Bill C-24 (Historical)

Canada–Panama Economic Growth and Prosperity Act

An Act to implement the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the Republic of Panama, the Agreement on the Environment between Canada and the Republic of Panama and the Agreement on Labour Cooperation between Canada and the Republic of Panama

This enactment implements the Free Trade Agreement and the related agreements on the environment and labour cooperation entered into between Canada and the Republic of Panama and done at Ottawa on May 13 and 14, 2010.
The general provisions of the enactment specify that no recourse may be taken on the basis of the provisions of Part 1 of the enactment or any order made under that Part, or the provisions of the Free Trade Agreement or the related agreements themselves, without the consent of the Attorney General of Canada.
Part 1 of the enactment approves the Free Trade Agreement and the related agreements and provides for the payment by Canada of its share of the expenditures associated with the operation of the institutional aspects of the agreements and the power of the Governor in Council to make orders for carrying out the provisions of the enactment.
Part 2 of the enactment amends existing laws in order to bring them into conformity with Canada’s obligations under the Free Trade Agreement and the related agreement on labour cooperation.
Part 3 of the enactment contains coordinating amendments and the coming into force provision.

Canada-Panama Economic Growth and Prosperity Act

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it has been clear from the start that the Conservatives were not interested in any amendments that were being put forward. A Conservative member asked a while ago why the government should wait and try to make sure this is a really perfect agreement because it wants to move on. That is exactly right. Canadians do deserve better. They deserve agreements we can live by; they deserve agreements that can be respected, as labour laws should be respected.

With all our riches, Canada should be in the driver's seat and negotiating deals that would protect critical public resources and services. We should be helping make Canadian firms global leaders in the world economy.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party supports the importance of labour laws, the importance of environmental laws and the importance of human rights, but we also recognize the importance of freer trade among other nations. Where we can enter into free trade agreements where both countries, in particular Canada, can benefit, the question is then why not. They would enhance the economic opportunities of all Canadians, if we decide to move forward.

I do appreciate the member's comments because they are the closest to the late Jack Layton's comments. She implied that we cannot have a free trade agreement with another country if that country's environmental laws are not equal to Canadian environmental laws, if labour laws abroad are not equal to Canadian labour laws.

Could my colleague expand on why she believes there should be equality between Canadian laws and the laws in other countries before an agreement can be achieved?

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Mr. Speaker, let us not forget that the Conservatives have never seen a trade agreement they did not like. The fact of the matter is that we need to make sure that, when we do trade agreements, they are of net benefit to Canadians. We also have to look at the labour rights and human rights of workers in those other countries. For example, we do not allow the use of asbestos here in Canada, yet we send it elsewhere for those workers to use without the proper safety net in place. We have to look at that.

New Democrats are pro-trade, but we believe in the superiority of multilateral trade agreements. We believe in agreements that are fair.

[Raymond Côté, NDP, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for her excellent speech.

I asked a member across the way a question about something that is particularly troubling when it comes to Panama. Pursuant to legislative measures taken by the Republic of Panama, the police is immune to prosecution. Accordingly, labour laws, among other things, can be violated with impunity.

I would like my colleague from Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing to say a few words about that.

[The Deputy Speaker]

The hon. member for Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing has 40 seconds to reply to the question.

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Mr. Speaker, 40 seconds is not much time.

However, in my speech I talked about how we must ensure the well-being of workers, especially when we enter into agreements such as this. We are not against free trade agreements. However, we must ensure that the rights of people, and human rights such as labour rights, are respected.

[The Deputy Speaker]

I would like to inform the House that speeches will now be 10 minutes, followed by five minutes for questions and comments.

[Ryan Leef, Conservative, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Speaker, it is certainly a pleasure to rise in the House today to talk about the Canada-Panama free trade agreement.

I am sure we have heard some great speeches today, particularly from my colleagues. I do not imagine I will speak as eloquently or as passionately as did our member for London West earlier today, but I heard his talk and it was exceptional. My colleague from Mississauga—Erindale did a fantastic job of addressing this issue, as did our great member for Okanagan—Coquihalla. I have a tough role to follow.

We have been debating the key elements of this trade agreement and the discussions around it for nearly 60 hours. We are certainly aware that Canada is a significant trading partner with Panama.

I was amazed to hear, throughout the speeches and debates today, how significant that total is. We did over $235 million in trade with Panama in 2011 alone. That is significant for a country of that size.

Canada's prosperity is directly linked to reaching out beyond our borders for economic opportunities that serve to grow Canada's trade and investment. This is another excellent example of how we are doing that.

Panama is an established market for Canadian exports and holds significant potential for Canadian businesses.

We have also heard about the tremendous opportunities that exist in Panama with respect to government procurement. In addition to the ongoing $5.3 billion that is to be spent on the Panama Canal expansion project, the government of Panama has numerous infrastructure projects, either under consideration or already in progress, to build or improve ports, roads, hospitals, social housing projects, bridges and airports. These projects are part of a $13.6 billion Panamanian government strategic investment plan for the years 2010 to 2014.

A country like Canada with so much expertise could certainly take advantage of these significant opportunities in Panama. Panama is also a strategic destination for Canadian investment, with the stock of Canadian investment in Panama reaching over $121 million in 2010.

Looking beyond investment, government procurement and market access for goods, this agreement is a comprehensive free trade agreement with obligations that extend well beyond these subjects to include other areas of importance to Canadian business.

The free trade agreement provides detailed obligations in areas such as financial services, temporary entry of business persons, electronic commerce, telecommunications and competition, monopolies and state enterprises.

The Canadian banking system is consistently recognized among the best in the world, and today the World Economic Forum has ranked Canada's banking system as the most sound in the world four years in a row. This is an area where Canada is truly excelling. The Canadian financial service sector is a leader in providing high quality and reliable financial services.

Across the Americas, Canadian banks are helping foster economic growth through access to credit and other financial services. In Panama specifically, Canadian financial institutions such as Scotiabank have an active presence and are offering a wide variety of banking services. This agreement will help those Canadian financial institutions take advantage of those opportunities that exist in Panama.

On financial services, this agreement provides market access parity with what Panama was offered to the U.S. through the trade promotion agreement and contains a robust prudential carve-out. This agreement substantially lists obligations for the financial service sector, including banking, insurance and securities.

These market access commitments are complemented by key obligations that ensure non-discrimination, provide a right of establishment for financial institutions and promote regulatory transparency in the financial sector. These are key elements that the Canadian financial service sector is seeking in order to ensure it is able to compete in an increasingly competitive global market. Our Conservative government is now responding to this demand.

Another important area included in this trade agreement is to ensure businesses are able to fully maximize the opportunities in Panama in temporary entry for business persons. This is an important issue for Canadian businesses to ensure their employees are able to work in Panama, and it is a natural complement to market access for goods, services and investment.

In recognition of the significant number of Canadian companies operating in the region, the agreement removes unnecessary barriers impairing the ability of companies to bring in the skilled workers they require. These would include impediments such as the requirement for labour certification tests, quotas, proportionality requirements and any other prior approval procedure. The agreement extends to an extensive list of professionals, including various technicians and provisions for spousal employment.

The strength of this free trade agreement does not stop there. It also extends to the areas of electronic commerce and telecommunications. Electronic commerce is an important addition to the previous free trade agreements in light of the importance of ensuring that new digital economy issues, such as protection of personal information, consumer protection and paperless trade, are not overlooked. These issues are increasingly important to business in the 21st century, and Canada and Panama have recognized this importance.

In the free trade agreement with Canada, Panama has agreed to a permanent moratorium on customs duties for products delivered electronically. This includes items such as electronic surveillance software, music purchased online and digital books. The moratorium is important not only for business but for consumers as well.

In addition to electronic commerce, telecommunications provisions were also included to support the competitive development of the telecommunications sector. Through this free trade agreement, Canadian telecommunications service providers will be able to better compete with their American counterparts in the Panamanian market.

Clearly, there are many benefits to this free trade agreement with Panama that go beyond trade in goods and investment. The agreement on the environment commits both countries to pursue high levels of environmental protection, to improve and enforce their environmental laws effectively, to maintain appropriate environmental assessment procedures and to ensure they do not relax their environmental laws to encourage trade or investment.

The agreement on the environment also includes provisions on encouraging the use of voluntary best practices of corporate social responsibility and a commitment to promote public awareness of the parties' environmental laws. The agreement reaffirms the countries' international commitments under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity to promote the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and to respect, preserve and maintain traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities.

In addition, the agreement on the environment provides for co-operative activities between Canada and Panama aimed at achieving the environmental objectives and obligations of this agreement.

The final area I would like to touch on is the obligation of the free trade agreement related to competition, monopolies and state enterprises.

This agreement meets Canada's objective of assuring that anti-competitive business practices and the actions of monopolies or state enterprises do not undermine the benefits of trade and investment liberalization achieved in this agreement. Canada and Panama will co-operate on issues related to competition policy through their respective authorities. The obligations ensure that Canadian companies doing business in Panama are treated fairly.

There are many other areas of the agreement, which will offer real commercial benefits to Canadian companies.

Overall, this is a high-quality and comprehensive trade agreement. It will allow Canadian businesses to compete and excel in the Panamanian market, where many key exporters are seeing enormous potential. According to a report published by the CAPA Centre for Aviation, Panama is the fastest growing economy in all of Latin America and it is expected to be the fastest growing economy in Latin America for the next five years.

Panama's real gross domestic growth for 2011 is estimated at 10.6%, which is faster growth than that of many of the other rapidly emerging economies. It clearly illustrates that the commercial potential in Panama is significant.

I see my time is coming to an end, so I will just say that this free trade agreement has the support of key exporters and investors across Canada and its passage through the House would ensure that Canadian businesses are able to take advantage of opportunities in that market. I urge all members of the House to consider their support of it.

[Robert Chisholm, NDP, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, we have talked on this side at some length about our concerns regarding transparency of tax matters, the fact that international concerns have been raised about Panama's status as a tax haven. The Conservatives said that the OECD took Panama off the grey list and that removes all concerns. However, the member will undoubtedly recognize the fact that the OECD still has very significant reservations and other countries, including the U.S., would not sign onto an agreement with Panama until an agreement on tax information exchange was completed.

Does the member agree that we should ensure that the agreement on tax information exchange is made available before we sign on to this agreement?

[Ryan Leef, Conservative, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague rightly pointed out, the U.S. has now signed an agreement with Panama, which is one of the reasons that we are focused on getting this agreement through the House. Canadian companies are finding themselves at a disadvantage on the Panamanian market as U.S. consumers and our competitors in that market have a distinct leg-up.

As we move forward, these kinds of agreements foster growth and regulations. They foster a positive change for countries that engage in these reciprocal trade agreements. I see this as an excellent opportunity for Panama to improve its position on the world stage and improve its relationship with Canada.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the fact that there have been a number of trade agreements that have gone through the House since Conservatives have taken the government reins in Canada, but one of the things we need to recognize is the trade surplus/deficit situation. When Conservatives came to government, they had a huge trade surplus in excess of $25 billion. It was a wonderful gift to have walked into a situation like that. Conservatives have turned that surplus into a trade deficit of $50 billion.

They have been successful at signing some trade agreements. We could give them a pat on the back to a certain degree for that, but can the member explain why it is that we have lost that trade surplus and under the current government we now have a huge trade deficit? Why is that?

[Ryan Leef, Conservative, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure if the member missed the global economic recession that the entire planet faced, but our government introduced an economic action plan that allowed Canadians to weather that storm and do better than G7 and G20 countries. We are now moving forward with trade agreements that are going to improve the deficit the member is highlighting. I could not help but notice he spent a good portion of time patting himself on the back for all the work he is trying to take credit for in years past.

We had an unprecedented recession and Canada weathered that storm quite well. With the 800,000 net new jobs that our government has created across all sectors, we are going to be able to take advantage of these kinds of trade agreements to move Canada even closer to being a global economic power.

[Robert Chisholm, NDP, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to engage in the debate on Bill C-24 at third reading, as I did at second reading, because it is an important debate and an important bill. It is about how we trade with other nations in the world. I have said before and will say again that it is my contention, and that of the official opposition, that Canada should be much more engaged in promoting multilateral trade. We should be working with the international community in its entirety. That is the best way to work toward better deals and arrangements to lift the trade standards of all countries equally, rather than trying to do one-offs with countries to beat the U.S. or the European community. Otherwise, it is kind of hit and miss.

As has been stated here, the Conservative government has not been particularly successful in improving our trade circumstances. We have such a significant trade deficit in this country. Deals with countries like Panama, while being important to the people who are doing business with Panama, and I do not want to understate that importance whatsoever, pale in comparison to our trading relationship with the United States and with many of the other countries that we are trying to trade with.

My colleague, the member for Beauport—Limoilou, did an excellent job of talking about the reason that we should be concerned about Panama's status as a tax haven. He talked about why that was such a problem and why it is that the government should be paying more attention to the concerns that have been raised by the international community, the OECD and the United States Congress, which refused to sign on to a trade deal with Panama until an agreement on the exchange of tax information was completed.

I heard one member opposite say the fact that the U.S. has signed on to a trade deal with Panama is another reason that we must hurry up and that we are again being surpassed by the U.S. This trade deal was originally signed by the current government back in 2009. The government members have not shown any urgency whatsoever to get it done. Now that we finally get it into the House and start to look at it and debate it, the Conservatives should not try to scare me, as a member of this chamber, into cutting down on my questions and concerns simply because the government has been tardy and as a result the United States has beaten us in that relationship with Panama. However, it has also shown us a bit about negotiations and about ensuring it is protecting the interests of Americans, in that case, because their Congress insisted on getting an agreement on the exchange of tax information before signing on to the deal. That is something the Conservatives have not done.

In the past three years, since the deal was signed, what have the Minister of International Trade and his colleagues been doing? What has the parliamentary secretary been doing? They should have been ensuring that this additional agreement on the exchange of tax information was completed and signed. We could have debated it in the House and it would have gone some distance in helping to encourage members of the opposition benches that this was a deal that had some merit. However, they did not do that.

I sometimes get the feeling, from the way government members talk about what great free traders they are, that all they are concerned about is being able to say they have signed a deal on trade. When it comes to ensuring the deal is the best one we could get, not perfect but the best one we could get, that would be good. That would be a point well taken. Unfortunately, the government tends to say it has a deal and it has to be signed regardless of members' objections.

New Democrats introduced 13 very reasonable, modest, important and integral amendments at committee and not one of them was supported by the government. There was everything from ensuring the side deals on labour and the environment are included, to tax transparency, to the question of increasing sustainable investment, to harmonious and sustainable development. These are matters that are important to us and to the Panamanian people. Surely, members opposite do not want to benefit from the exploitation of others.

While we can agree that we want Canadian companies and businesses in this country to profit and benefit from any trade we do with other countries, surely we recognize that does not mean we are at all content with benefiting at the expense of others. If it is as a result of exploiting child labour or causing the degradation of the environment of another country or exploiting or penalizing workers, surely members opposite will agree that it is simply not worth it.

Frankly, that is why I say we should be going the way of Australia and establishing principles on which to make sure we conduct ourselves as we relate with the rest of the world. As we engage in economic relationships with other countries, we need to set standards, as Australia has done. The standards deal with the promotion of multilateral trade with other countries to ensure that we all benefit from economic activity in the global community. That should be in the best interests of this country and the members of the House.

I want to pick up on one thing that caused me some concern and that is the comments made by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The question of investor-state provisions was raised. He was asked a question about the fact that this agreement contains the same investor-state provisions as the free trade agreement with the United States. In that respect, it ensures that Canadian companies will be dealt with in that country on the basis of certain laws and rules, and so on. That is questionable when dealing with a country such as Panama that is developing its justice system. However, the Panamanian companies that are dealing with Canada can have access to those provisions and can sue our companies or our subnational governments, if they feel they are being wrongly dealt with economically.

I am concerned, in light of the fact that the government is engaging in the FIPA, the foreign investment promotion and protection agreement with China, in complete secrecy by the way, that he does not understand an important part of the provision with Panama, let alone an important part of the FIPA with China.

Perhaps I will a get a chance to address this concern more fully when questions are asked.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, we have heard a lot this afternoon about balance of trade. The balance of trade definition, for those in this House who may not be aware of it, is the difference between a country's imports and exports. In order for us to increase our exports, we need to have more markets for them. That is the purpose of negotiating trade agreements; increasing our exports grows our economy.

To my colleague who just spent 10 minutes talking sort of superfluously about maybe getting more trade and growing the economy, how does the member feel about trade in general? Will his party finally support an agreement that promotes new markets for Canadian products?

[Robert Chisholm, NDP, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question. I am disappointed that the member found my intervention on this important piece of legislation superfluous, but then again we all have different standards of debate in this House.

Let me say that the official opposition has said, on numerous occasions, that we support free trade and that we support multilateral trade. We are a trading nation. I am from the trading province of Nova Scotia. We support and promote trade.

However, we want to make sure that the trade is in our interests and in the interests of the country we are trading with. Let us not be caught up in the fact that we simply want to be able to say, “Hey, we got another deal.” We want to be able to say, “Hey, we have a good deal for Canadians.”