Following Sunday's conclusion of the trade agreement negotiations between Canada, Mexico and the United States, Portage Lisgar MP Candice Bergen says Canada came out short in the deal.

"Taking a look at the fine print, it looks like the government has given a lot of concessions to Trump and to the Americans, but it doesn't look like we've gotten a lot in return," says Bergen. "We wanted to see a trade agreement reached with the U.S. When we negotiated trade agreements as Conservatives, we always increased access to other markets."

Bergen explains, in this case, it looks like we've given, whether it's been in dairy or pharmaceuticals (Canadians are going to be paying more for their pharmacare as a result), we've given a lot on steel and aluminum and on softwood, and we've got nothing. We were hoping we might hear that the Buy America provision was eliminated. We didn't get that. She notes it's concerning to see how Trudeau put us in a position of weakness that forced us to give so much, and get nothing in return.

"Dairy was a big issue," says Bergen. "You will recall the Conservatives were able to negotiate a number of agreements whereby we could protect the pillars of supply management, and also gain access to markets. So, whether it was CETA, which our government negotiated, or TPP which always a trade agreement that our government negotiated, we gave but we got."

She says in this case, it looks like Trudeau gave in to a lot of Trump's demands and deadlines, and yet he got nothing for us. Bergen says it was apparent this was building up. She says she looks back at when he started negotiations with politically correct issues, instead of leading on fiscal policy and what Canadians needed in terms of our economy. Bergen notes that made it clear that the writing was on the wall indicating the fact that Trudeau was inexperienced in negotiations. She acknowledges we knew whom he was dealing with, but he certainly wasn't in the position to get Canada what we needed, regardless.

Bergen says the recent roundtable discussion that took place in Portage la Prairie gave the clear message that we wanted a deal with the U.S., and wanted to encourage the government to come from a position of strength to create a stronger economic policy here in Canada. She adds after all of this uncertainty, all the headaches for businesses caused by all of this showed that we only walked away with a bit of what we had and nothing new.