Mr. Brian Masse (Windsor West, NDP): Mr. Speaker, Canadians are gathering outside today’s trade committee meetings in Vancouver, calling for the government to reject the TPP and they are not alone. Industry leaders from manufacturing and high tech have warned that this deal would be bad for Canadian businesses; and Nobel laureate, Joseph Stiglitz, called it the worst trade deal ever. The TPP would cost us 60,000 jobs and increase growing inequality.

The Liberals are barrelling ahead with this job-killing trade deal. Why is the minister finishing the bad work of the Conservatives?

Mr. David Lametti (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, the TPP was negotiated in secret by the previous government. The member’s party rejected it, without even having read it. We said we would consult. We are looking at every corner of the agreement. There are those, as the hon. member has cited, who are against it but there are many others who are for it and cite various positives for the Canadian economy. We plan to study it, put it before Parliament, and therefore put it before the Canadian people.