Mary Ng

[Small Business, June 2nd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I agree with the hon. member that small businesses are the backbone of all of our communities across Canada. It is why, throughout the pandemic, we were there for them, supporting them every single step of the way. I am so pleased that we continue to work with small businesses, and I would encourage us all to work together to support our businesses and the wonderful workers they employ, so that they can get on the economic road to recovery, because they very much are a part of our economic future.

[The Economy, May 30th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, let me tell you what we are doing in budget 2022 for small businesses. We are cutting their taxes. We know that businesses in Canada have recovered over 100% of the jobs that have been lost since the pandemic. Businesses are looking to grow. They are not only looking to grow in Canada, but they are looking to grow through exports into the international market. We are going to work with our businesses to grow here and to scale up internationally, and we have cut their taxes so that they can grow here in Canada.

[International Trade, May 19th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, we have access to 1.5 billion customers in the global marketplace through Canada's excellent trade agreements today, whether it is here in the North American market through the newly negotiated CUSMA, the European Union through CETA, or the CPTPP, which is another 500 million customers in the Asia-Pacific. We are at the negotiating table with the U.K., Indonesia and ASEAN. We are opening up markets and working with businesses, especially small businesses, so they can get access to these markets. I am very proud of the fact that Canadian exporters are growing and are growing around the world because of the great work that we are doing.

[International Trade, May 19th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, we know that we have some of the most amazing exporters here in Canada and we have incredible trade agreements, including in the European Union, that give our producers access to over 500 million customers. We continue to work with our trading partners to make sure those markets are open. Indeed, we are seeing results, because we are seeing trade increase into the European Union. We are at the table with the United Kingdom, and those exporters are also getting access to that market while we are negotiating the agreement.

[Small Business, May 10th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, what I can share with the House and the hon. member is that this government has always stood behind small businesses throughout the pandemic to support them and get them through the pandemic. Do members know what we did in budget 2022? We cut their taxes, so that we could help businesses and small businesses grow. We are going to keep working for small businesses and entrepreneurs as a country to help them start up, scale up and access those new markets.

[International Trade, May 3rd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, this weekend Canada and the Philippines signed an agreement to establish a joint economic commission.

The Philippines is a growing, dynamic market in the Indo-Pacific region. This is going to help Canadian businesses of all sizes export more into this market and become more competitive globally. We will also continue to build the people-to-people ties, with over a million Filipino-Canadians who call Canada home. I want to say to those entrepreneurs that this is a great way to kick off Asian Heritage Month.

[International Trade, April 1st, 2022]

Madam Speaker, Canada was the first country to revoke Russia's and Belarus's most favoured nation status as trading partners under Canadian law. Canada then worked with our allies to lead a WTO statement condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine that called on WTO members to suspend Russia's most favoured nation status and to suspend Russia's ascension to the WTO.

As we have said from the very beginning of Russia's unjustified invasion of Ukraine, we will do everything we can to ensure that President Putin and his enablers—

[Small Business, March 31st, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from London West for her leadership and her hard work.

Our government continues to move the dial for women entrepreneurs and businesses by investing in their growth and in their success. Recently I announced a $55-million investment for women-owned businesses looking for loans under $50,000 and an additional $25 million to further build out an ecosystem of support focused on under-represented women, and, by the way, this ecosystem has already helped 5,000 women's businesses to grow and 7,000 to start their businesses. If we do not measure it, there will not be any improvement, so we also invested $4.2 million in the knowledge hub.

I want to thank the Canadian women entrepreneurs for all they are doing for the Canadian economy and helping to grow—

[International Trade, March 24th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I was very pleased to welcome the hon. secretary of trade, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, for her first official visit to Canada this week, celebrating the long-standing relationship between Canada and the United Kingdom.

Today, Canada and the United Kingdom officially launched negotiations toward a new high-standard and progressive free trade agreement. Canada looks forward to negotiating an agreement that will benefit our people and our economies. It will help businesses of all sizes and entrepreneurs on both sides of the Atlantic reach new export markets.

[International Trade, March 3rd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, let me start with a fact. We have seen the highest trade between Canada and the U.S. that we have seen in the history of our trading relationship. That demonstrates that trade is working between our two countries. Of course, in a relationship as large as the one between Canada and the U.S., we have to continue to cultivate this relationship to the benefit of our workers and of our businesses.

I was just there on Monday, just a few days ago, meeting with the USTR and with congressional leaders to continue to defend Canada in this really important market that we have access to.