OTTAWA— In a shocking reversal, the Conservative members of the International Trade Committee voted down a Liberal motion calling on the Minister of International Trade or Canada’s Ambassador to the U.S to explain the Conservative failure on American protectionism.
“The Conservatives have a lot to explain,” said Liberal International Trade critic Wayne Easter. “There were multiple signals from the Americans that they were going to include Buy American provisions. In addition, Canadians will now be forced to pay a cross border travel fee that we used to be exempt from. This was public knowledge for almost a month before the Minister even noticed.”
Conservatives had previously supported an earlier motion by Mr. Easter on the subject.
“It appears the government is more interested in covering for a Minister who has bungled his file than ensuring that the interests of Canadians are defended,” said Mr. Easter. “Once again, we are in the process of giving up some of our sovereignty to the United States in a secretive border deal. The least the Conservatives could do is leverage some negotiating power to ensure Canada doesn’t get side-swiped by U.S government decisions that kill Canadian jobs.”
