Madam Speaker, as the proud, recently elected member of
Parliament for London West, it is with great pleasure
that I contribute to this important debate.
Before I get to the topic at hand, I would like to
make a few comments as this is my first speech in this
magnificent chamber.
When one does a maiden speech, one of the appropriate
things to do is to thank their family and I can be no
different.
My wife Judite is a successful businesswoman in her
own right. Her advertisement for the flower shop that
she runs states that it is the oldest flower shop in
Canada, started in 1869. My wife is an immigrant to this
country, of proud Portuguese parents, born in Africa.
She came to Canada just to find me. She has been a
successful entrepreneur and past president of the
Portuguese Business Professionals Association.
My daughter Claudia is also a successful
businessperson. She is the owner of a Belgian chocolate
shop called Chocolaterie Bernard Callebaut. She is
married to a fellow named Cedo Ivanisevic, whose father
came to our country from Croatia. He is of Serbian
descent and he came to Canada for better opportunities.
Cedo is a firefighter, and he and my daughter have given
me two wonderful grandchildren, Maia and Katia.
I would like to tell the House a bit about my city
if I may. London, for those who do not know, is the 10th
largest city in Canada. We have a well balanced economy.
We have an internationally respected health care system,
with training hospitals throughout and major
breakthroughs go on in London Health Sciences Centre
regularly.
London is a major transportation hub. It is uniquely
positioned within one hour of one major U.S. border
point and within two hours of two other major U.S.
border points.
London is uniquely positioned with three highways,
Highway 401, Highway 402 and Highway 403, and literally
in the centre of them. I tell the House this because as
a transportation hub, the need for good road service is
critical.
London has strong rail service with service by CN
and CP.
Finally, we have London International Airport, which
is one of Canada's busiest airports.
Through many of my experiences in life, I am
reminded of a book written by Robert Fulghum entitled
All I Ever Really Needed to Know I learned in
Kindergarten.
Unfortunately, many people told me, when I was
running for office, that I was just working hard to get
into Canada's largest kindergarten class. While I can
see sometimes why there is a sentiment out there like
that, I think that generalization is inappropriate for
the majority of members.
In my short time here I have quickly seen the
efforts, the sacrifices and the energy members spend on
behalf of their constituents, but I believe we can all
do better.
Just as in kindergarten, we get further ahead in
life by building up those around us rather than tearing
them down. That is why my good friend of many years, the
member opposite from
London North Centre, and I established early that
together we could achieve more than if we worked against
each other. Our constituents have made it clear that
they appreciate our positive, co-operative style more
than the destructive partisanship that often prevails.
We could all achieve more if we worked this way. I
sincerely hope that will happen more often in the House.
I am not hesitant to say that the member for
York South—Weston has contributed to this debate in
a thoughtful way, with dialogue that is positive and
well-intended. I am sure this has been noticed and I
believe his constituents have seen that as well.
In kindergarten we learn our manners. We learn that
when people are speaking, we wait our turn and listen to
what they have to say. Members will not find me heckling
in question period or debate because no matter how much
I disagree, or agree, with what a colleague is saying,
if it is their turn to speak, then they deserve that
respect. I hope members of the House feel the same.
In kindergarten we learn to say “thank you” as well.
I want to acknowledge and thank Sue Barnes, the former
member of Parliament for London West, for her many years
of service. Her family made many sacrifices for her to
do that and I thank them as well.
Perhaps one of the big things we learn after
kindergarten is that we all get older and what we did
back then forms us into who we are today. When I leave
this place, as we all will some day, I hope to be able
to look back and say I learned a lot, that in some
fashion I made a contribution and, most important, that
I helped make the lives of others a little better.
I ask the indulgence of the House for one more
analogy and then I will speak directly to the topic at
hand.
Today we are talking about trade, but this too we
learned about in kindergarten. We learned that sharing
toys, sharing resources made us all better off. We could
hoard our toys, but we did not. My granddaughters
sometimes do though.
We did not hoard our resources then because it did
not make sense and it does not make sense when we are
adults either. I firmly believe that trade has made us
better off, richer as a society, and to tear down those
relationships now would be a tragic step backward.
That is why I welcome this opportunity to discuss
how much trade means to the Canadian economy and, most
relevant to this discussion, how much the North American
Free Trade Agreement has contributed to Canada's
prosperity. I bring this up in our dialogue around the
European Free Trade Agreement because it is important to
understand how this agreement has enhanced Canada's
economy and how future trade deals will continue to
secure a positive economic future for Canadians.
I bring this up in our dialogue around the European
Free Trade Agreement because it is important to
understand how this agreement has enhanced Canada's
economy and how future trade deals will continue to
secure a positive economic future for Canadians.
Canada's history is founded on trade. Canada is and
must be a trading nation. We have an extremely
well-educated innovative and progressive population.
However, our domestic market is relatively small and
therefore Canada is not considered a major player on the
world stage. Well, that is our reality.
Our market is only about one-tenth the size of the
United States. Therefore, Canada needs the opportunities
which international trade provides if we to realize our
enormous potential. In these difficult economic times,
international trade will continue to be a major
contributor to our success in overcoming the challenges
we are facing.
How much do we depend on trade? In 2007 Canada's
international trade was equivalent in value to more than
two-thirds of our economy. An extraordinarily high
number of Canadian jobs are linked to trade. In 2007 the
value of our trade with the United States was equivalent
to more than 46% of Canada's gross domestic product.
This could not be more important than in cities like
London, Ontario, where we see thousands of tonnes of
goods travel between Canada and the United States every
day by truck, rail and air.
Healthy trade is vital to the survival of cities
like mine. This trade represents a lot of economic
activity and a lot of Canadian jobs, jobs that depend
upon open borders and the preservation of international
rules to keep them open.
That is why the Conservative government supports an
ambitious trade agenda in the World Trade Organization.
It is why we value our trading relationship. It is why
we are continuing to expand Canadian opportunities by
negotiating new trade agreements, such as those with
EFTA and Peru and Colombia. It is also why this
government is working so hard to maintain the free flow
of trade within North American markets at this time of
economic crisis.
No matter how much we diversify, North American
trade will always loom large within our international
trade priorities. Trilateral merchandise trade among the
NAFTA partners has more than tripled since the agreement
entered into effect and reached almost $1 billion in
2007.
In terms of Canada-U.S. trade, about one-third is
now said to be intra-firm, which means that it takes
place across borders, but within the same company. No
great deal more of Canada-U.S. trade involves building
things together, different companies on different sides
of the border contributing expertise, goods and labour
to the manufacturing process.
London is filled with multinational companies. These
companies use our local expertise for parts of their
operations and we rely on the expertise of their foreign
branches for job stability. They cannot do it alone, nor
can we.
Look at General Dynamics Land Systems and Trojan
Technologies, to name just two, that export significant
products throughout the world. Without international
trade, London could not survive. I would suggest that
most cities across the country could not survive and
prosper without free trade.
Let us not forget that NAFTA has opened doors
between Canada and Mexico as well. Since signing onto
NAFTA, our merchandise trade with Mexico has almost
quintupled.
Let us take a look at investment levels, which have
seen a dramatic rise. In 2007 foreign direct investment
in Canada reached just over $500 billion and almost 58%
of this investment came from our NAFTA partners. In
other words, about $6 out of every $10 in foreign direct
investment in Canada, investment in communities across
the country, came from NAFTA. Investors view Canada not
only as an important market in its own right, but as a
gateway to North America.
NAFTA also contributes to Canada's success on the
world stage and is a valuable platform that Canada uses
to reach the rest of the world.
It is why we are pleased, as well, that the London
International Airport has been approved for the cargo
trans-shipment program. It opens up huge opportunities
for all Canadian companies, but especially those in
London.
There are many benefits that Canada enjoys by being a
partner in NAFTA, and it is not just large corporations.
In fact, 94% of Canadian exporters are companies with
fewer than 200 employees, 73% have fewer than 50
employees. These small businesses rely heavily on doing
business within the North American marketplace. They
rely on this government to provide the right conditions
for them to succeed and to prosper, and this government
will continue to deliver.
For a country the size of Canada, which needs access
to world markets to guarantee prosperity, it would be
worse than naive to think that closing our borders to
trade would boost the Canadian economy. In fact, the
opposite is true. Any jobs created by turning inward
would be vastly overshadowed by the jobs lost if our
ability to export were curtailed. We would be naive to
close our own markets, and we would be grossly negligent
if we stood by while our trading partners closed theirs.
We intend to do neither.
I have shown how Canadians have benefited from the
NAFTA experience. I hope people realize, in talking
about the importance of trade to Canada and the economic
gains and job creation and spinoff effects for all of
Canadian society, that NAFTA has mattered in a positive
way. These are important reasons why our government will
continue to defend against protectionism and ensure that
we make the most of our current trade agreements and
continue to seek ways to enhance Canada's trading
position on the global stage.
Finally, it is a sincere privilege for me as the
member for London West to sit in the House. I look
forward to continuing to work with my colleagues.
