43rd PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION House of Commons Debates Official Report (Hansard) VOLUME 149 NUMBER 011 Thursday, January 30, 2020 Speaker: The Honourable Anthony Rota CONTENTS (Table of Contents appears at back of this issue.) 669 HOUSE OF COMMONS Thursday, January 30, 2020 The House met at 10 a.m. The Speaker: Is that agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed. Prayer * * * PRIVILEGE ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS PROCEDURE FOR VOTES IN CHAMBER ● (1005) Ms. Annie Koutrakis (Vimy, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I rise in the [English] House to address remarks I made with respect to the vote on the main motion of the address in reply to the Speech from the Throne PETITIONS on Monday, January 27, 2020, as well as my statement yesterday, Wednesday, January 29, 2020. OPIOIDS Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP): Mr. Speaker, it I would like to inform the House that I met with my whip to dis‐ is an honour to table a petition on behalf of constituents from cuss my responsibilities in the voting process. At that meeting, it Courtenay—Alberni. It is primarily people from Courtenay who was clear to me that I profoundly misunderstood what the phrase signed this petition. “put the question to the House” meant. I thought that putting the question was the entire voting process and not, as I now know, They are calling on the government to draw its attention to the when the Speaker actually reads the question to the House. fact that over 12,500 Canadians have died due to opioid-related poisoning. They cite that these deaths total more than those of all I was on my way to the House and unfortunately got lost on my public health emergencies in the last 20 years, including from way to the chamber. As a result, I was not in the House when the SARS, H1N1 and Ebola. Speaker put the question and arrived when the table officers were Petitioners are saying that these poisonings are preventable. They calling the names of the members for the vote. I want to sincerely are calling on the government to declare the current opioid over‐ and unreservedly apologize to the House and to all members for the dose and fentanyl poisoning crisis a national public health emer‐ confusion caused by my remarks and for not clearly understanding gency under the Emergencies Act in order to manage and resource the voting process. it, with the aim to reduce and eliminate preventable deaths, reform current drug policy to decriminalize personal possession and create I understand and accept that members are of the view I misled with urgency and immediacy a system to provide safe, unadulterat‐ the House. It was certainly not my intention. I ask the House and its ed access to substances so that people who use substances experi‐ members to forgive me for this rookie mistake. I take this matter mentally, recreationally or chronically are not at imminent risk of extremely seriously, and I promise never to repeat this error again. overdose due to a contaminated source. At no time did I intend to deliberately mislead the House. Petitioners are also citing that these are our children, family As I mentioned in my remarks yesterday, I am a new member members, neighbours and people in our communities. They are and am not familiar with the rules and practices of the House. That calling on the government to take urgent action to address this cri‐ unfamiliarity with these important yet rather complicated rules and sis. practices led me to making a mistake in understanding my obliga‐ tions and duties in the voting process. From this rather unfortunate * * * event, I have learned that I need to better understand the rules of the House. QUESTIONS ON THE ORDER PAPER Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Presi‐ Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to speak to this mat‐ dent of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and to the Lead‐ ter, and I also thank members for their understanding of the chal‐ er of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.): Mr. lenges and the great responsibility of being a new member. I hope Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand. other new members can benefit from my experience in this matter. 670 COMMONS DEBATES January 30, 2020 Government Orders ● (1010) many in the House will remember, yet today the Canadian consen‐ The Speaker: I will take that under advisement and get back to sus for free trade is overwhelming. the House with a ruling as soon as possible. I want to thank the hon. member. [Translation] That consensus is a testament to NAFTA's long-term effective‐ GOVERNMENT ORDERS ness as a vehicle for economic growth. More broadly speaking, it is also a testament to the fact that rules-based trade advances personal [English] freedom, fosters entrepreneurial spirit and generates prosperity. CANADA-UNITED STATES-MEXICO AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT Today, Canada, the United States and Mexico account for nearly one-third of global GDP despite having just 7% of the global popu‐ Hon. Chrystia Freeland (Deputy Prime Minister and Minis‐ lation. Every day, transactions worth about $2 billion Canadian and ter of Intergovernmental Affairs, Lib.) moved that Bill C-4, An 400,000 people cross the Canada-U.S. border. Those are impressive Act to implement the Agreement between Canada, the United numbers. States of America and the United Mexican States, be read the sec‐ ond time and referred to a committee. When we were first asked to renegotiate NAFTA, we were deter‐ She said: Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by acknowledging mined to improve the agreement, update it, refine it and modernize that we are gathered on the traditional territory of the Algonquin it for the 21st century. That is exactly what we did. people. ● (1015) I am truly honoured to speak here today in support of Bill C-4, an act to implement the new NAFTA. Canadians have come a long [English] way since 2017, when Canada's most important trading relation‐ ship, indeed our national prosperity itself, was put at serious risk. I would like to stress two points. Under the new NAFTA, 99.9% The years that followed were among the more turbulent in our his‐ of our exports to the United States can be exported tariff-free, and tory. We have emerged not only with the essential elements of the when it comes into force, this agreement will be the most progres‐ North American Free Trade Agreement intact, but with a better, sive trade deal our country has ever negotiated. Indeed, I believe it more effective and fairer agreement than before. will be the most progressive trade deal in the world. [Translation] This agreement is better for steel and aluminum workers, better “Growth that works for everyone” is not just a slogan. It has for auto manufacturers and factory workers, better for farmers, been the animating, driving idea in our negotiations from the start. forestry workers and energy workers. This agreement is better for the thousands of people working hard in our service industries. It is Let us be honest: The negotiations that got us here were not al‐ better for Canadian artists, singer-songwriters and filmmakers and ways easy. There were some twists and turns along the way. There better for the companies that hire them. were, as I predicted at the outset, moments of drama. There were times when the prospect of success seemed distant, but we hung in Canada has always been a trading nation. We have trade agree‐ there. Faced with a series of unconventional negotiating positions ments with Europe and the Pacific in place, and we are about to from the United States, a protectionist flurry unlike any this country have a modernized NAFTA. That means free trade with 1.5 billion has encountered before, we did not escalate and we also did not people around the world and makes us one of the world's greatest back down. We stayed focused on what matters to Canadians: jobs, trading nations. economic growth, security and opportunity. That is how we stayed [English] the course. That we achieved this at a time of considerable uncertainty in [Translation] global trade, with the rules-based international order itself under strain, is something of which all Canadians can be rightly proud. It It was clear from the start that, in order to be successful, Canada is a testament to the unrelenting work of thousands of patriotic as a whole had to come together and work as a team. Canadians from all walks of life, representing every political view from all orders of government and from all regions of our great country. This truly has been team Canada at work. We began by consulting stakeholders across the country. We heard from Canadians in industry, agriculture, the service sector A little more than 25 years ago, the North American Free Trade and labour. We sought and received advice and insight from across Agreement created the world's largest economic trading zone, but party lines. We reached out to current and former politicians, in‐ let us remember that it did not come about easily or without contro‐ cluding provincial and territorial premiers, mayors, community versy. In fact, a federal election was fought over free trade in 1988, leaders and indigenous leaders. We asked Canadians for their input and my own mother ran against NAFTA for the New Democrats in and gathered over 400,000 submissions on the modernization of the riding of Edmonton Strathcona. These were intense debates as NAFTA. January 30, 2020 COMMONS DEBATES 671 Government Orders [English] ● (1020) We established the NAFTA council with people from different political parties, as well as business, labour and indigenous leaders.