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The Conservative Party of Canada should be the party of free trade in the modern age. Whether in its current non-hyphenated form or, as it was once known, by the oxymoron “Progressive Conservative,” this is the party that pushed through a free-trade agreement with the United States at great political peril in 1988, when then-prime minister Brian Mulroney gambled his political future on the issue while his Liberal opponents accused him of selling out Canada.

The Liberals, of course, came not only to accept free trade but to love it as well, and to see it as not just an economic fact of life but one that created jobs and prosperity.

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So, what exactly gives with the performance this week of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition in the House of Commons over the tentative ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA)?

I watched the antics and questions of the Tory critics with a curious mixture of mirth and outrage. Please don’t misunderstand me; Canada secured a deal in spite of the often erratic Keystone-cops performance of Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland. While Trudeau continued to blather about climate change, Freeland recklessly participated in a Toronto event that equated U.S. President Donald Trump to global dictators. Not a pretty sight.