Banff-Airdrie MP Blake Richards and his party are asking the Liberal Government to recall parliament for a summer emergency session to get the Comprehensive and Progress Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) ratified and open up world markets to Canadian business.  

Richards says with the NAFTA agreement in serious jeopardy ratifying CPTPP should be a no-brainer but, so far, the government is ignoring calls by the Conservatives for an emergency recall of parliament.

"It just doesn't make any sense to me," says Richards.  "They've indicated that they believe this is important as well and if that's not just talk, if they actually want to back that up with action, we've given them the opportunity to do that.  We've said, 'let's call back the House of Commons, let's get this done.'  There's really no reason why you wouldn't want to try to make sure you're one of the first to be part of this deal.  It gives all kinds of great opportunities for diversification for our businesses.  Other than they see it as just being a Conservative idea so they're opposed to it for that reason is the only possible reason I can come up with."  

Richards says it's crucial for Canada to be one of the first six signatories on the agreement, and he explained why.

"As soon as there's six countries that have signed on for this agreement it comes into force.  It's pretty critical to be amongst those first six countries because obviously, the first six will have a distinct advantage in being a part of it when it first comes in.  There seems to be agreement from the current government that they see that as a necessity as well.  They did bring forth legislation to try to do that but didn't seem to make much effort to try to get it passed prior to the House of Commons rising for the summer, so we've demanded that the House be called back for a special emergency session to make sure we're one of these first six."

Richards says the Conservatives are ready to return ot Ottawa at the drop of a hat to debate and ratify the trade agreement.  He says that every constituency in the country will be negatively affected if it's not and says that many companies in communities in the Banff-Airdrie constituency are hurting from the trade conflict with the U.S.

On in every five Canadian jobs relies on international trade and the CPTPP has the potential to boost Canadian income by $20 billion over the next five years.  Richards believes waiting for the fall to ratify the agreement is too risky, saying the Canadian economy has already been impacted by American tariffs and by retaliatory tariffs imposed by Canada on U.S. products. 

To date, Mexico, Japan and Singapore have ratified the CPTPP.  Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Vietnam, and Canada are the other countries involved.  Those eleven countries make up 13.4 percent of the global gross domestic product which makes the CPTPP one of the largest trade agreements after NAFTA.  

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