Government leader, “Prime Minister Elbows Up” and “Prime Minister Elbows Down” has not been able to deliver on the single most important promise of the April election, which is a trade deal with the United States, yet he had no problems running to Beijing to meet the most nefarious dictator from the most nefarious dictatorship in order to try to negotiate a trade deal.

The question is simple: A year ago, right before prorogation, we rushed to put in place the Countering Foreign Interference Act because CSIS, the RCMP and many other agencies in this country informed the government of the poor behaviour of Beijing and China in regard to infiltrating our economy, institutions, et cetera.

By the way, a year later, the Countering Foreign Interference Act that we passed in this very chamber is not even in place. Do you think it’s logical that the Prime Minister is not spending the time required on the $30-trillion economic partner to the south but is running to Beijing to negotiate with a dictator?

I said earlier that what the Prime Minister did with what we call the “Asian tour” is to diversify the Canadian economy. You’re aware that the world economy is changing and that the U.S. economy is changing drastically.

What we are trying to do is to build a stronger economy, and to do that, we have to develop new markets. That is exactly what the leadership of the Prime Minister is now demonstrating. He’s travelling to engage with other leaders in the world to strengthen the Canadian economy so that we will not depend on only one major partner but that we will diversify the Canadian economy. That’s what Canadians deserve, and I think that the Prime Minister is aiming for the better good of all Canadians.

I was part of a government that signed 41 free trade deals — the Stephen Harper government — and most of them were with those Asia-Pacific nations. But let me tell you this: Our focus was always on our number one trading partner, which is that $30-trillion economy our country relies on. The question, again, is a very simple one: We all understand the foreign interference challenge that we have had from Beijing and the nefarious dictatorship. Seven months in, all of a sudden, this government has gone back to their friends in Beijing, and it’s almost like Liberal Party business as usual. Aren’t you as concerned as we are about that?

As you know, Senator Housakos, diplomacy is about having constructive and, at times, difficult conversations. I understand that while in Beijing, Minister Anand met with her counterpart to discuss issues of sensitivity and to identify key areas where Canada and China can work together, including the environment, energy and health.

The government is committed to ensuring the strategic partnership with China continues to move forward constructively and pragmatically, because we need to build a strong economy, and that —