Bill to Implement the Protocol on the Accession of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership

Honourable senators, as you can see, it has been a long day and a long night, and I’m a little bit tired and a little bit discombobulated, but I don’t want any of you by any means to be shocked and surprised that I might sound supportive of a government bill. So even though I am fatigued, don’t chalk it up to that. You should have seen my surprise when I read a bill and they actually did something right. The confusion lingered for a little bit.

Honourable senators, I will be brief. I rise today as critic of Bill C-13, An Act to implement the Protocol on the Accession of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, to speak in support of the bill.

Honourable colleagues, the Conservatives are the party of free trade in Canada. Under Prime Minister Harper, Canada concluded free trade agreements with 52 countries, including Jordan, Colombia, South Korea, Peru and the European Free Trade Association, among many others.

I think Senator Martin and I sponsored some of these bills if I remember correctly.

We also laid the groundwork for both the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP.

Though if I remember correctly, CETA was also a brainchild of Premier Charest at the time, who was very involved with CETA — another great Conservative.

It should, therefore, come as no surprise that I approach this legislation as a friendly critic. Conservatives have been calling on the government to pursue a bilateral trade agreement with the United Kingdom since Brexit. Nearly 10 years have now passed, and we remain far from a comprehensive agreement, with negotiations seemingly stalled.

In the absence of such an agreement, our trade relationship with the United Kingdom continues to be governed by the Canada-UK Trade Continuity Agreement, which essentially replicates the provisions of CETA on a transitional basis while a new bilateral agreement is negotiated.

Additionally, since the United Kingdom’s request to join the CPTPP in 2021, and with the ratification process now under way, our trade relationship will also be shaped by the provisions of that agreement.

Looking at the progress in our trade relationship with the United Kingdom over the past 10 years, I am astounded that the government has not acted on this critical file more quickly. After all, the U.K. is our third-largest single-country trading partner and one of our oldest and, of course, closest allies.

Compared to other ratification legislation before us, the delay is significant. Negotiations were completed, and the accession protocol was signed in July 2023. Yet, nearly three years later, Canada remains among the last countries to ratify it.

Tardiness notwithstanding, though, Bill C-13 represents the domestic legislative process required for Canada to implement the United Kingdom’s accession to the CPTPP.

Once implemented, the agreement will provide Canada with duty-free access under the CPTPP for 94% of agricultural and agri-food exports, 99% of industrial goods exports, 100% of fish and seafood exports and 100% of forest product exports, while maintaining existing quota protections for supply-managed sectors.

The bill will also expand access to U.K. markets in key service sectors, including construction, legal and veterinary services. It will extend visa durations for certain categories of workers, business visitors and investors, and secure access to procurement opportunities at all levels of government and government-regulated entities in the United Kingdom.

These provisions have been welcomed by stakeholders across sectors such as mining, pharmaceuticals and financial services.

However, colleagues, despite some gains in tariff-free export volumes for Canadian pork and beef, long-standing trade irritants in these sectors persist.

Stakeholders in Canada’s meat industry have long been calling on the government to address the imbalance caused by overly restrictive export quotas. However, while there has been some progress on export quotas, the government has failed to make headway on non-tariff barriers, either in the Canada-United Kingdom Trade Continuity Agreement or in the United Kingdom’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP.

This imbalance cannot continue, colleagues. Once the United Kingdom’s accession to the CPTPP has been ratified, the government should review the Canada-United Kingdom agreement and consider terminating it in order to restart negotiations toward a comprehensive free trade agreement that would finally resolve these issues.

Another group that continues to be overlooked in our trade relationship with the United Kingdom is that of British pensioners living in Canada.

Just a few weeks ago, the Canada-United Kingdom Inter-Parliamentary Association, a delegation in which I took part along with Senator Ravalia, was in the U.K. and actually addressed that issue with a number of ministers. As many of you know, unlike British pensioners residing in the United States or the European Union, where pensions indexing agreements exist, those living in Canada do not benefit from inflation indexing. As a result, they are increasingly vulnerable in the current affordability crisis.

For years, advocacy groups have called on the government to address this inequity in negotiations with the United Kingdom. Yet, the government has remained silent, leaving approximately 127,000 British pensioners in Canada behind.

Of course, we need to do a more effective job of convincing our colleagues over in the U.K. that this is not as costly as they are pretending, but it is very unfair to Canadians with U.K. citizenship.

Finally, colleagues, I would like to put our trade relationship with the U.K. into perspective. As I have mentioned, the United Kingdom is Canada’s third-largest single-country trading partner, with over $85 billion in total bilateral trade in 2025, behind only the United States and China.

In contrast, trade with the United States reached approximately $719.5 billion — nearly eight and a half times greater than our trade with the United Kingdom.

Colleagues, expanding trade with both new and long-standing democratic partners is essential. But once again, the data makes one thing clear: These agreements cannot and should not be seen as a substitute for our trade relationship with our biggest trading partner.

Whether it is a new agreement with Indonesia or expanded access through the CPTPP with the United Kingdom, these gains do not come close to the scale or importance of our deeply integrated economic relationship under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA, a relationship which has brought unprecedented wealth and economic achievement to both countries. That is where our priority must remain: ensuring a successful review of CUSMA.

Honourable senators, presidents come and go. I have said many times that the Americans will eventually come to the realization — and there are midterm elections coming — that the policy of high tariffs put into place by Donald Trump is going to be economically catastrophic for everyone, particularly the United States. At some point, common sense and reason, hopefully, will prevail so that we can continue to sustain this economic relationship for the benefit of all North Americans.

Nevertheless, colleagues, I am pleased to finally see progress on this long-delayed ratification that we are sending to committee today.

To conclude, we support the passage of Bill C-13, and I look forward to its study at committee, where we can further assess its economic impact and examine how the government can further secure critical outcomes for key sectors of our economy.

Honourable colleagues, I am in favour of moving this to committee and trying to expedite it as soon as possible. Thank you.