Tracey Ramsey

[Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Implementation Act, October 3rd, 2018]

moved:

Motion No. 4

That Bill C-79 be amended by deleting Clause 11.

Motion No. 5

That Bill C-79 be amended by deleting Clause 12.

Motion No. 6

That Bill C-79 be amended by deleting Clause 19.

Motion No. 7

That Bill C-79 be amended by deleting Clause 50.

Mr. Speaker, I wish I were rising today with some hope that we would be having more of a fulsome debate. It is very unfortunate that the Liberals and Conservatives have decided to join forces in a very rarely used provision in this House in order to ram through Bill C-79, the CPTPP.

It is quite baffling to me because the amendments really focus around the ISDS. In the CPTPP, we have fully signed on to the investor-state dispute settlement which today we heard from the Prime Minister he is happy to see gone in the new USMCA deal we have with the United States. Not only do I find this baffling, but Canadians also find this baffling. Of course, we welcome the elimination of this provision with the U.S. and Mexico because we have been the most sued country in the world under this provision. It has not worked well for us. I believe there are members on the opposite side who are also not happy with this provision.

I focus on this because it speaks to the hypocrisy and inconsistency we are seeing in this House when we see this approach to trade. On one hand we are saying that ISDS is a bad provision and needs to be gone, which is quite welcomed from the Liberals but quite shocking as well because it was not the Liberals who wanted it gone in the new USMCA. It was the U.S., and more specifically President Trump, who wanted it gone. We see this flip-flopping with the Liberals. How is it they are standing today pushing through debate on a deal that includes this very provision? It is baffling to me.

Not only is that baffling, but so is what we have given up in terms of dairy. Despite all the promises in this House from the Liberal government that it would completely protect our dairy sector in the new deal, the USMCA, we now know that is completely false. The Liberals have not protected it. They have knocked down two key pillars of supply management. We know that when we come back to this deal with the U.S. in six years it will be at the top of the list, and the Liberals will be happy to give it up again. They have betrayed family farmers in my riding of Essex and family farmers across this country. Why are we now signing a deal where we will further damage family farms and auto workers?

Speaking of auto workers, what we were able to achieve in the USMCA for auto workers is good. It is positive. We prevented that 25% tariff, and that is most definitely something Canadian auto workers are pleased to see. However, right on the heels of that, we are signing onto an agreement that is going to hurt auto workers. This is incomprehensible. How is it that the Liberals say they are going to protect people and workers in our country and the very next second they do the exact opposite?

I am not sure Liberals understand what they are signing onto. From the very limited debate we have had in this House, I would say that is clear. We should be having 10 hours of debate but it is now down to four hours of debate on an agreement that is thousands of pages long and will cost 58,000 Canadian jobs. It is bizarre to me that even the Conservatives do not want to debate this fully. They certainly have been saying that everything in this House deserves full debate, but today we saw that is not the case and they are happy to partner with the Liberals. Canadians are left shaking their heads to see the difference between Liberals and Conservatives in this House today in the approach to trade.

On the ISDS question I asked the Prime Minister today, it was interesting to me how he glowingly spoke about their being able to remove it, how fantastic it is, and invoked Jerry Dias and Hassan Yussuff. Yet, when I spoke with Jerry Dias on the phone this morning, he was shaking his head and saying that it is a betrayal for the Liberals to sign the CPTPP. How is it that on one hand the Liberals are saying they are going to stand by auto and on the other hand they turn around and do the exact opposite?

The Liberals are making fools of Canadians by trying to have them believe that in some way they care about working people in Canada. The CPTPP is a betrayal to working people. It is a betrayal to family farms. It contains ISDS provisions, which the government has now had a second coming on and has finally decided is not a good provision, but not to worry, they are still going to put it into the agreement over there. That is okay. We should just not look too closely over there.

Again, I have to point to the Conservatives, because the Conservatives have been up reading, I would say, by all accounts, what I consider to be NDP viewpoints on trade on the USMCA in the last few days, as though Canadians believe that the Conservatives stand up for working people, as though Canadians believe that they protect farmer, when they in fact are the architects of the TPP.

There is absolutely no comprehensiveness or progressiveness around the TPP. If we speak with the lead negotiator of the TPP, we will find that the text is identical. What has happened is we have a suspension of 20 provisions and we have some tweaks, and we have actually lost some of the side letters. There is no change to the text of the TPP whatsoever. By putting a new name on it that suggests otherwise is simply false. It is misleading to Canadians.

Canadians are not buying it either. When we had the original TPP, 18,000 Canadians wrote to the Liberal government. All but two of the 18,000 people told the government not to sign the CPTPP, and yet, here we are. Once again, we have this full consultation where there is an impression that when Canadians express themselves to the government, they will be heard.

However, the government is falling down on that day after day in this House. The Liberals will consult, but they have already made up their minds on exactly what they are going to do. Whether we are talking about indigenous rights, workers' rights or family farms, that is what the Liberals are doing. No one is fooled by what is happening in this country right now.

I want to talk about the mandate letters that came out. The progressive elements were included initially in the mandate letter for the international trade minister at the time, the fresh mandate letter of 2015. It included all of these progressive trade elements, like a gender chapter, environmental rights, indigenous people, labour rights, all of these wonderful things that Canadians would really like to see as part of our deals. In the CPTPP, sadly, none of those things exist. Not one of those things ended up being in the actual agreement.

To include “progressive” in the title is a farce. There is no indigenous chapter or language. The words “climate change” are not even mentioned, and by the way they are not in the new U.S. deal either. The USMCA does not even mention the words “climate change”. There are no labour provisions in the CPTPP that will help working people.

There are regressive provisions. Now, we are going to be in competition with countries like Malaysia, where the wage is frightening to our Mexican partners in the new U.S.-Mexico deal. The wages are so low, the treatment is so low, and there are no labour standards and no environmental standards.

What happened to the government's gender lens it was going to apply to all of the work it does? It has completely evaporated. It does not exist in the CPTPP.

The promise that was made to people about the type of trade, the type of consultation and, quite frankly, what happened in the new trilateral deal that we have in the USMCA, did not happen at all in the CPTPP. None of those people were in the room. In fact, in a Montreal round when that particular deal was being negotiated under the NAFTA name, the minister and all of the officials were there meeting with stakeholders all weekend long, talking about the new deal we were going to have with the U.S. and Mexico, and they left those meetings without saying one word about the CPTPP. They flew away and signed the CPTPP.

Again, we have this incomprehensible mess of a trade agenda that the Liberals are presenting to Canadians, and we have Conservatives in this House who are happy to join hands and go down this path. I want working people in Canada to know, I want farmers in Canada to know, I want everyone who struggles to pay for their prescriptions to know, and I want everyone who cares about our environment to know that today, the Liberals, along with the help of the Conservatives, have turned their backs on them. They have exposed themselves for the free traders that they are, and there is nothing they will not sign and nothing they will not give up.

[Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Implementation Act, October 3rd, 2018]

moved:

Motion No. 1

That Bill C-79 be amended by deleting Clause 7.

Motion No. 2

That Bill C-79 be amended by deleting Clause 8.

[International Trade, October 3rd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, in the new USMCA, we learned that Canada will finally eliminate chapter 11. Canadians have been hit with millions of dollars in legal fees and payouts to private corporations. Now, thanks to the tireless work of the New Democrats, labour and civil society, it is gone.

Canada has been the most sued country under ISDS and, for years, the Liberals have argued to keep this clause. They argued to keep it in the CPTPP, which they will be ramming through this week, and created a whole new investor court system in CETA.

Will the Liberals finally commit to no future ISDS in trade agreements?

[International Trade, October 2nd, 2018]

Madam Speaker, signing this deal has not eliminated the steel and aluminum tariffs and the threat. I want to talk a little about the threat happening when we are talking about the imports flooding into our country.

In this last year alone, the hollow structural steel import surges from offshore have been unrelenting. I have a spreadsheet from Global Affairs that shows 2018 imports, and some of them are over 200% higher than they were in 2017. What has happened to us is that we have become a target for global dumping from bad actors like India, Korea and China because of what is happening with the U.S. pushing back and the government is not acting fast enough.

I go back to the request to have this safeguard put on, the urgency that is necessary for safeguards, hollow structural steel.

Hundreds of people's jobs are at risk. When will the government act and implement the safeguards that are necessary?

[International Trade, October 2nd, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise tonight to talk about something that is as pressing an issue today, October 2, as it was when I asked my original question in the House earlier this year. On April 30 this year, we were wondering what would happen to us, because there was a temporary tariff exemption under steel and aluminum. We now know that within 24 hours of my asking that question in the House of Commons, those tariffs became permanent. The workers in those communities who depend on these 146,000 steel and aluminum jobs have had many sleepless nights since.

Following the signing of this new trade agreement, the USMCA, there are no assurances for the steel and aluminum workers in Canada, because once again the Liberal government has failed to get them a permanent exemption. Although there are a lot of accolades from the Liberal side about this deal, steel and aluminum workers in our country feel betrayed and left behind because these tariffs were left on the table.

In my riding of Essex, I have a steel manufacturer by the name of Zekelman Industries. It produces hollow structural steel. It is world class. Barry Zekelman is the CEO and chairman. We have been in constant contact on these steel issues. I want to say a little about this company, the employees and about Barry and the way he has given back to our community. Without Atlas Tube in Harrow, this community would not have the quality of life it does. I say that knowing that in Harrow, one in four children lives in poverty. We already live in one of the most impoverished areas in our country down in Essex and Windsor.

Barry Zekelman has grown this business from zero to a multi-billion dollar business, and he has become one of the premier employers in our region. People in his workplace are well paid and well treated. One of his sources of pride is that when someone walks into the plant, they will see on the wall how many days the company has been without an accident. He is extremely proud of the safe workplace and good jobs he provides. He knows the people who work for him, and when they come to work for him, they stay working for him, because these are good jobs that have supplied many families in our region with livelihoods for many years. We would like to see that continue.

Barry is very concerned. He has written to me asking for help from the government with safeguards that they feel are necessary on hollow structural sections. I sent a letter of support to the Minister Morneau, and I am hoping that the parliamentary secretary will be able to update the House on folks like Barry, who have been writing to the government desperately seeking some type of support or safeguard.

When will the government start to help our steel industry in Canada, because the clock is ticking on those jobs staying safe?

[International Trade, October 2nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I promise if the government was listening, we would not have signed this deal.

Remember when the Prime Minister stood in Hamilton and said that Liberals would have the backs of Canadian steel workers. Where I come from, having their back does not mean signing a deal that could sell out 6,000 Canadian jobs.

Sacrifices made in the USMCA will hurt our steel and aluminum workers, and the Liberals failed to get any assurances that the U.S. would lift steel and aluminum tariffs before they signed the deal.

Do members know who the middle class is? It is steel and aluminum workers.

How can this Prime Minister turn his back on them?

[International Trade, October 2nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the devil is in the details and now we learn about an astonishing new clause in the USMCA. Part of Canada's concessions in this deal was to include language that holds Canada hostage to the Americans if we decide to trade with another country. No wonder the Minister of Foreign Affairs tried to downplay questions about this yesterday. Experts have called this concession a “severe restriction on Canadian independence and capability” and that the Americans are trying to control our trade.

Why did the Liberal give the go-ahead for the U.S. to pull us into their trade wars?

[International Trade, October 1st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the lack of transparency throughout this whole process has been overwhelming. Canadians were promised transparency and expected transparency.

Our workers need to know exactly what their government has signed on to and how this will affect their livelihoods. They deserve to know that their jobs and our Canadian industries are protected.

I am still looking for that progressive trade agenda.

I have a simple question for the Prime Minister: Will he be transparent and bring this deal into Parliament for study, debate and a vote?

[International Trade, October 1st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians were worried we would not get a deal but today, many are worried about what we have given up to get this deal. This new deal looks nothing like the priorities the Liberals promised at the beginning of negotiations. Where is that progressive trade agenda?

The Liberals have made major concessions that will hurt Canadian dairy, poultry and egg farmers. They failed to get Trump's promised exemption on aluminum and steel tariffs. They have made access to medication even more expensive.

The Liberals promised a win-win-win. How can the Prime Minister give up so much and call this a win?

[Business of Supply, September 27th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, certainly there is great insecurity in my community in Essex in southwestern Ontario. Across manufacturing as a whole, there is great insecurity.

I was an auto worker of 20 years, and I was laid off in 2008 when the economic downturn came. I saw many of my very dear friends handing in keys, saying that they could not afford their homes. They were priced completely out of having homes.

There is an idea that people who are working can afford a home, and that is not true. Certainly across manufacturing, wages have been driven down because of poor trade agreements and because of decisions that have been made by governments in the past. Wages have not increased with the cost of living.

We have an entire group of people who are the working poor in Canada who are working every single day, some of them at two and three jobs, doing their utmost to put food on the table and to have a roof over their families' heads. It is becoming increasingly difficult. Ninety per cent of the announced funding from the Liberal government for the national housing strategy will only flow after the next election. That is unacceptable.