Hon. Doug Lewis (Minister of State and Minister of State (Treasury Board) and Acting President of the Treasury Board):

Mr. Speaker, I move:

That the debate on the motion for third reading and passage of Bill C-2 and on any amendments proposed thereto shall not be further adjourned.

Mr. Speaker:

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Agreed.

No.

Mr. Speaker:

All those in favour of the motion will please say yea.

Yea.

Mr. Speaker:

All those opposed will be please say nay.

Nay.

Mr. Speaker:

In my opinion the yeas have it.

And more than five Members having risen:

Mr. Speaker:

Call in the Members.

Mr. Deputy Speaker:

I declare the motion carried.

Hon. John McDermid (Minister of State (International Trade) and Minister of State (Housing)):

Mr. Speaker, today is an historic day. Today the representatives of the people of Canada decide whether to say yes or no to free trade. The Canadian people by choosing the Members of this House as their representatives decided in favour of free trade on November 21. What the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Turner) did on July 20-I remember it well-was to seek to force an election which offended important conventions of Canadian Government. After listening to him in the last few days he seems not only unrepentant but proud of what he did that day. But the election having been held, the issue of free trade having been central in the campaign, and the Government having been returned with a majority, the decision has been made; yes to free trade.

Over the last two years I have been involved in the Free Trade Agreement, first, as Parliamentary Secretary, and then as Minister of State. I have travelled from coast to coast. I have been in some 100 ridings speaking on free trade.

I have been involved in debate, attending conferences both here and in the United States. It has been a fantastic experience. Not all those conferences, not all those debates were easy ones. The appearance before the labour council with 450 union workers in attendance made it very difficult for speeches that evening, but it was a very interesting and challenging experience which I shall not forget for a very long period of time.

This agreement with which we are dealing today talks to the change that is going on in the world. Change happens all the time. It has happened since the Industrial Revolution where industries have come and gone because they became outmoded. They could not keep up with modern technology. When you think that children in school today will absorb more knowledge in about five years than their grandparents did in their lifetime, that gives you an idea of the rapid change we are going through in this country.

I should like now to take a moment to talk a bit about the community that I come from.

When I was a young boy growing up in Brampton, its population was 5,000. In those days, rush hour commenced when the workers were released from the one industry that we had in town, and lasted all of one and one-half minutes.

At that time the two main employers in Brampton were Dale Estates and Calvert Estates, which were then two of the largest flower growers in Canada. In fact, in

December 23, 1988

those days Brampton was known as the "flower town of Canada".

It was a one-industry town, with a population of 5,000.

We had over 60 acres under glass, and produced some of the most beautiful orchids ever produced in Canada, and of course the world famous Dale Estates rose.

Today, the flower industry in Brampton has disappeared. Dale Estates is now a real estate development company. Its property became too valuable, and it could no longer compete with what was going on in the world today, given the cost of energy, and so forth. And so that industry disappeared. But other industries came in to take its place. When Dixie Cup first came to Brampton, it was considered to be quite a revolution. As well, we had Williams Shoes and Hewitsons Shoes, both of which have closed down because they could no longer compete. But other industries came along and took their place. Today the community that I and the Hon. Member for Brampton-Malton (Mr. Chadwick) represent is the community of some 200,000 people, a community growing at 5 per cent a year.

I have in my hand a list of the businesses created just in the last 11 months-and it is a significant list. In fact, it is some 25 pages in length, and while I do not intend to read the full list, I should like to highlight a few.

In the last 11 months the businesses established in Brampton include High Frequency Systems Ltd., a manufacturer of high frequency equipment, employing six people; Presscraft Litho Finishing, die cutting, employing five people; Carleton Cards-Rustcraft, employing 600 people.

In fact, Carleton Cards-Rustcraft erected a building in my community which could accommodate five football games all at the same time without fear of one interfering with the other. It is a phenomenal operation.

We also have Palco Telcom, a company involved in the refurbishing of telephone equipment, employing 30 people; Burnemann Pumps, a manufacturer of motor pumps, employing 10 people; Warren Publishing Company, employing 10 people; JI Trimming, cabinet makers, employing 20 people-and on it goes, page after page after page of industries being created by entrepreneurs, people who are accepting the challenge of the future and who have addressed this thing called change.

These people are prepared to meet the challenge. They are creating jobs in Ontario.

Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement

And we in Ontario have been very fortunate. Brampton is a 24-hour truck drive from 60 per cent of the Gross National Product of the U.S. What a fabulous opportunity! And other regions of this country want to have the same opportunities.

Hour after hour we listen to the opposition Members talk about the threat that the FT A presents for our regional development programs. Well, the Free Trade Agreement in itself is the most significant regional development program that this country has ever seen.

Hear, hear!

Mr. McDermid:

To say that there are no regional development programs, or there are not going to be in the future, is nonsense. Of course there are. But this agreement, what a fabulous opportunity it presents for Canada, what a magnificent opportunity for Canadian entrepreneurs, for the creators in this country, whether it be in the arts or any other endeavour. What a fabulous opportunity for them.

We cannot do it for them. As parliamentarians, we cannot do it for them. But Canadians have indicated to me time after time after time that they are prepared to meet the challenge; that they want to develop their businesses; that they want to see their businesses expand here in Canada. They want to sell into the U.S. market.

As I keep saying to people, we are good; we Canadians are very, very good. We can compete, and we will compete. We have in the past, and we will in the future.

The kinds of things we have seen happening over the past couple of years have been encouraging. By way of example, I received the following letter from a resident of my riding. It starts out with "Dear John", as most letters directed to me do. It reads:

I have for many years, as you are aware, been active in my support of the Liberal Party.

And not only has he been active, he has been the chief bagman for the Liberals in my area. He continues:

However 1 believe that your party's position on free trade with the United States is the correct stance and a wonderful opportunity-

I repeat, "a wonderful opportunity".

-a wonderful opportunity that, as the Economist magazine states again this week, any country in the world would leap at.

John, you and your Party have my support and my vote for this election.

And it is signed "Peter O. Montgomery".

Hear, hear!

December 23, 1988

Mr. McDermid:

I met with that type of thing time and time again as I travelled across this country of ours. People are prepared to take the opportunity, to grab the challenge, to get involved in the changes that are going on. They are not interested in being protected.

We know the opposition Parties want the industrial sector to be subservient to Government. That is their raison d'etre. It is for that reason that they want to keep them in a little cocoon, only letting them out the odd time. When things go wrong, they should be running to Government to be propped up and to be coddled. The opposition Parties like that. They love to be able to pull the strings.

This Party doesn't like that philosophy. We want to see the entrepreneur, the creator free to meet the challenges that are presented by the 21st century. The Free Trade Agreement speaks to that change.

The Hon. Member for Parry Sound-Muskoka (Mr. Darling) delivered a very eloquent speech in the House the other day, a speech in which he talked about the changes taking place in his riding, where Domtar has an expansion coming on which will create 130 more jobs- and that in a part of Ontario that is well north of the Golden Horseshoe area.

Even our friend Frank Stronach is expanding his operations. Does anyone remember Frank Stronach?