House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2021, with 50% of the vote.
International Trade December 11th, 2019
Mr. Speaker, this new NAFTA deal has significant gains for our aluminum workers. On forestry workers, we remain extremely concerned with the difficult situations they are facing. We will continue to work very hard with our American counterparts alongside Canadian premiers, standing up for our forestry workers and encouraging the United States to come to an agreement on softwood lumber.
International Trade December 11th, 2019
Mr. Speaker, the new NAFTA agreement is a win for aluminum workers.
I understand that our colleagues in the House are more concerned with playing political games and fearmongering, but the reality is that we are here to stand up for aluminum workers. We made gains in the agreement we are signing.
Anyone who votes against this NAFTA agreement is voting against aluminum workers in Saguenay and elsewhere in Quebec and Canada.
International Trade December 11th, 2019
Mr. Speaker, what the member opposite is saying is simply mistaken. This is an improvement for workers across this country, particularly steel and aluminum workers. We worked very hard with all parties, with our Mexican counterparts, with the Democrats and the Republicans, to ensure that this was a win-win-win for all three countries. I can highlight that the improvements we achieved in this most recent and final version of NAFTA are significantly better for Canadians.
We will always stand up for Canadian workers and for our most important trade deals with the Americans.
International Trade December 11th, 2019
Mr. Speaker, this new NAFTA accord represents a significant gain for aluminum workers and steelworkers across Canada as we move forward with guaranteed percentages of 70% in the North American automobile industry for North American steel and aluminum. This provides predictability and stability for our workers across Canada.
We are going to continue to work hard to defend our workers, as this government has done for the past four years.
International Trade December 11th, 2019
Mr. Speaker, I understand that this is a recent development, but I recommend that the member opposite take a little closer look at what actually was negotiated, because this is actually a significant—
Pharmacare December 11th, 2019
Mr. Speaker, no Canadian should have to choose between paying for prescription drugs or putting food on the table. That is why we have not waited. We acted right away and have done more than any government in a generation to lower drug prices in this country.
Now it is time to take the next step toward national universal pharmacare, and that involves sitting down with the provinces to talk about how we are going to move forward on things like high-cost drugs for rare diseases and moving forward on a national Canadian drug agency that is going to create a national formulary. There are many steps we are embarking on right now, because we know Canadians deserve a health care system that works for everyone.
International Trade December 11th, 2019
Mr. Speaker, we agreed to improvements to the new NAFTA that strengthened environmental protection, strengthened labour protection, improved the automotive rules of origin, improved the protection of intellectual property and settled a stronger state-to-state dispute settlement. These are all improvements we made to the deal. The NDP has already said that the new NAFTA was the best deal possible.
Indeed, the members of the NDP attending the Unifor reception highlighted that this was a much better deal than the deal that was signed 24 years ago. That was from Jerry Dias, the head of Unifor. We know this is a good deal for Canadians.
International Trade December 11th, 2019
Mr. Speaker, the new NAFTA represents a net gain for aluminum workers. We stood up for them not only by getting the punitive section 232 tariffs lifted, but also by defending access to American markets. We made sure that at least 70% of the aluminum used in North American automobile production will come from North America. We know this will benefit Canadian workers.
International Trade December 11th, 2019
Mr. Speaker, allow me to set the record straight, because the hon. member across the way does not have his facts right.
NAFTA is a win for aluminum workers. From now on, under this agreement, 70% of the aluminum used in North American automotive production will come from North America. As we know, much of that comes from Quebec. This will be good for aluminum workers. We are always happy to stand up for aluminum workers.
Foreign Affairs December 11th, 2019
Mr. Speaker, over the past year, we have been working at all levels to ensure the safety of the Canadians being detained, and indeed continue to advocate for their release as we stand up for our canola farmers, as we protect our beef and pork exporters and as we continue to engage with this important trading partner, while at the same time standing up for human rights every step of the way.
We recognize there is an opportunity to collaborate further on the special committee on China. We just certainly hope the opposition parties will be careful not to play politics and endanger the lives of those Canadians with it.