For the most part, it's probably a case of getting the comments on the record rather than making for any kind of formal change to the new NAFTA deal for Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Taylor Bachrach, with the Parliamentarian speaking as part of the ongoing debate on the Federal Government's process towards approval the new trade deal between Canada, the United States and Mexico.
The accord which has been approved by both Mexico and the United States with the latter preferring the President's label of USMCA, is expected to easily pass through the Canadian Parliament in the upcoming days.
Something which would seem to make the statements from members a part of the process that will provide for the index of the bills passage and not much more.
Still, Mr. Bachrach did take advantage of the discussion period on Tuesday to lay out some of the concerns from those he has spoken to in the Northwest, the failure of the deal to engage with Indigenous people and uphold their right, as well as the closed door process that the government used and continues to use to reach such deals.
Among his areas of note on aluminum, the Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP took note of the concerns found from workers in the Aluminum industry when it comes to the issue of tariffs on aluminum and steel.
"Rio Tinto's Kitimat smelter employs more than 1,000 workers in the town of Kitimat and contributes over 500 million dollars annually to British Columbia's economy ... while this government is celebrating the lifting of these tariffs, I'm still hearing concerns from workers in my riding.
The US has made it clear that it will be willing to reinstate tariffs at any time and all it would take is for President Trump to decide that there has been a surge of aluminum imports for these tariffs to return. Unfortunately we don't have a definition in this agreement for what constitutes a surge in imports, and this means continued uncertainty for workers in my riding, regardless of whether this agreement is ratified"
Mr. Bachrach also called attention to the ongoing troubles in the British Columbia forestry and how the Federal government has not addresses some of the concerns over softwood lumber tariffs and issues in the new trade deal.
"In Skeena Bulkley Valley as many as 3500 people are employed in the forestry sector, but for many communities falling lumber prices have led to tough times. We've seen layoffs and curtailments and mill closures across Northern BC, at such a tough time what we've needed is a government in Ottawa on the side of forestry workers, but that just hasn't been the case ... during all those trips to Washington it would have seemed that getting a fair deal in the softwood lumber dispute was never on the table, but we'll never know because of the opaque process by which this agreement has been negotiated"
Towards his concerns over Indigenous consultation, the Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP raised his disappointment as to what the government delivered.
"It is so disheartening as we seek to work towards reconciliation with Indigenous peoples across North America, that this agreement makes no mention of the United Nations Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. We see again that this government has put the interest of big corporations ahead of Indigenous Peoples who are seeking justice and respect on their own lands"
You can review his full presentation to Parliament from Tuesday through the video archive below:
You can follow along as Parliament moves forward with the NAFTA 2 process through our Ottawa Observations archive found on our political blog D'Arcy McGee.
For more items of note related to the MP's work in Ottawa see our archive page here.
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