Doly Begum

Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise on behalf of the good people of Scarborough Southwest, especially when it is to address challenges we are facing not only across my riding but across Canada. Over the past several years, Canadians have witnessed how quickly events beyond our control and beyond our borders can affect our economy at home. A conflict, a war or atrocities on the other side of the world can disrupt energy markets on this side. A shortage of shipping capacity can increase costs for Canadian businesses. A disruption to rail lines, highways or ports can affect producers and consumers on both ends of the supply chain. We have heard in the House, even this morning, about the bureaucracy and time constraints related to putting shovels in the ground. We need to ensure that we are addressing those challenges, and doing that fast and efficiently by streamlining the system. Across this country, Canadians are feeling the pressure of what is happening right now, and I am really excited to speak to Bill C-39, because we are addressing those challenges. With higher prices at grocery stores, small businesses having to make very difficult decisions or families having to sacrifice one thing for another just to make ends meet, we must try to ensure that Canadians' paycheques can cover all their costs and that they are able to pay their bills. In the face of these global realities, our government was elected on a firm commitment to reinforce Canada's economic sovereignty and empower our country to build bigger, stronger and faster. Our supply chain is built from ports, railways, roads and, most important, the great workers who work so hard every single day to keep goods moving. They are the backbone of our economy. Over the past year and a half, our Prime Minister and our Liberal government have been moving at record speed to ensure Canadian economic resilience as the world becomes increasingly volatile. Stronger supply chains are imperative to our government's ambitious plan to double non-U.S. exports, build major projects and attract record investments. This is why Bill C-39 is so important. The building Canada stronger act aims to do exactly that: further strengthen our existing supply chains while supporting good-paying jobs, helping Canadian businesses compete and keeping costs down for the hard-working people of our country. Bill C-39 recognizes that our transportation network does not operate in isolation. Our ports, railways and roads are part of a connected system, and we need to start planning and investing in them that way. That means looking at the movement of goods across an entire corridor, identifying where the delays are and the capacity constraints occur, and measuring how the system is performing. The bill would also create a national trade corridors council to monitor trade disruptions, continuously identify bottlenecks and recommend improvements to the Minister of Transport. As we invest in our trade infrastructure, these measures would ensure that those investments are directed toward the places where they would have the greatest impact. A congested port can mean additional storage costs. A lack of rail capacity can mean grain sitting in elevators rather than moving to markets. For small businesses, a shipment arriving late can result in loss of revenue, higher costs and a difficult decision-making process. Whether to pass on that cost to the consumers or to maybe lay off employees, it could mean the end of a business. It could be the end for a lot of local small businesses that had been running for 10, 20 or 30 years. This summer I had an opportunity to visit a local business, Accuenergy, an electrical parts manufacturer in my riding of Scarborough Southwest. It has been run by a father and his son since 1998. Accuenergy supplies its products to over 170 countries around the world, and it employs more than 300 people. I had the opportunity, with the Minister of AI, to talk to some of the employees from my riding and from across Scarborough and the GTA. There are so many businesses like Accuenergy across Canada that are building right here at home, creating good-paying jobs and seeking to compete in markets around the world. As we ask businesses to diversify into new markets beyond the United States, our government has the responsibility of making sure our infrastructure can keep up with that ambition. There are other major pieces in the bill that I would have loved to have highlighted, but I wanted to make sure to point out that what we hear in the House, such as the complaints from the other side about putting shovels in the ground and moving things faster, would be addressed by the bill. Bill C-39 would modernize our process to make sure we are able to get shovels in the ground, make decisions faster and get faster approvals so we can address the challenges people across this country are facing.

Mr. Speaker, I wish I had more time to speak to some of the things Bill C-39 would do about exactly some of the complaints we hear from the other side, such as to make sure that, first of all, we are uniting the entire country. Our Prime Minister is going coast to coast to coast to make sure that we are not only addressing challenges in Ontario, Manitoba, Quebec or Alberta but are also addressing challenges across different provinces and uniting the provinces. Another part of our goal has been to make sure we make trade easier between provinces as well.

Mr. Speaker, this is why it is so important that we have a timeline. In the past, a lot of infrastructure costs have risen because of delays in our projects due to delays in the decision-making process. There are exceptional circumstances, and this is why the Minister of Transport would have the authority to be able to make those exceptional decisions. It is really important that at this time, a time of crisis, we are focusing on making sure we have a review process that has a timeline and that we get shovels in the ground, and this is exactly why the bill is really important.

Mr. Speaker, my colleague is exactly right. The bill would address those challenges, those bottlenecks, that businesses face. Over the past year, previous legislation has also addressed these kinds of issues that we have faced. An efficient supply chain is one of the key parts of making sure that we are focusing on our economy and strengthening our economy. Canada's long-term economic strength depends on reliable and efficient trade quarters, for example, and making sure that we are making decisions faster and being more effective. That is not just for domestic trades but also for international trade, to be able to attract new investors from across the world.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for her comments and, of course, for welcoming me to the House. There are a lot of things we agree on and some that, even if we disagree, I feel like we can sit together and come to terms on. We are all here to represent our communities and make sure that the people we represent are well served. This bill addresses some of the challenges we are facing right now across this country, especially with the trade war with the U.S., but also challenges with the conflicts across the world. It is important that we recognize the power we hold within this House. There are decisions we make in this House that are changed over time because of the needs coming from changes, which may be necessary in the future, and when that time comes—