44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 20, 2023 11:00AM
Madam Speaker, I always want to make sure when I get up that I thank the residents of Niagara West for sending me here.
There are some service awards tonight on the Hill for a number of my staff: Gord, who did not come up, has been in my office over 15 years; Phil, who is here in Ottawa; and Irene, who is here in Ottawa with her better half, or other half, Dan, joining us today. It would not be possible to serve the people without the great support that we all have in our offices, so I wanted to recognize them before I start.
I rise today to speak to Bill C-57, the free trade agreement between Canada and Ukraine. For the folks in Niagara West and across the country who are watching this debate today, it is important to note that the Conservative Party of Canada was the party in government when the first Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement was successfully negotiated. This agreement represents a critical milestone in the Canada-Ukraine relationship. It generated commercial benefits for many Canadian businesses. It also supported the economic reform in the development efforts of the Government of Ukraine. Most of all, it made the Canada-Ukraine partnership for peace and prosperity even stronger.
The agreement was ratified unanimously in the House, eliminating tariffs on 86% of Canada's merchandise exports to Ukraine. It is important to highlight that this agreement has a built-in review clause, article 19.2, committing to the review of the agreement within two years of its entry into force. The intention of this clause is to expand the agreement to new areas, such as investment and trade in services. That is where we are today: trying to improve upon that initial agreement.
In my view, Canada should continue to look for ways to use our economic strength to support the Ukrainian people. One key opportunity is exporting Canadian LNG to break the European dependence on natural gas from Russia. As we know, the Russian government is using its natural gas exports as leverage over European markets. Canada can help Europe break that cycle with our world-class LNG.
I believe that all parties in this place would agree that the Conservative Party has had a long and proud tradition of supporting free trade by negotiating and signing agreements, as it has done many times in the past. It was also a Conservative government that negotiated the first Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement and that negotiated the bulk of CETA with the European Union.
A ton of credit should go to the Conservative member representing the riding of Abbotsford, who is in the House right now, for doing an incredible job as the minister of international trade when we were in government.
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- Nov/20/23 4:50:12 p.m.
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The hon. member knows that we cannot refer to who is present or absent in the House. I would ask him to limit it by referring to the member's constituency.
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Madam Speaker, I hope he is paying attention then. The member for Abbotsford also deserves credit for negotiating the first Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement, perhaps one of the best trade ministers this country has ever had.
In terms of Ukraine, as we know, the country is a very close partner of Canada. In fact, for folks who are not aware of our close ties, Canada was the first western nation to recognize Ukraine's independence from the Soviet Union on December 2, 1991. It was a historic and proud moment for Canada, and it continues to do so today.
In 1991, after decades of Soviet socialism, oppression, mistreatment and subjugation, Ukrainians shrugged off their chains and voted to take control of their destiny. In this context, we must also recognize Ukraine's historic struggle against an aggressor who, for centuries, has attempted to deny Ukrainian nationhood and let them deal with their own culture.
Thankfully, through all of it, the Ukrainian people have remained resolute in the defence of their country. I am proud to say that since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, all parties in this House have stood steadfast in leading the international support for the people of Ukraine. We have all stood shoulder to shoulder as we continue to support Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia's unacceptable aggression.
I would also like to highlight the deep cultural ties we share with Ukraine. Canada is home to 1.3 million Canadians with Ukrainian roots. That is one of the largest Ukrainian diasporas in the world. Many of these folks have called Canada home for generations, but have never forgotten the beautiful country of their predecessors. That is why, now more than ever, our people-to-people and economic ties are crucial to cultivate and continue to strengthen. It is also encouraging to see that nearly 200,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Canada, joining our Canadian family.
However, recently I saw concerning reports that some of these folks may want to leave Canada due to the incredibly high cost of living. We all know the cost of living crisis was created by the Liberal government's inflationary spending, lack of a housing plan and its signature failure of the carbon tax. All these factors are affecting all Canadians, but the effects seem particularly acute for newcomers.
We have seen the difficult financial circumstances of international students and the challenges they are facing, housing included. Now we are getting reports that Ukrainian folks are saying that life in Canada is too difficult. Oleksii Martynenko fled Ukraine for Canada by way of Sweden after his city was attacked by Russian forces. Now he says he is planning to return to Sweden, where life is more affordable. His exact quote is, “I’m tired all the time now. I want to go back to Europe because it’s such a difficult life in Canada.” High housing costs and underemployment are among the challenges many Ukrainian refugees face.
It is a huge wake-up call for the Liberal government that what it is doing in terms of our country's finances, the economy and housing is not working. This pattern is in line with the recent studies that show that newcomers to Canada are leaving at much higher numbers than previously thought. These folks are increasingly leaving Canada for opportunities elsewhere, according to a study published by the Institute for Canadian Citizenship and The Conference Board of Canada.
The Liberal government has mismanaged the economy so badly that immigrants are finding Canada a place to leave rather than a place to stay and create a life. It is as simple as that. The polls across this country are showing exactly that for the larger Canadian population as well. Folks are struggling. Inflation has taken a huge bite out of family budgets. In fact, Scotiabank has calculated that interest rates would be 2% lower if it were not for the inflationary overspending of the Liberal government.
It is important to repeat this because it is strong evidence of where we find ourselves under the Liberal government. Things are so out of control when it comes to the cost of living that Ukrainian refugees and other newcomers to Canada are seriously considering leaving, or are actually leaving, this country. That is a very concerning thing to hear. It is concerning, but it can be corrected if the right actions are taken. That is why our Conservative team has proposed three key areas to address tomorrow's economic update.
First, the government must cancel the carbon tax increase. This is absolutely essential for affordability. Second, it must balance the budget to combat inflation and high interest rates, which have devastated family budgets across the country. Ultimately, the out-of-control spending piled on by the Liberal government has caused inflation to rise and forced the Bank of Canada to keep interest rates high. I agree with the Conservative leader when he says that the $900 billion of mortgages set to renew at higher rates over the next three years have created an emergency on our hands to bring rates down before those mortgages renew. The third thing the government must do for affordability is to promote home building over bureaucratic expansion so that Canadians and newcomers, like our Ukrainian friends who have recently arrived, can afford a place to call home.
To get back to the trade agreement, I know that we as Conservatives believe in supporting our Ukrainian allies, including through trade. We have also supported Ukrainian defence capabilities. It was under the previous Conservative government that Canada undertook Operation Unifier. This operation was a Canadian Armed Forces mission to bolster the capabilities of the armed forces of Ukraine through the provision of critical military training.
Since the start of Operation Unifier under the previous Conservative government, the CAF has trained over 39,000 Ukrainian military and security personnel in battlefield tactics and advanced military skills. It is an effective initiative that has produced substantial results for our Ukrainian friends.
As I wind down my speech, I want to make sure folks at home watching this debate know that the Conservative Party of Canada supports Ukraine one hundred per cent. There should be no doubt about that. I also believe there is immense potential for further growth in our bilateral trade and investment between Canada and Ukraine.
In 2022, Canada's merchandise exports to Ukraine totalled $150 million and merchandise imports from Ukraine totalled $271 million. Canada's top three exports to Ukraine were motor vehicles and parts, fish and seafood, and pharmaceutical products. Our top imports from Ukraine were animal and vegetable fats and oils, iron and steel, and electrical machinery and equipment. In 2021, the stock of Canadian direct investment in Ukraine stood at $114 million.
There is a lot of room to grow those numbers in sectors, and I look forward to it materializing in the near future. I believe both sides are after the same thing, which is a closer relationship between close partners. That is always helpful and is encouraging to see. It is a shame the Liberal Party is trying to muddy the waters by saying that not all parties in the House are in support of closer ties with Ukraine. Let us be honest and transparent with Canadians. Conservatives stand with Ukraine, and we always will.
In closing, let me say that Conservatives will always work to ensure trade agreements are in the interests of Canada and of all Canadians and that we are strong supporters of Ukraine. Also, we must do our jobs as parliamentarians. We need to closely examine this bill and engage with Canadians and stakeholders to get their feedback as we move forward.
I am thankful for this opportunity to speak on behalf of my constituents of Niagara West on this very important topic.
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Madam Speaker, over the last few weeks we heard a number of comments about five Conservative members who went on a trip to London. What we have not heard a lot about is some of those members, at least one, had their expenses paid for by the Danube Institute.
The Danube Institute is a right-wing Hungarian think tank that recently a published a paper that said, “the stakes of the Russia-Ukraine war are not Ukraine's sovereignty, but the victory of NATO, the expansion of the US 'deep state', 'wokeism', LGBT propaganda, climate protection goals and implementation of mass immigration.”
Coincidentally, right after that trip, Conservatives are now talking about this legislation as being woke. Can the member not just admit that at least some of the Conservative members in his party have gone down the MAGA rabbit hole we are seeing from U.S. Republican congressmen right now in the United States with respect to Ukraine?
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Madam Speaker, I do not believe the word “woke” was ever uttered in my speech, so I do not know what he is referring to. It may be other speakers.
What I am concerned about is that we have tremendous potential in this country when it comes to energy security. The member from Alberta just mentioned the fact that we had 19 opportunities to start plants to try to get people off Russian oil. This makes a ton of sense. We are talking about a trade deal, but we should also be talking about how we get Ukraine off the dependence of Russian energy.
Quite frankly, we should be energy self-sufficient as a country. Why are we not doing that? It seems crazy to me these Liberals seem to be sabotaging what is good for our country, what is good business and what is good for the energy security of our country.
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Madam Speaker, once again, we have heard another speech from the Conservatives, who spend a lot of time talking about things other than Ukraine and the assertion that they do support Ukraine, but at the same time they are delaying the implementation of this free trade agreement.
When the member says that he did not utter the word “woke”, we clearly heard the member for Cumberland—Colchester talking in opposition at committee to this trade agreement because it includes references to fighting climate change. What is the real agenda of the Conservatives in slowing down this agreement and supporting Ukraine? It is just not clear to me today in the House that their support for Ukraine is one hundred per cent.
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Madam Speaker, if this member were really concerned about climate change, he would be looking at getting China off of coal-fired plants. Why would we not be building more to get LNG to China to help take it off dirty coal? At the end of the day, LNG is a great asset we have as Canadians, and we should be doing a better job to produce it, export it and help other people get off dirtier forms of energy. We should be doing that right now, here in this country.
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Madam Speaker, the carbon tax has now become one of the most hated and reviled taxes in all of Canadian history.
When we talk about exports, it is quite interesting that the government has decided to export a carbon tax into a trade agreement for the first time ever. In all of the trade agreements Canada has signed across the world, there is no carbon tax; there is no mention of carbon price or carbon leakage. For the first time ever, the government has decided to put a carbon tax into a trade agreement with a country in the middle of a war. I wonder what the member thinks about that.
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Madam Speaker, in terms of the carbon tax, one of the things the Liberal government fails to understand is that nobody else is doing this. Our trading partners certainly are not. It is a complete and total competitive disadvantage for what we are doing.
If we just look at where the carbon tax comes from, it is paid by farmers. Right now, we have a Liberal government that is stalling a bill that we passed here in the House, Bill C-234. All members of Parliament and of the Senate passed it. The Liberal government is now stalling on trying to help farmers, to help them with what they are doing for heating or cooling their barns and drying their grain. Why would the Liberal government want to continue with a carbon tax that actually puts the price of food up? Then it goes to the truckers who have to pay the tax on their fuel. It goes all the way through. When we are in a complete and total financial crisis, an affordability crisis and a housing crisis, one would think that the government would be looking at other things, such as technology, something other than a carbon tax, when, quite frankly, most of the other countries in the world that we trade with do not have the same disadvantage.
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Madam Speaker, it is always an honour to rise in the House as a representative of the amazing people and spectacular region of North Okanagan—Shuswap.
Before I speak to Bill C-57, I would like to acknowledge that many of us have returned to Ottawa today after spending Remembrance Day and last week in our ridings. I would like to thank all of the volunteers who gave up their time to organize and participate in the Remembrance Day ceremonies in 16 different communities and locations across North Okanagan—Shuswap and those who participated across Canada. Without those volunteers, the many ceremonies of remembrance would not have been possible.
It is especially heartwarming to see the large turnouts paying respect to our veterans and heart-wrenching to know that, at the same time, there are still battles going on around the world with soldiers and civilians losing their lives to war every day.
I rise today to speak to Bill C-57, an act to implement the 2023 free trade agreement between Canada and Ukraine.
Conservatives have a long history of supporting free trade with other countries. My Conservative colleague, the hon. member for Abbotsford, served as Canada's longest-serving minister of international trade and worked on many successful trade agreements during his tenure in the portfolio, including Canada's existing free trade agreement with Ukraine, the agreement that this bill seeks to amend. In fact, he negotiated trade agreements with 46 countries in that time.
As we look at this bill and the agreement itself, we as legislators have a duty to ensure that the law and the agreement are in the best interest of Canadians. We are closely examining this bill, to ensure that this is the case. We as Conservatives and Canadians also believe in supporting our Ukrainian allies. Increasing trade between our nations is but one way of providing that support.
No one is debating whether we should have a free trade agreement with Ukraine. Indeed, we currently have free trade through the 2017 Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement. In 2022, Canada's total merchandise trade with Ukraine was $420 million, $150 million in exports and $270 million in imports. Obviously, trade is happening between our countries. In fact, following the ratification of the original Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement, non-coal exports to Ukraine grew by 28.5% between 2016 and 2019.
Canada's relationship with Ukraine is strong, with over 1.3 million people of Ukrainian origin living in Canada. Some of those are newcomers, who have come to Canada fleeing Vladimir Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022.
I have had the pleasure of meeting some of those newcomers to Canada at special events in Vernon and Salmon Arm and other locations, where the outpouring of community support has made them feel welcome and eases the burden of fleeing their homeland, many with nothing more than what they could carry in their arms or on their backs. Meeting those newcomers from Ukraine and hearing their resolve to maintain their freedom and desire to return and rebuild their lives and their country has been inspirational.
This legislation aims to implement the 2023 free trade agreement between Canada and Ukraine, which contains 11 new chapters. These include rules of origin, government procurement, monopoly, digital trade, e-commerce and more. The document is around 600 pages long. Proposed paragraph13.10(8) states, “promote the rapid transition from unabated coal power to clean energy sources”.
It also contains purposes, including “promote sustainable development” and “promote high levels of environmental protection”.
When I consider what this could mean, I find great differences in what the government promotes and what it actually achieves. I say this because Canada has some of the largest reserves of natural gas for producing liquefied natural gas, LNG, in the world, and yet when Canada was approached to supply LNG to Germany, a neighbour of Ukraine, to help break Europe’s dependence on gas from Putin’s Russia, Germany was told there was no business case. Not only would the export of Canadian natural gas have helped defund Russia’s war machine, but it would also have helped transition Europe away from coal-fired power generation.
So here we have a free trade agreement that is to promote a high level of environmental protection and a government that refuses to acknowledge how much Canadian energy could do toward that goal if we were able to export it to replace energy from regimes with lower standards for production and disregard of human rights.
The government has denied the opportunity for Canada to export clean-burning natural gas with its burdensome, red-tape strangled regulatory process. Rather than promoting a product that would help Ukraine build and rebuild, and transition to a cleaner energy source, the Prime Minister said there was no business case for it. This is a loss of opportunity for Canadians and a loss of opportunity for Germany, Ukraine and other European nations. Canada could help displace dirty coal-fired electricity generation with cleaner LNG. There is a reason that this should be done expediently as Ukraine suffers from the ravages of war, requires energy to rebuild and can no longer obtain LNG from Russia. Canada could be helping.
I will go back to remind the hon. members here of the number of free trade agreements that were completed or negotiated under the previous Conservative government and the work that Canada, under a Conservative government, accomplished on the world stage. It is also worth noting that Canada supported democracy in Ukraine when we sent 500 observers to Ukraine to monitor the presidential elections in 2014.
Before I close, I would like to raise the matter of another item that should be addressed through a different free trade agreement, one affecting British pensioners living in Canada. These pensioners from the United Kingdom receive retirement pensions, but those pensions have never been indexed to the cost of living increases for U.K. pensioners living in Canada. This is an issue I hear about from U.K. pensioners living in the North Okanagan—Shuswap and I hear about how it is causing them to lose thousands of dollars in their retirement. While this government is negotiating a trade agreement with the U.K., I urge the government to press for indexing of U.K. pensions in Canada, just like Canadians retiring in other countries, including the U.K., have their pensions indexed.
As we continue debate on Bill C-57, an act to implement the 2023 free trade agreement between Canada and Ukraine, I urge this government to focus on what will be good for Canada, good for Ukraine and good for the people of our two countries by ensuring that our laws and trade agreements benefit both nations and do not unduly hinder our energy sector and the progress that could be made in both countries by promoting it.
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Madam Speaker, this past weekend, I participated in the Halifax International Security Forum with members of Parliament across the way. We heard extensively about the importance of supporting Ukraine both currently but also with respect to their rebuilding. I quote from the head of the Centre of Civil Liberties Ukraine, “there is a huge difference between let's help Ukraine not to fail and let's help Ukraine to win. And we can practically measure this difference in types of weapons, in gravity of sanctions and speed of decisions.”
We heard very clearly this weekend about the importance of helping Ukraine and making decisions with respect to this bill so that they can start predicting and making sure they have a capacity to rebuild. Will the member opposite support and vote in favour of Bill C-57?
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Madam Speaker, I would like to ask the member opposite the question back to her, but I do not think I am allowed to do that. Perhaps another time she would be able to explain why her Prime Minister, her leader, decided that there was no business case for exporting LNG from Canada to Europe when the U.S. has gone ahead and done this. Now, France has signed a 27-year agreement to import LNG from countries with far lower standards of production and far fewer human rights activities in their countries. Why would she do that?
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Madam Speaker, we have another Conservative speech and another sense of this so-called clean fossil gas, and it is just simply not the case.
Over one-third of Ontario's greenhouse gas emissions comes from fossil gas. In addition, most fossil gas is produced by fracking. Fracking leads to toxic waste water. There is nothing clean about toxic gas. If the Conservatives wanted to critique this free trade agreement, they could talk about how the government is not on track to meet the 1.5°C target in the Paris Agreement, but they are not doing that.
Why is that the case?
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Madam Speaker, I will talk about how the government has failed to meet any of its targets for carbon emissions. The only time it met a target was when the economy was shut down because of COVID, when nobody was moving. Nobody was doing anything because of the travel restrictions.
It has put out all kinds of ideologies and proposed all sorts of things, but it has accomplished so little in eight years. We are seeing that the government is just not worth the cost.
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Madam Speaker, experts have told us that the last 12 months were the warmest 12 months on this planet in 125,000 years.
Are the Conservatives seriously telling us today that the reason they are not moving ahead on implementing this free trade agreement is because it makes reference to climate change?
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Madam Speaker, I made no such reference. We saw how hot it was when the fires took place in the North Okanagan—Shuswap, in my riding, this year.
However, the climate is a global issue. Canadian-produced LNG can be produced in a more environmentally friendly way than it can anywhere else in the world. If we can help get countries off dirty burning coal with our clean LNG, why would we not be doing that?
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Madam Speaker, I listened to my colleague's speech; it was great. There was a question raised by a Liberal member, who said that this bill, this legislation, this trade agreement is going to help Ukraine rebuild. The rebuilding of Ukraine is going to require concrete, steel and heavy equipment. All these things are very carbon-intensive.
If the Liberals actually wanted to help Ukraine rebuild, why would they have put a carbon tax into a trade agreement for the first time ever? Does my colleague think this is actually going to help with the cost of rebuilding Ukraine after it wins the war?
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Madam Speaker, no, I do not think a carbon tax in a free trade agreement is going to help Ukraine rebuild whatsoever. It will need the lowest cost and the most environmentally friendly energy possible. It can get that from Canada, yet we have a government that is throwing up red tape, bureaucracy and regulations in the way of doing any of that.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to give the hon. member a bit of a redo. He said that nobody was doing much of anything during COVID. I would argue that there were some frontline workers who were doing significant things.
In addition, I would like to talk more about the fact that this FTA enhances some protections for workers. The Conservative Party has talked about how incredibly supportive it is of workers. However, this is a perfect example of how we could strengthen and enhance workers' rights around the world, such as the right to join a union and the right to strike, as an important part of this free trade agreement.
Is that too woke for this member?
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for bringing up the figure of speech I used, I guess wrongly. Yes, there were a lot of health care workers and other essential service providers who were doing incredible work during the COVID restrictions. I meant there was very little travel. All activity slowed down, so that was part of it. I thank her for that, and I was—
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