Falk surveys fall session of Parliament

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This article was published 22/09/2018 (2042 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bills on thorny topics like justice reform, international trade, and the Trans Mountain pipeline greeted Provencher MP Ted Falk this week as Parliament resumed, but hanging over it all will be ongoing NAFTA renegotiations hamstrung by competing interests south of the border.

Falk said Tuesday he hopes Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland can secure an outcome that will be “at least as good a deal as what we had, hopefully better.”

If Washington imposes automotive tariffs, Falk said they could hurt not only auto workers in Ontario, but also dealerships here at home.

“I’ve had concern expressed by the Steinbach Automobile Dealers Association…as to how they’re already being impacted by these failed NAFTA talks, and what some of the consequences going forward could be.”

With the future of North American free trade up in the air, the federal government is striving to pass the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to encourage more trade between Canada and various Pacific Rim nations.

Falk said he supports Bill C-79, which he views as a modified version of a trade deal the Conservatives under Stephen Harper planned three years ago.

“We’re actually very supportive of that trade deal, even without the Americans, (but) we would have preferred they would have been in there,” he said.

The CPTPP could allow local businesses like Bothwell Cheese and HyLife to find new market share in Asian countries, Falk said.

“When they can do that, they also employ more people in Provencher.”

New export avenues for grain and oilseed producers could open up too, he added.

But Falk said he and the rest of the Conservative caucus will dig in their heels on a raft of justice reforms the governing Liberals hope to pass.

“We focused on victims when we looked at justice legislation, and the Liberals’ focus seems to be concerned for the perpetrator or the offender,” Falk said.

In particular, Falk was skeptical of Bill C-71, which would require gun vendors to keep a record of buyers’ licence numbers.

He said it’s unlikely to reduce gun and gang-related violence in urban areas.

“It’s creating a greater degree of accountability on people that are already law-abiding,” he said.

Neither did Falk see its benefit for curbing rural property crime, an issue he helped spotlight earlier this year.

“A lot of the rural crime that we’re seeing isn’t necessarily gun violence crime.”

Falk said he will also continue to press the government to remove what he called the “horrible” Canada Summer Jobs Program charter values attestation.

Meanwhile, his spot on the Standing Committee on Natural Resources will afford him a front-row seat to continuing debates over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

During an emergency meeting on Sept. 4, the committee narrowly defeated a motion to ask the ministers of natural resources and finance to tell the committee more about the government’s next steps.

Falk said he was disappointed with the 5-4 vote.

“We want answers,” he said. “It impacts all of Canada.”

As Falk enters his second year as the deputy shadow minister for employment, workforce development, and labour, he will work alongside a new shadow minister. Alberta MP John Barlow replaces Quebec MP Steven Blaney in the role.

Falk said he anticipates working well with Barlow, formerly shadow minister for agriculture and agri-food, and said the two will examine the Red Seal trades program together.

The Parliamentary session, which began Monday, will conclude in June 2019, leaving Canadians on the doorstep of the next federal election.

Falk said it’s bound to have an effect on debate in the House of Commons.

“I think you’ll start to see things get heated up a little bit more,” he said, especially after NAFTA renegotiations conclude.