International Trade committee  It's an expansion of what's under the NAFTA—

International Trade committee  Right. This is an expansion under what currently exists under NAFTA. These occupations aren't included under NAFTA. Third, the share of migrant work has already doubled, both in terms of access to the temporary foreign worker program and under the labour mobility provisions in free trade agreements.

International Trade committee  The appeal that was made and then rescinded by the international union in Pittsburgh is really a result of domestic policy in the United States. If it's in the United States, they can look at various import levels for certain goods and the trends of those import levels and can make a case that free trade in those goods is impacting American workers in a negative way.

International Trade committee  Actually, the discussion happened internally within the union, so if anything it demonstrated the capacity of our union for democratic decision-making. When our members in Quebec wrote to Leo Gerard, our president, and said this would have an impact on them as well, not China, we then pulled it back.

International Trade committee  In principle, reciprocity exists with some of the countries that we've signed on with in article 12.1(a), I think it is. One question I think we should ask is, why did the U.S. not participate in the discussions around labour mobility? There are probably a lot of reasons that come to mind.

International Trade committee  First, I would say that I don't think necessarily that CETA is a deal that we can support. It's just closer to being a deal that we could support. I should clarify that. In terms of the TPP, the big thing that needs to go is the investor-state dispute settlement provisions. These are horrible in terms of the limits that they place on our ability to regulate the environment.

International Trade committee  Before answering that question, I would say that there will be a direct impact from the TPP. There will also be a secondary impact, as a derivative of the impact that the steel will have on the auto sector, from the tariff reductions in the auto sector. The Canadian Steel Producers Association has joined with their American and Mexican counterparts to release a statement to that effect.

International Trade committee  It would affect us in the negative sense, in that we don't see anything in this deal that would resolve these issues. I know Brother Jerry Dias from Unifor and the representative from Ford Canada had come to speak about the impact that currency manipulation by Japan is having on the auto parts sector.

International Trade committee  First, we'd like to see the elimination of the ISDS provision. We'd like to see the ILO standards on labour rights enshrined in the agreement rather than having a mere reference to them. We'd also like to see a thorough review of the merits and effectiveness of investor and labour provisions within five years of ratification of CETA.

International Trade committee  I think in general what we're hearing from our members is that several decades of trade agreements have only exacerbated any quality and wiped out large swaths of the manufacturing sector, including the steel industry. They just do not see the benefits of the global trade regime as it currently stands.

International Trade committee  I'm certain we've done surveys over the years for sure, so I can forward that.

International Trade committee  I think one that was beginning to come close, but now I'm doubtful is.... One we were hopeful about is CETA. CETA looked like it could become the gold standard for trade agreements going forward. There are quite a few things we would like to see changed in CETA.

International Trade committee  First, I'd like to thank this committee for holding these hearings today on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and for inviting us to speak. The USW is the largest industrial union in North America, representing more than 250,000 active and retired members in Canada. Our members proudly work in virtually every tradeable sector, from mining and metals, glass and rubber, paper and forestry, automotive and aerospace to countless other areas, including services, universities, health care, and security.