Scott Brison

[The Economy, February 6th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' failure to negotiate ITAR exemptions from the U.S. government is killing Canadian defence and aerospace jobs. Their failure to advance the smart border initiative is killing Canadian manufacturing jobs. Their failure to be at the negotiating table is killing Canadian auto sector jobs.

Will the Conservatives finally admit that their failure to stand up for Canada is costing Canadians their jobs in record numbers? In fact, the job rate loss in Canada in January is worse than that of the U.S.

[Employment Insurance, February 6th, 2009]

And he may want to wait, Mr. Speaker. The Prime Minister is only right because our January job loss rate was twice as bad as that of the United States.

Will the Conservatives finally do something to help the unemployed by reducing the two week waiting for EI, speeding up the processing of EI and fixing the eligibility rules for the 71,000 Ontarians who have lost their jobs? Why should they not qualify for the EI benefits that they desperately need right now?

[Employment Insurance, February 6th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister keeps saying that Canada is not the U.S. Our economic situation is different. In fact, the Prime Minister is absolutely right because in—

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, last weekend I was at the Davos conference. Economists from around the world were there, including Joseph Stiglitz, who won the Nobel Prize in economics and certainly is not an ideologically rigid economic mind.

All of those economists were fearing the U.S. protectionist elements that can put in place barriers to trade, that can lead to retaliation. Every one of them said that is one of their greatest concerns at this time.

This week President Obama actually recognized that what was happening in Congress and the buy American provisions as they were stated were in fact damaging and dangerous in terms of creating that environment. He spoke out against them. What he said quite specifically is, "I think it would be a mistake though, at a time when worldwide trade is declining, for us to start sending a message that somehow we're just looking after ourselves and not concerned with world trade". That is what President Obama said.

President Obama is doing more to stand up for Canadian workers than the New Democrat Party of Canada is doing. Why is it that the New Democrats are willing to sacrifice Canadian jobs on the basis of their rigid ideological perspective that protectionism is best?

The New Democrats should put their ideology away for a little while and defend Canadian workers who need someone who will stand up to Congress at this critical time.

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his speech and his insight. On the whole issue of security and on the whole issue of public safety, one of the concerns I hear from many business people is that American concerns around homeland security have led to a thickening of the Canada-U.S. border. The smart borders initiative that was introduced by the Chrétien and Martin governments has stalled under the current Conservative government.

I would appreciate the hon. member's views on that and what we ought to be doing to get that agenda back on track so we see the movement of people and goods and at the same time maintain good security for both Canada and the U.S.

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the member is chair of the committee on international trade and we have heard a lot today about the importance of engaging legislators in the U.S., not simply focusing on the administration or on the White House but focusing on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue and working the legislators because they are so powerful. There are 435 congressmen and 100 senators, and when we look at trade and protectionist policies that can have such an effect on Canada and our economy. We really ought to deepen those relationships.

As chair of the Standing Committee on International Trade, would the member agree that the committee ought to go to Washington very soon and have very structured meetings with as many legislators as we can, legislators particularly in the trade committee and appropriations committee, and some of the other key committees to make the case that Canada-U.S. trade is actually really good for the American economy. There are seven million American jobs created by the Canada-U.S. trade relationship. We ought to be making that case, not just during a crisis, but as we move forward we should be making that case fervently and building those relationships.

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member spoke about relationships, and I have two questions.

First, does she believe the focus of the current Conservative government over the last three years, almost exclusively on relationships with the Bush Republicans, has jeopardized our capacity now to build relationships with the Democrats? There has not been a lot of engagement with the Democrats and they now control both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Second, does she believe that the relationships the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada has with people like Larry Summers, who is now the top economic adviser to President Obama, or Samantha Power, one of the top foreign policy advisers to President Obama, or Cass Sunstein, who is the regulatory czar in the new Obama administration, those deep personal and professional relationships between the leader of the Liberal Party and the Obama administration, stand to strengthen Canada's capacity to negotiate to defend Canadian interests?

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, it is clear that the intention of this motion is to ensure that we are sending a consistent message to the Americans, that the buy American protectionist approach, and protectionism in general, is bad for the U.S. economy, bad for the Canadian economy, and bad for the global economy.

I wonder if the hon. member is as concerned as I am with the message coming from the New Democrats today in support of the protectionist measures that we as Canadians stand to lose so much from. Does he agree with me that in fact the New Democrats today, in their message in support of the protectionist measures in the U.S., are actually imperiling Canadian jobs?

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, we just heard from the hon. member that President Obama is wrong to recognize the protectionist risk of “buy America” provisions in the stimulus bill and that Senator McCain was wrong to try to remove the “buy America” protectionist clause from the bill. We also heard from the NDP that we would be better off bringing in similar measures in Canada and that we should be supporting the American buy America program, which does discriminate against Canadian-made goods, but we should also do our own and work together to more deeply integrate the Canada-U.S. economies, which is interesting coming from the NDP.

Beyond that, does the member not recognize the risk around the world of countries retaliating against Canada and the U.S. if we both were to engage in that kind of globophobic, socialist, Luddite protectionist measure that every other social democratic party in the world, except Canada's New Democratic Party, has rejected? Does he not realize that instead of it being a U.S. Smoot-Hawley, this would be a Canada-U.S. Smoot-Hawley that would provoke exactly the same kind of economic devastation and economic downturn globally, particularly deleterious to the Canadian and, then, the U.S. economies?

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member very much for his comments. Does he think that the Conservative government was wrong to work only with the American Republicans? Does he think it would be very important to start working right now with both American parties and to diversify our personal relations, especially in matters of trade?

Does he also think the Conservative government is acting consistently by pursuing trade relations with Colombia and ignoring human rights, while destroying our relationship with China because of human rights issues there?