In the second episode of The CANZUK Podcast, CANZUK International speaks with Tracy Gray MP to discuss how Canadian businesses, pensioners, workers and students can benefit from an upcoming CANZUK deal with Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Written by James Skinner
Gray, who is the Member of Parliament for Kelowna-Lake Country in British Columbia, also serves as the Vice-Chair for the Standing Committee on International Trade in Ottawa.
When asked about CANZUK as a bloc of like-minded nations that could provide future trading opportunities, Gray responded:
“The thing with a CANZUK relationship is that it goes beyond trade…this is more about like-minded countries coming together that have common values, common law, similar goals to work together.
“These are countries that we have a lot of alignment with, and we can work with on similar objectives. Whether it’s movement of people, or us working together on international matters.”
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Grey was also asked by podcast host, Mathieu Lavault, about the 128,000 UK pensioners living in Canada with frozen pensions, and how a CANZUK agreement could provide legislative changes for pension indexing:
“It’s inequitable, it’s not fair,” said Gray. “It is, ultimately, a decision that the UK government has to make…but I think it is definitely on everyone’s radar, and it’s good that everyone’s opening up the conversation and trying to find ways for it to work.”
Gray also emphasized the benefits of CANZUK in ensuring opportunity and economic growth for Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom following the COVID-19 pandemic:
“As things start opening up and we’re looking at where people want to travel to, where they want to work, where they want to go to school, this is another way of looking at an opportunity,” she said. “We can be around like-minded countries where we can come together and have some commonality in a whole number of ways; whether it’s people mobility, trade…and also from a safety perspective.”
The full podcast can be listened to via the above video.
CANZUK International will continue to work with MPs across Canada and ensure that reciprocal migration and trade with Australia, New Zealand and the UK is a priority initiative for Canada’s foreign policy.
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