Tracy Gray

[Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1, June 22nd, 2021]

Madam Speaker, the hon. member spoke at length about dysfunctionality and how the opposition parties were creating dysfunction. I wonder if he considers it dysfunctional when Parliament is not debating bills every day, or when there are no opposition day motions, or when there are no emergency debates, or when there are no tabling of reports from committees, or when there are no private members' bills, or when there are no adjournment debates. That is how his government governed for a big part of 2020.

Could the member comment on that?

[Committees of the House, June 18th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I am standing on behalf of the Conservative committee members on the trade committee to present our supplementary opinion, which is attached to the report on WTO reform.

As this is likely to be the final report tabled by the committee before we return in September, I would like to thank the clerk, the analysts and the technical staff of the committee for all their hard work in ensuring our meetings ran smoothly during this extraordinary time. I also want to thank the chair and all committee members for their work and contributions over the session.

In our supplementary opinion, we highlight the important role the WTO has when it comes to free and fair trade globally. The pandemic has shown some gaps where the WTO could be reformed or better utilized, including in recent cases such as the dispute settlement process via the WTO's appellate body, as well as when it comes to finding a common-ground solution via the TRIPS council on intellectual property rights around COVID‑19 vaccines.

Conservative committee members also highlight an observation we heard from Global Affairs Canada officials on the definition of “developed” and “developing” countries at the WTO, with each country getting to define itself as it chooses, with both of these salutations having different rights. We believe the Government of Canada's work in the Ottawa Group on WTO reform could also look into this definition to help standardize it to improve fair trade globally.

We have also included recommendations in the supplementary opinion, which we hope the government will take into account.

[Forestry Industry, June 17th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, it is not just the livelihoods of the workers in the softwood lumber industry that are under threat. Baseless tariffs also have the added bite of increasing costs to Canadians because of integrated markets. The cost of living and the increased cost of housing are the number one concerns for my constituents in Kelowna—Lake Country and across the country.

Our relationship with the U.S. continues to diminish on all fronts because of the mismanagement of our trading relationship. That is why the official opposition put forth a motion, which I tabled and was supported, to create a new Canada-U.S. economic relations committee.

There are 11,000 lost jobs in the forestry sector, over $100 billion of lost investment in oil and gas, and concerns over lost business because of buy American policies. The Prime Minister talks big, yet he all but shrugs at these issues. The minister says softwood lumber is her top priority, but she could not point to any actions or conversations, since the announcement of tariffs, that she has had with any of her U.S. counterparts when she testified at the trade committee.

When is the government going to get off its hands and start taking any concrete actions on a new softwood lumber agreement?

[Forestry Industry, June 17th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity at this very late hour to stand up today for workers in forestry, contracting and home renovations in Kelowna—Lake Country, British Columbia, and across Canada, and, most importantly, the opportunity to stand up for everyday families.

Softwood lumber plays a critical role in Canada's economy, and thousands of families rely on its production to supply our domestic markets and our exports. A softwood lumber agreement is critical to providing that certainty and stability. With lumber being a North American commodity, Liberal inaction has led to higher prices in Canada. The last agreement Canada had with the United States was negotiated with the previous Conservative government and expired in October of 2015. Leading up to that expiration, the current Prime Minister promised to negotiate a new agreement within his first 100 days in office. There have been three U.S. administrations and over 2,000 days since then, and we have heard of no formal negotiations.

The Liberals were also outmanoeuvred during CUSMA negotiations by failing to include softwood lumber in that agreement. On February 27, 2020, the Conservative members from the trade committee wrote the Deputy Prime Minister, outlining the “adverse impacts of CUSMA” on softwood lumber and warning that CUSMA “does not prevent the United States from applying antidumping and countervailing duties to Canadian softwood lumber.” They gave many recommendations, none of which have been acted on. Taking the easy way out and failing to negotiate softwood lumber into CUSMA put Canadian businesses and workers at risk. Simply put, the Liberals keep getting outmanoeuvred.

There is clear evidence that jobs and investment are going south. The charts of North America production of softwood lumber show that as of 2015, Canadian production has fallen, while it has been steadily rising in the U.S.. We have heard from within the industry that this is due to so much uncertainty over the past almost six years. Lumber production and exports to the United States are key to the industry's long-term stability and viability, as our supply chains are integrated. This situation was further exacerbated when the U.S. commerce department announced that it intended to double the tariffs on our lumber exports on May 21, 2021.

That is why I, along with my Conservative colleagues on the international trade committee, called for an emergency meeting to address this potentially devastating issue. At the June 4 meeting, the minister stated during her testimony, “I think the tariffs that have been imposed are certainly causing concern for home builders and for consumers.” The minister postured, as she was unable to point to any meetings or calls that had taken place with any of her U.S. counterparts in the nearly two weeks it had been at that time since the commerce department's announcement. We have had no negotiations since the last agreement expired that we have heard of, and there are no upcoming scheduled negotiations.

Prior to that meeting, I also had the opportunity to question the minister during debates on the main estimates on May 31, when I wanted to clarify conflicting comments. The U.S. trade representative, Ambassador Tai, had testified during U.S. congressional hearings that Canada has “not expressed interest in engaging” when it came to softwood lumber. Several days later, the Canadian Minister of Natural Resources implied at a natural resources committee meeting that it was in fact the U.S. that was not willing.

My question to the minister is simple. When will the government quit hiding its failures behind a wall of opaque talking points and finger pointing and start getting to work for my constituents in Kelowna—Lake Country, British Columbia and Canada, and when will the government get serious and start negotiations on a new softwood lumber agreement?

[Committees of the House, June 17th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded division.

[Committees of the House, June 17th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, in our platform we have five pillars for economic recovery and one of them is securing our future. This definitely falls into that.

As part of this issue, there are some procedures in place, but they do not appear to be functioning. As one example, at the committee we wanted to study one of those features, the integrity declaration, to see if it is even working and what can be amended. We did not even have the opportunity to do that. Every time we asked a question about that, we did not get any answers. This is just one example of something that appears as if it is not functioning.

[Committees of the House, June 17th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, before I continue, I would be remiss in not also congratulating you on your retirement and for the good work that you do here. On a personal note, you were one of the first people who came to me when I was newly elected and you gave me some really great advice, so I will always cherish that. Thank you.

To answer my hon. colleague's question, this is absolutely very important. Human rights are something that we, as Canadians, have stood up for as part of our history and part of our heritage. It is very important that we stand against abuses and, in particular in this case, against products that are being produced by forced labour. It is important that we have processes in place to make sure that these products are not coming into Canada. Surely Canadians would want to know if some of these products might be tied to forced labour. These are the types of questions that we are asking and we are looking for answers.

[Committees of the House, June 17th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his update to the House. Those are the types of questions that we need to continue to ask, and to ask what is not working. If we cannot get answers, then there are some processes that are not working or there are some policies that are not working. Is there something to hide? Those are the kinds of questions that we need to keep pressing.

[Committees of the House, June 17th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, this is definitely a team effort. There are many on this side of the House who are asking very difficult questions at various committees and in the House of Commons. Many of our colleagues are definitely very concerned about these issues and continually press the government, asking the questions and looking for answers. We have not received any of the answers to the questions that we have been asking. We will continue to press.

[Committees of the House, June 17th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I am standing up in the House of Commons in these wee hours to speak to the concurrence of the fifth report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. The committee, in a unanimous vote, strongly condemned the sanctions put in place by the People's Republic of China on my colleague, the member for Wellington—Halton Hills, as well as the members of the Subcommittee on International Human Rights.

My colleague from Wellington—Halton Hills has been a strong advocate for human rights for those in China and across the world who are at risk or face persecution as a result of actions by the Communist regime in China. He has fiercely defended the rights of the people of Hong Kong, who are fighting the dissolution of democracy, and of Taiwan, where people faced intimidation from the Chinese regime.

In addition, he has stood up for Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims who are facing genocide, as recognized in this House by a motion presented by my colleague from Wellington—Halton Hills, and being placed in forced labour. We still have not seen effective measures from our Canadian government on that motion.

My colleague from Wellington—Halton Hills has been relentless and consistent in his fight against the Communist regime in China and reporting abuses. Now the Communist regime has placed sanctions on him. These sanctions show, as my colleague from Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan said when debate first started on this report earlier this month, “The stands that we take in this place have an impact on what happens in China, on the global tenor of the discussion.”

Where are we now? While the government may say one thing about the Chinese Communist regime, we have not seen actions to back it up. The Liberal cabinet abstained from recognizing the genocide of Uighurs. We still do not have any concrete action from the government to make a decision on Huawei's involvement in Canada's 5G network. In 2020, the Conservatives called on the government again to make a decision.

The public safety minister, back in May 2019, said they would make a decision before the 2019 election, yet here we are two years later still waiting. Canada is the only Five Eyes ally to not bar or restrict Huawei from its 5G network.

June 18, 2020, at the study of the Investment Canada Act I was part of at the industry, science and technology committee, testimony was heard by the assistant director on the requirements of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. In his opening statement, he said:

Corporate acquisition is not the only way through which hostile actors can threaten Canada's economic security. Threat actors can also access proprietary government information through cyber-attacks, espionage and insider threats. Insiders are individuals with direct access to the systems and intellectual property in corporate and research environments. This could potentially include business people, scientists and researchers. Put another way, today's spies also wear lab coats, not just trench coats.

Those comments are very relevant considering the debate that occurred in this place this evening. As I said earlier in my speech, the government put in place ineffective trade measures to stop the import of goods made with the forced labour of Uighurs. My colleagues in the Conservative caucus and I have been raising the issue of products made with Uighur forced labour getting into our supply chains now for several months.

There are measures on forced labour in CUSMA and the government signed onto a joint integrity declaration on doing business in Xinjiang to tackle this forced labour earlier this year. A Conservative motion at the trade committee to study if and how these measures were working was voted down.

Since then I have asked the international trade minister numerous times if these measures have stopped one shipment of products made with Uighur forced labour. Every single time I have asked, recently about parts of solar panels, we have received not an answer, but deflection.

How is it that the government cannot say if even one shipment has been stopped? Could it be because the answer is zero? After all, the Minister of International Trade told me during recent questioning that these measures are still being operationalized. Well “operationalized” sounds like either these measures are still not in place or no imports have been stopped.

It is not just Conservatives on this issue. The Toronto Star reported in March 2021 that despite government measures, products made with alleged Uighur forced labour, such as train parts and textiles, were still entering Canada. In May, Global News reported our solar panel supply chains might be tainted with Uighur forced labour from Xinjiang. We hear time after time about different products potentially made with Uighur forced labour coming into Canada and the government doing nothing to stop it.

This is why my colleague, the MP for Wellington—Halton Hills, stands in the House to put pressure on the government to act and is now facing sanctions from the Chinese regime because of it.

The government is constantly failing to report on human rights abuses by the Chinese communist regime. On this side of the House we will continue to stand up for human rights and we will ask questions that need to be asked, because the government is failing to do so.