but I am confident that President Poroshenko and his team have really set themselves on a course that will move Ukraine toward prosperity and peace.

[Ongoing Situation in Ukraine, April 29th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, I am thankful for the opportunity to participate in this debate, which highlights the role that Canada is playing in supporting the Ukrainian people in their time of crisis.

Since the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine, our Conservative government has been at the forefront of the international community's efforts to implement democratic and economic reforms, and to restore peace and stability in the face of unprovoked Russian aggression. That aggression and Russia's flagrant violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity have led to the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians and the displacement of many more thousands of Ukrainians within their own country.

Ukraine continues to face enormous economic and security challenges, and Canada has remained a steadfast and trusted partner in contributing to the defence of Ukraine and the support of the Ukrainian economy.

Our goal is to help Ukrainians achieve a level of peace and prosperity that we in Canada have for so long enjoyed and the challenge is immense.

In its yearly report on Ukraine, the World Bank cited the state of the global economy, exacerbated by the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine, as representing the ongoing major threats to the Ukrainian economy. In 2014, the Ukrainian economy real GDP declined by 7.5%. Its currency lost approximately half of its value against the U.S. dollar, and inflation reached 25%. Complicating the situation is the fact that Ukraine must contribute a very significant portion of its government revenues to defend itself against Russian-sponsored rebels.

The bottom line is that Ukraine needs Canada's help.

On September 17, 2014, during President Poroshenko's first official visit to Canada, he and our Prime Minister announced the signing of Canada's first $200 million low-interest loan to support Ukraine's economic and financial recovery. This past March, our government committed to a second $200 million loan to help stabilize Ukraine's economy and address pressing social needs. These loans, along with financial support from the International Monetary Fund and other key partners, will be crucial in helping Ukraine to achieve financial stability and a return to economic growth.

Since January 2014 Canada has announced more than $575 million in economic and development assistance to Ukraine. It has also provided significant non-lethal support and, more recently, it has agreed to join a mission to train the Ukrainian armed forces.

As Ukraine works to implement its recently signed association agreement with the European Union, we expect that it will also adopt best practices, business norms, and transparency standards that will enhance Ukraine's reputation as a destination for foreign investment and as a preferred trade partner to do business with.

We want to commend President Poroshenko and his government for their commitment to implement significant structural and economic reforms within Ukraine. As president, he has begun to set in place an ambitious timetable to build a more open and transparent market-based economy whose success will be driven by engaging with trading partners like the European Union, Canada and the United States. Canada strongly welcomes these reforms and our government is committed to taking all reasonable steps to support those reforms.

In fact, Canada is already playing a role in those reforms. Ukraine's economic advisory council, which was established by President Poroshenko, is actually headed by a Canadian, Mr. Basil Kalymon of the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University.

Over the past year, I have had the distinct pleasure of leading two trade and development missions to Kiev, most recently in January. The purpose of these visits was fourfold. First, it underlined that Canada will not abandon Ukraine in its time of need. Second, I was able to meet with a number of my ministerial counterparts to discuss opportunities for Canada to partner to rebuild Ukraine's economy. Third, I was joined by a group of Canadian business people of Ukrainian heritage who were committed to acting as catalysts in supporting and affecting economic reform and transformation in Ukraine. Fourth, I was able to announce an additional $42 million of development assistance. This support would assist Ukrainian dairy and grain farmers to improve their production, quality of their product, storage, and marketing of their product. The funding would also provide technical assistance on anti-corruption, transparency and governance reforms.

Canada has also been providing technical assistance to Ukraine to improve its energy security. This assistance has helped Ukraine develop an energy contingency plan and identify areas where Ukraine can improve its oil and gas regulatory framework which, of course, in turn, would improve the competitiveness and clarity of this sector. A more transparent regulatory and business environment in the energy sector is expected to lead to new opportunities to support Ukranian prosperity, opportunities which Canadian companies would undoubtedly benefit from.

During my two recent visits to Ukraine, I had the opportunity to meet with a number of their ministers. I met with the minister of education. I spoke with the minister of agrarian policy and food. We spoke about energy and coal with the minister responsible for those areas. I interacted with my counterpart, the minister of economic development and trade. I had a chance to have a robust meeting with the new minister of finance for Ukraine. I can tell members that I returned to Canada with the clear confidence that their ministerial team has a sincere commitment to completing the economic and structural reforms required to re-energize Ukraine's economy

Indeed, I was pleased that President Poroshenko has already established a business ombudsman and a national anti-corruption bureau.

Our government is grateful for the work that private sector organizations, such as the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, do in supporting Ukraine in its time of need.

I want to recognize the Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce, which is playing a key role in expanding the business-to-business commercial relationship. Canadian companies such as Black Iron, Iskander Energy, Serinus Energy and Shelton Petroleum are among the many which are anxious to re-engage in the Ukrainian economy.

While our trade relationship is presently quite modest, we know that there is tremendous potential for growth. It is companies such as the ones I just mentioned which will contribute to that growth.

Recognizing this, Ukrainian trade minister Aivaras Abromavicius and I announced this past January that we have restarted free trade negotiations between our two countries. This announcement builds on the commitment made by our countries' two leaders during President Poroshenko's historic visit to Canada last year.

This trade agreement would create new market access opportunities and predictable conditions for businesses, further strengthening our bilateral partnership.

A free trade agreement with Ukraine would also help address many of the non-tariff barriers which presently act as a hindrance to Canadian companies wishing to do business in Ukraine.

I am very pleased that Ukraine was named a priority market under Canada's global markets action plan. That plan, which we refer to as GMAP, is our government's over-arching strategy for creating jobs and economic growth through trade and investment.

Ukraine is a promising market for Canadian exporters in sectors such as agrifood, especially pork, aerospace, and seafood.

Additionally, there are growing opportunities for Canadian companies in the mining, information technologies, renewable energy, and oil and gas sectors.

Canadians understand that the Ukrainian people face enormous economic and security challenges. Our government has assured Ukraine that Canada will remain a steadfast ally, partner, and trusted friend, as the Ukrainian people successfully meet those challenges.

One thing I can assure members of is that Canada will never abandon Ukraine. As our Prime Minister has said:

Whatever difficulties may lie ahead, whatever actions are taken by those who threaten Ukraine's freedom, Ukraine will never be alone because Ukraine can count on Canada.