International Trade Committee on Jan. 30th, 2014

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Very good. Thank you very much.

Mr. Holder, the floor is yours.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank our guests very much for attending this morning. Your testimony has been very helpful to us, with your very candid sense of CETA.

I need to pay tribute, if I might, to the negotiators from Canada and the EU in terms of how they have so professionally done this, particularly to Steve Verheul from Canada, and of course the EU negotiating team. I ask that you pass on our very kind regards and appreciation for all of their efforts.

I was struck, Madam Ambassador, by your very candid testimony. One of the questions I have is this. When I heard you talk about the EU as the world's largest economy.... And of course we know the gross domestic product is some $17 trillion, and the population is some 500 million. We accept that. A question that my constituents and constituent groups have asked us is, what is this big interest this massive economy has in dealing with Canada, with a population of some 34 million? That's not quite as big as the EU, but bragging rights nonetheless. I wonder if we could ask for your view on why the EU has had such a great interest in Canada, please.

[H.E. Marie-Anne Coninsx]

I certainly will pass on your appreciation to our negotiating team.

I must say that Canada is an important trade partner for the European Union. Trade is now very considerably.... As I said, Canada is the twelfth trading partner of the European Union and the fourth investor in the European Union. It is a major partner. But all its potential has not been used. With CETA, much more potential will be used. So I think it will boost trade and employment.

Also, there are a number of sectors that will play a bigger role in the future. The energy sector, for example, is one of the sectors where Canada is in a boom, and that will present new opportunities for European players.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

We've heard testimony from various groups with different perspectives. Most recently in our last meeting, we had a representative of The Council of Canadians, a social justice group, who spoke about the CETA deal.

I'm going to quote part of that from the blues, which is our recording of testimony. The gentleman said, “...on the extent and scope of the deal I don't think it's actually as big a deal as we've been told.” Then he went on to say, “...we're not looking at a massive boost to trade here from this deal....”

It's not fair to ask you to comment on someone else's testimony, but do you have an opinion on that kind of statement? So I guess I am asking you.

[H.E. Marie-Anne Coninsx]

I'm honestly convinced it will boost trade, for the reasons I've given. But it is an opportunity that will have to be seized by the business people themselves. As I said, the trade agreement itself will not boost trade. It will need the intervention of the companies and the business people.

In my short stay I also have been in constant contact with business people, mainly Canadians, or with the European Chamber of Commerce. They are all extremely positive about it. I have not heard one negative voice about it or from one sector that might be concerned about it. All the reactions I heard—and I think people are frank with me—were very positive.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

You seemed very confident in your prior comments that the European Council would ratify this deal.

We hear of the Euro-skeptics in your part of the world as they relate to the upcoming elections in various countries there. To what extent, if any, do you think the Euro-skeptic parties will impact or compromise the final negotiations with CETA?

[H.E. Marie-Anne Coninsx]

They will have none, no impact. We will deal with our skeptics.

The Euro-skeptics are more skeptical about some internal issues within the European Union, but I would say they are seldom skeptical about external trade relations. Trade is the motor of an economy of growth of employment, so they would be shooting themselves in the foot if they were against it.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

You made reference to—

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Your time has gone.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

I'm going to use the chair's prerogative to ask a couple of quick questions.

You have said as part of your testimony that the EU has 80 different trade agreements internationally and that the United States has only 20.

[H.E. Marie-Anne Coninsx]

No, I mean we are the first trading partner for 80 countries worldwide.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Okay, very good.

This, you said in your testimony earlier, is the most comprehensive of any of the trade agreements that Europe has signed, and we can say the same from Canada's side. In fact I think it's the most comprehensive trade agreement ever signed in the world. I think we should compliment each other on that.

You are into negotiations with the United States at the present time. Is your intent to sign as comprehensive an agreement with the United States as the one you've signed with Canada?

[H.E. Marie-Anne Coninsx]

What we will be signing or what we are hoping to achieve with the U.S. is also a very comprehensive agreement. It's a trade and investment agreement. It will be different. It will not be identical, but I think it will also be a very ambitious agreement.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

But it will not be as comprehensive?

[H.E. Marie-Anne Coninsx]

It's very difficult, because the negotiations with the U.S. only started not so long ago.

But the intention is to be ambitious. I am not expert enough to compare how far-reaching it will be, but at this moment this is the most comprehensive and ambitious agreement that the European Union will ever have concluded.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

I have just another comment, because it's raw on Canadians' minds, particularly in the agricultural field when trade agreements.... Non-tariff barriers are always the most difficult, and we're seeing that in the country-of-origin labelling between Canada and the United States at the present time. We were hoping to get an amendment in a farm bill, and we didn't do that.

Is that something you are watching closely from Europe—how America is dealing with non-tariff barriers?

[H.E. Marie-Anne Coninsx]

Well, the agriculture sector is very important. The agricultural policy route of the European Union is, for example, an exclusive competence. It is always an important sector in any country worldwide. It's always a very sensitive sector also, and therefore I don't want to minimize the reaction of some of the sectors in Canada—dairy, for example—that have expressed concerns. But I would really like to say to them, in any case, that I don't think they have to be so concerned, because CETA will also be an opportunity for them.

But yes, agriculture is a sector, like other sectors, that we follow closely.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

I'm sure you are following it closely.

Our time is very close to being done.

I'll allow one really quick question, for 30 seconds, if you like, Mr. Davies, and then I'll allow one to Mr. Hoback.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I think what my colleague was getting at, in terms of the GMO issue, is that CETA has removed a substantial amount of the tariffs—in fact, most of the tariffs—on grain, which is good for Canada. But I understand that non-tariff barriers, like prohibiting trace GMOs in grain shipments, have resulted in Europeans rejecting Canadian grain shipments. So if we have access and no tariffs and we send our grain shipments to Europe, but because of the GMO rules they are interfered with, in order for us to get the benefits of CETA, there has to be some progress on that.

I wonder if you can update us on where Europe and Canada stand in relation to negotiating on the trace GMOs.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Be very quick.

[H.E. Marie-Anne Coninsx]

I just want to repeat first of all, that CETA has nothing to do with GMOs. Second, GMOs are not a non-tariff barrier.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Very good.

Mr. Hoback.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

You talked about the process for technical negotiations. I'm curious as to what that process is going to look like and how it's going to unfold.

[H.E. Marie-Anne Coninsx]

Could you repeat the question? Sorry.