Speaking to Bill 36 - Free Trade and Mobility within Canada Act.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: There's lots to respond to. We support Bill No. 36. We think interprovincial trade is important and a good idea. I look forward to the Premier hearing all the good ideas we have to share. He always says that he's ready to take them. We did ask for the Premier in Estimates. We asked for the Premier in Estimates because when we ask ministers of this House about the work that has gone on to form our tariff response, we are given the answer, time and time again, that it's being run through Intergovernmental Affairs and the Premier's Office, so we thought we would ask the Premier.

We were told - and I am responding to the Premier's comments - that the Premier will come tonight if we can expedite Bill No. 12. If we can send Bill No. 12 to committee, you can talk to the Premier. Bill No. 12 is an important bill that is before this House, and we have spent a long time talking about how much we get to bring the concerns of our constituents onto this floor. We did not want to start a precedent tonight of gambling away the voices of our constituents in order to have the honour of asking the Premier a few questions that he might actually answer, but it turns out it's fine because he's not going to answer our questions. He is going to cast aspersions. He is going to say we're not listening. He is going to say we're not with him, we're against him. He is going to say we're divisive. That's fine. That is the Premier's prerogative, if that's what he wants to say, but I think that Nova Scotians deserve the truth.

The Premier likes to say that we don't need task forces. We don't need committees. We should just go fast and break things. That's what they do in the tech world. We actually think that it should be - the job description of a leader is to be able to walk and chew gum, to be able to engage with people and take action in an expedited fashion.

With every bill in this House, including this one, Bill No. 36, interprovincial trade, I think there are amendments coming. Why? Because the conversations - a phone call would suffice - that had to happen in order to get this bill on the order paper didn't happen. So it has to be amended, just like all the other pieces of legislation that this government brings. Yes, the amendment happens. Yes, they love to take credit for that, but they don't deserve credit, Speaker. They should do their homework.

We elect a government, particularly a government with 43 members, all of whom have a ministerial portfolio. With 43 members, this government cannot bring a clean bill to this House. Is that worthy of applause? (Interruption)

Yes, this government is getting national recognition. There are headlines in every national news outlet talking about the assault on democracy by this government. The Globe and Mail, The Vassy Kapelos Show, CTV, Power and Politics - every single one of them has featured Bill No. 1 - Bill No. 1, which I have to say the members were curiously silent on last night. I didn't hear the (miming applause). I didn't hear it. I'm so sorry if the member wants me to be called out of order because I'm not cheering and banging my desk at the appropriate time . . .

THE SPEAKER « » : Order. Stop it. Order.

The honourable member for Halifax Atlantic.

HON. BRENDAN MAGUIRE: Point of order, Speaker. The member has no clue what I'm saying, and this continuous assumption and attack of people's character has to stop. (Interruptions)

THE SPEAKER « » : Order. The Leader of the Official Opposition is wrong in what the member for Halifax Atlantic was saying. This member was asking me a question. I ask you to retract that.

The honourable Leader of the Official Opposition.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: I retract that, Speaker.

We've sat in this Chamber, and I have listened to the Premier in scrums constantly get up and say, You're with us or against us. You're stretching a problem or you're fixing it. You're a special interest or you're not. You're a Nova Scotian or you're not on the bus. That is not unity. That is not bringing people together.

If we want to get into a fight about who is bringing people together, we can have that. I'm sure we all have different views on that. At the end of the day, we are in this fight together. We are Nova Scotians. It is our job to ask questions of the government and their policies to make sure that they are in the best interests of all Nova Scotians. That is what we do. To be insulted about that, to be told that somehow we are creating division by asking the questions our constituents ask us to bring into this Chamber makes it very difficult to do the job. There were hundreds of people outside today because they don't feel like their voices are being heard. We cannot have a government for some Nova Scotians. We have to have a government for all Nova Scotians.

THE SPEAKER « » : Order. I have been timing the last speaker, timing this speaker, because you have to give a little bit of leeway, which is what I did and what I'm doing for you. You have to bring it back to the bill, which is the Free Trade and Mobility within Canada Act. The honourable member has only brought that bill number up - you've got to get back on it. Tie it in.

The honourable Leader of the Official Opposition.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: The Premier says that this bill is about unity, and we agree. As I said earlier when I was speaking on the bill, we suspect it might be amended and that is because there are issues around the labour mobility provisions in the bill.

The bill is a good idea. We are glad to see the bill coming forward. We do need to lower interprovincial trade barriers, but in the FMA today, we see a provision that is going to penalize Canadians who want to buy real estate in this province - 10 per cent. I think we need consistency on this front. I think if we want to be Team Canada, if we want to be one country, we have to do it, and we have to do it thoughtfully. I think we also have to acknowledge that the reason that interprovincial trade barriers have been around for so long and are so stubborn and so difficult to remove is that when they come down, the devil is in the details.

I appreciate this government's push to bring this bill forward. I think it's important and I think there's going to be a lot to unpack. I think there are going to be a lot of challenges. I think there are going to be a lot of industries that - I'm glad Ontario is now our best friend, I guess. This is a new thing, but Ontario can eat us up whole. Ontario's agriculture sector is much bigger than ours. Ontario's wine sector is much bigger than ours. We've had that debate on the floor of this House. These will be issues.

We welcome interprovincial trade, and we will be asking questions about how it impacts Nova Scotian businesses, because those are important questions to ask. We need a culture of curiosity and questioning in this House, and we need speed, and we need to act. There is no doubt, but we need to go forward together. I think it's very challenging when we ask a question or suggest engagement that the response is: Oh, another committee. Oh, another engagement. Guess what? Other provinces are engaging with their sectors, and you know what they're doing? Quebec actually has a financial release package for their businesses that they're already rolling out. Manitoba has rolled out tax relief for their businesses already, a response to tariffs. We're still giving the EV rebate, as far as I understand, to Tesla. That's ridiculous. Why are we doing that?

Yes, we have started to act, but there's a lot further to go and we will continue to suggest those steps. We will continue to ask questions, and there will continue to be questions on interprovincial trade.

Originally, we were asked to expedite this bill - speed, speed, speed. I appreciate that this bill requires mirror legislation to be enacted in other provinces, but there isn't mirror legislation on the floor in any legislature in the country right now. If it passes this week or if it passes next week, it's not actually going to make any difference on it coming into force, because it needs a mirror piece of legislation to come into force.

I think I heard a member across the way say it sends a message. The Premier sent that message when he went on Ontario television and spoke to the Ontario press corps about this bill last week. Unfortunately, we were late to the party - we didn't get to hear that announcement here - but the message has been sent. The bill will be passed, and we need to make sure it's the right bill. That doesn't have to take weeks or months - God knows we're never here that long - but it might take a couple of days to make sure that we've talked to the right people. That's okay.

If I had warning that this bill was coming or that we were discussing it, I think we'd have a lot more to say. As I mentioned, I will flag that there are some labour mobility provisions that I understand will be amended when the bill goes through future stages in this Legislature. I suspect we will support those if they're sensible.

Again, we're not going to curtail debate on Bill No. 12 to give the Premier the opportunity to give the speech he just made. He found his own opening. That's great, but on Bill No. 36 - it's a good idea. We support it. We definitely look forward to hearing presentations at Public Bills. Too bad we can't see an amendment there, but maybe we'll see an amendment in the Committee of the Whole House on Bills.

At the end of the day, I want to be very clear that we are all concerned about these tariffs. We are all concerned about our economic future. We are all concerned about the businesses, the sectors, the communities, the workers who stand to be impacted. We ask the questions we ask, and we bring the voices we bring into this Chamber to make our response better, to make our bills better, and to make our province better.