Minister of International Trade

Fast was re-elected in the 2011 federal election with 32,493 votes, representing 65% of the popular vote. On May 18, 2011, Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Ed Fast to Cabinet to serve as Canada's Minister of International Trade.^[7]

Fast oversaw the negotiations for the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union,^[8] which some saw as a giveaway to big pharma.^[9] As part of the newly-elected Liberal government in 2015, Fast's immediate successor Chrystia Freeland one year later finalized the negotiations which had been ongoing since 2009.^[10]

Fast was also responsible for the Canada-China Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments Agreement, which was signed in 2012 and came into force on 1 October 2014.^[11] This agreement ties Canada "to the terms... for a minimum of 31 years."^[12]

On 3 December 2014 Fast announced that the Canada–Korea Free Trade Agreement (CKFTA), Canada's first free trade agreement in the Asia–Pacific region, had received royal assent.^[13]

In November 2013, Fast announced the Government of Canada's Global Markets Action Plan, a plan focusing on "Canada's core strengths in priority markets through bold trade policy and vigorous trade promotion".^[7][14] He also released Canada's first International Education Strategy, a part of the Global Markets Action Plan, in order to attract international talent.^[15] The CBIE termed it an "ambitious strategy, with a goal to double the number of international students choosing to study here (in Canada) by 2022."^[16]

On 9 April 2014, rising on a point of order, New Democratic Party MP Dan Harris accused Fast of making a gun gesture and saying "boom" in the direction of another New Democrat, Niki Ashton, during Question Period.^[17] Fast denied the claim and asserted that he was pointing in the direction of Andrew Scheer, the Speaker of the House of Commons.^[18] Video from the House of Commons shows Fast making a pointing gesture.^[19] After the video circulated, Minister Fast acknowledged that he had made a pointing gesture with his hand, but said that his hand gesture was misinterpreted.^[20]

Abortion

Ed Fast is anti-abortion. Fast voted in support of Bill C-233 - An Act to amend the Criminal Code (sex-selective abortion), which would restrict abortion access, making it a criminal offence for a medical practitioner to perform an abortion sought solely on the grounds of the child's genetic sex.^[21] Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada describes him as an anti-abortion Member of Parliament.^[22]

Conversion therapy

On June 22, 2021, Fast was one of 63 MPs to vote against Bill C-6, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (conversion therapy), which was passed by majority vote, making certain aspects of conversion therapy a crime, including "causing a child to undergo conversion therapy."^{[clarification needed][23]}

42nd Canadian Parliament

Following the Harper government's defeat in 2015, Fast served in the shadow cabinets of Rona Ambrose and Andrew Scheer as the critic to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

43rd Canadian Parliament

After being re-elected in 2019, Fast declined reappointment to Scheer's shadow cabinet. Scheer was later removed from leadership and replaced by Erin O'Toole, who on 11 February 2021 appointed Fast as his Finance critic. He replaced Pierre Poilievre who became critic for Jobs and Industry.^[24]

44th Canadian Parliament

Fast was for a brief time a member of the Industry and Technology committee, before he was appointed on 28 February 2022 by new interim CPC leader Candice Bergen to the Finance committee.^[25] He resigned as Shadow Finance Minister after criticizing Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre's plan to fire Bank of Canada director Tiff Macklem, if elected.^[26]