When I first met the late great Canadian economist, Harry Johnson, he was at a party, railing about how Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP) were opposed to moving toward free trade. He said something like,
How can a party that SAYS it supports the little guy promote policies that do little more than protect small inefficient businesses in Ontario and keep prices higher for all the little people in the country?
The NDP is still at it. From the NatPost,
“You have no mandate to make concessions that could put thousands of well-paid Canadian jobs and the communities that depend on them in peril,” Mulcair wrote to International Trade Minister Ed Fast. “These changes will impact millions of Canadians every day. Your Conservative government has not consulted Canadians on any of them, and you have no mandate to trade them away.”
Keep in mind that freer trade leads to lower prices and gains for all consumers in Canada. If you care about the poor in Canada and if you care about the poor in Asia who will likely be able to earn more as we move toward freer trade, it is hard to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (trade treaty).
Protection from competition is sold as something that protects jobs, but those jobs that are protected don't last long. And the protection is really for businesses that are comparatively less efficient and not very competitive.