Bill C-20 (Historical)

Canada-Honduras Economic Growth and Prosperity Act

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

This enactment implements the Free Trade Agreement and the related agreements on environmental and labour cooperation entered into between Canada and the Republic of Honduras and done at Ottawa on November 5, 2013.
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 entered into between Canada and the Republic of Honduras.
Part 3 of the enactment contains coordinating amendments and the coming into force provision.

Canada-Honduras Economic Growth and Prosperity Act

[Dany Morin, NDP, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my NDP colleague for his excellent speech. I learned a lot from it.

I was very curious. My colleague mentioned human rights for members of the LGBT community in Honduras. I did an Internet search, and I found out that in 2013, 22 LGBT people in Honduras were killed. Those murders were motivated by discrimination and hatred toward minorities. The LGBT community in Honduras is angry at its own government. Very few of these hate crimes and murders end up in the courts; there is little justice for the families and loved ones of those who were brutally murdered. In many cases, there are connections to the country's law enforcement officials. It is a very incestuous scenario.

Basically, I would like to hear what my colleague thinks: do we really want to do business and facilitate free trade with countries where the human rights of LGBT people and others are so brutally trampled on?

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, let us put this in context. Honduras is a country of about eight million and Canada of 35 million, so Canada is about four times the size.

Imagine if the current Canadian government removed four members of the Supreme Court of Canada because it did not like the decision they made.

Let us say 23 journalists in Honduras are equivalent to almost 100 Canadian journalists here. Imagine if 100 journalists in Canada had been murdered in the last five years.

Imagine if members of the opposition parties were picked up on the street and assassinated, and imagine if there were dozens of LGBT people in this country who were murdered by paramilitary death squads roaming through the Canadian countryside and the authorities refused to even investigate, never mind prosecute them.

This is the real situation in Honduras. How would we feel about those conditions here in this country? How would we feel about another country internationally extending a reward to us in the form of increased economic support? Would we not want those countries of the world to be putting pressure on us to raise our standards to acceptable 2013 international democratic and human rights standards?

The New Democrats say we should, and I am absolutely flabbergasted that the Conservatives bring forth an agreement like this in 2013 and expect Canadians to accept it.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I chair the Commons subcommittee on international human rights. We have done some hearings on Honduras. We have also done some hearings on other countries, including Iran.

Frankly, I was astonished to hear the hon. member suggest that there is any resemblance at all between these two countries. It is beyond outrageous. It is kind of like comparing them to the Martians and the Neptunians.

In Iran, there is suppression, not merely of political dissidents, but murder of the entire leadership of the Baha'i faith, which originated in Iran, and gays are forced to choose between being executed and going through forced sex change operations. The Iranian regime favours a second genocide to wipe out the Jews of the world by using nuclear weapons against Israel, and it is attempting to develop a nuclear policy to follow through on that.

I would say that there are some differences between Iran and Honduras. Notwithstanding his suggestion that we should be looking at a free trade agreement with Iran, I suggest that the parallels are imprecise.

The member mentions that there is a record of human rights abuses in Honduras. He is right. There is also a human rights abuse record in the United States, which had slavery; in Britain, which conquered many countries, and so on. The fact is that there is a congress elected today, through elections last year, that is not responsible for any of these things.

The member mentioned a very high crime rate. He is right; it is one of the highest in the world, along with the rest of Latin America. That is a problem of civil justice. It is a matter that is not under the direct control of the government. It is not a human rights issue, although it is a tragedy.

Finally, with regard to the suggestion that it is undemocratic, that statement was true, but it is no longer true. I cannot imagine what, other than a drive to prevent us from ever having free trade with any country anywhere ever is motivating this member.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I raised the issues of countries like Iran, North Korea and Ukraine to illustrate examples of countries to which we would not consider extending preferential terms.

Each country is unique; sometimes they are unique in degrees. However, when there is a country like Honduras, which the United Nations has stated engages in widespread human rights violations, including killings, disappearances, forced evictions and sexual violence, I fail to see how that is less upsetting to the hon. member than what is happening in Iran.

Both countries are doing the same thing. They repress their citizens' rights. They kill their own citizens. They are not democratic. They do not respect political rights. They murder journalists. They do not have free and fair elections. That is the comparison. That is the analogy we are making here.

The hon. member is on the human rights committee, and if he does not get that comparison, then I am not sure he is well placed to be on that committee.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Liberals support Bill C-20. The Liberal Party is strongly in support of the principle of free trade as an essential part of Canada's economic growth in the 21st century.

I would like to talk a bit about our broader vision of what we need to do with trade and how that fits into our overall economic vision, and then I would like to talk about this specific agreement and how we need to work hard in implementing it to live up to the principles of Canadian democracy and how Canada wants to conduct itself in the world.

On trade, 19.2% of Canadians work in jobs that are directly in the export sector, and up to 80% of the Canadian economy, depending on how one counts it, is dependent on exports. We are a small country in a vast globalized world economy, and without being open to that world economy, without being an active energetic participant, we have no chance of thriving and, crucially, no chance of creating middle-class jobs, which we need and which we are failing to create in sufficient number and quality right now.

However, what we need is not just a number of piecemeal agreements with small countries like Honduras. What Canada needs to be successful is an economic and trade vision that is much more ambitious, wider reaching, and which fully and ambitiously integrates Canada into the global economy. Therefore, while Liberals support this trade deal with Honduras, we believe our country needs to be more energetically engaged with other emerging market economies that are growing strongly and where we see the rest of the world competing now for a position.

In particular, I would like to draw everyone's attention to what is happening right now in Africa. A lot of us are accustomed to seeing Africa as a development story, a poverty story. The reality of the new Africa today is that it is one of the world's hottest emerging markets. Some of the leading countries in Africa have had, for more than five years, 5% economic growth year on year. This is real; this is huge. We are seeing investors pouring in, and we are seeing a competition between the big and ambitious countries in the world, notably China and the U.S., for a strategic position in Africa. Where is Canada? Africa is a continent to which we urgently need to turn our attention when it comes to trade deals, and what a great way for us to have a positive impact on the world.

The other part of an ambitious global economic agenda and global trade agenda for Canada is thinking about where we want to position our country in the world economy. Right now we are living in a winner-take-all global economy. That applies to countries, and it applies to individuals and companies. Frankly, we are not seeing from today's government a sufficiently ambitious and forward-looking economic agenda for our country.

One of my favourite books at the moment is a book by economist Tyler Cowen called Average is Over. His central contention is that we are living in a moment when if a company is the best in a space, the top talent in a space, the top city or top country, it will succeed. However, if one is in the middle and just average, there is no future. That is a lesson that Canada desperately needs to learn and that the Canadian government needs to make as the centre of its policies.

We need to be building an overall trade agenda, an overall economic vision in which we are creating in Canada a platform for being fully engaged in the world economy, but also a platform for which we have companies headquartered in Canada doing business around the world, rather than the old branch plant economy. That is not going to work. It is not going to create enough great jobs for the 21st century. This reality of an ambitious trade agenda, an economic agenda fit for the 21st century, we believe, is going to become ever more apparent in 2014.

Already this week, the first week of our new session, we have heard a lot of assertions from the Conservative benches about Canada's economic excellence, how we are better than anyone else in the G7 and so on. That is going to be less true in 2014, as the other G7 economies, which suffered so greatly from the financial crisis and from which Canada was spared thanks to the wise bank regulation policies of the Liberal government in the 1990s, have now healed. We are going to see that in 2014. We are already seeing a very strong comeback in the U.S. and the U.K., but our relative performance is looking much worse already, and we are not even through the first month of 2014.

That says that we have coasted. We have coasted on the fact that we did not have a financial crisis and we have not put in place a powerful, forward-looking economic agenda that is going to build prosperity for the middle class in the 21st century, and that includes trade. Piecemeal agreements with small countries are a good start. However, we need to be a lot more ambitious and have a much broader vision.

When it comes to the Honduras deal in particular, my hon. colleagues in the NDP have raised the important point that this is a trade deal with a country that has a very troubled record and very troubled reality on many political labour and environmental issues. We in the Liberal Party believe that it is important for us to do this deal. Not every country in the world is perfect, and we have to trade in the global economy. We believe that having a strong trading relationship can and must be a way to be a positive force in those economies. However, it will only work if it is more than words.

In implementing this trade deal, we have to be very aware of what is going on in Honduras and to the possibility that by having a trade deal with this country and having our companies engaged with it we could be complicit in political, environmental and labour violations. We do not just sign a deal and walk away; we have to watch closely and be absolutely certain that we and Canada are behaving well.

I would like to point to the fact that rather than having a binding mechanism for labour and environmental standards in the side agreements, article 816 of the free trade agreement states:

Each Party should encourage enterprises operating within its territory or subject to its jurisdiction to voluntarily incorporate internationally recognized standards of corporate social responsibility in their internal policies....

That puts a great onus on us to be aware, to watch and to be absolutely careful that those political, environmental and labour standards are watched and observed.

As the MP for Toronto Centre, I would like to draw particular attention to the tremendous abuse and repression that the LGBT community faces in Honduras. Even as we broaden and deepen our economic relationship with Honduras, this is something that we have to be absolutely aware of and watchful about. We have to take great care that the Canadian companies that will be working and trading there, and will have a relationship with Honduras, are not party to that and are in fact acting against it through their example.

Regarding the environmental standards, we have to be watchful about this. If, as the Labour Party believes, we are to use our trade agreements with troubled countries to be a force for moving those countries in a positive direction, we have to take incredible care. We have to take incredible care about the labour and environmental standards as well. This is how we ensure that free trade is a great deal for the Canadian middle class. Without watching those labour and environmental standards, trade with a country which is poorer than Canada, like Honduras, can be dangerous for the middle class.

Again, we cannot simply sign a piece of paper and walk away. This trade deal has potential. That is why we support it, but we have to be extremely vigilant. We must also move toward a broader vision, something much more than one single deal.

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Before we get to questions and comments, I have a little item here that I forgot to do before the hon. member for Toronto Centre began.

It is my duty, pursuant to Standing Order 38, to inform the House that the questions to be raised tonight at the time of adjournment are as follows: the hon. member for Malpeque, National Defence; the hon. member for Québec, Air Transportation; and the hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, the Quebec Bridge.

Now we will go to questions and comments.

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services.

[Bernard Trottier, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, I listened attentively to my colleague's speech from across the way. There are some very mixed messages criticizing the agreement but saying that she will support it and that her party will support it.

There is a certain history of the Liberal Party not really supporting trade deals. We all remember Jean Chrétien promising to rip up the free trade agreement in 1993, and then getting elected and doing nothing of the sort. Now they have that religion around free trade.

With respect to free trade in Latin America, we have free trade deals with Costa Rica, Colombia, and Panama. I was in Guatemala City recently and met with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. I met with somebody who is actually operating in Costa Rica and Colombia, where we do have free trade agreements, and we talked about how they have kitchen showcases. There is a rising middle class in Latin America, and what do middle class families want? They want new kitchens. They are importing entire kitchens from plants in Winnipeg and Montreal. This is just an example of the tremendous opportunities for exports to countries like this.

When we criticize a deal because it is too small, we have to recognize that collectively Canada is really becoming a player in these markets in Latin America.

Would she explain further why she thinks trade with a small country, which on the one hand she is supporting, is not ambitious enough? One country at a time, we are building a trade arrangement in Latin America and making Canada a major player.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, our central point and our central argument about economic policy for Canada is going to be that what we need is a big global vision, a vision fit for the 21st century. That is why we are supporting the agreement but saying that it is not enough and that we need to be working on bigger deals that fit in with a broader agenda.

I do, though, have to respond to the earlier comment criticizing us for supporting the member's policy. What I would say there is that the Liberal Party is moving past the rancorous major attack politics that, sadly, we have seen dominate this House for far too long. When we think a policy is a good one, we are absolutely willing to support it. That is case, absolutely, with free trade.

Since I hope you are pleased with our support for the free trade deal, I would encourage you to support our very bold and incredibly popular move on the Senate. You gentlemen could do the same thing today. You could show how broad-spirited you are and show that you too can be bipartisan.

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

I would just remind all hon. members to direct their comments through the Chair and not directly to other hon. members.

The hon. member for Vancouver Kingsway.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, first I would like to welcome the hon. member to the chamber and congratulate her on being appointed her party's international trade critic.

Again, the issue here is not that Honduras is a small country and that it is poor; the issue is that Honduras is an undemocratic country with one of the worst human rights records in the world. I have already gone over the fact it has the highest murder rate of journalists, it is a major cocaine trafficking centre, it tolerates environmentally destructive policies, and New Democrats believe that Canadians want Canada to stand up for democracy and human rights on the world stage.

I heard the hon. member give a passionate speech the other night on the situation in Ukraine, another government that is repressing its citizens and acting undemocratically. My question for the hon. member is this: is it the position of the Liberal Party that Canada should be signing a free trade agreement today with the current Government of Ukraine as a way of engaging with it so that we can elevate human rights, or would she be opposed to Canada signing such an agreement with the current regime in Ukraine, which is every bit as bad as the current regime in Honduras? What is the difference?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, first, I am sorry for not addressing you. I promise to learn the rules better as the days go on.

With regard to the Ukraine parallel, obviously I have been thinking about that a lot. It is very relevant to the current situation.

I would draw the attention of my hon. colleague to the fact that the current battle in Ukraine was actually precipitated by the willingness of the European Union to sign an association agreement, which included some trade provisions, with the current Government of Ukraine, led by President Yanukovych. That current government, even before all of this, was not an angelic regime. In fact Yulia Tymoshenko, of whom we have been speaking, was imprisoned. It was a difficult, finely-balanced decision for the European Union. It was prepared at that point to sign an agreement Ukraine, and indeed was very enthusiastic about it, because the EU felt that agreement would help Ukraine, which was tentatively building a democracy, to become fully democratic.

The same applies to Honduras now. It is absolutely not perfect. That is why I raised, and we as a party raised, some significant points, and we think this agreement has to be closely monitored. This is not something that we sign and walk away from.

At this moment, we think that this deal is good for Canada and good for Honduras.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to congratulate the hon. member for Toronto Centre for joining us in this place and on her role as international trade critic.

I wish that her party had a better position on trade in general and on this agreement in particular. I do not see how one can turn a blind eye to the fact that we are talking about a country that has a repressive regime, four years following a military coup, with a very questionable election. It was just this past Monday that the new president was inaugurated, and all indications are that he will continue the trends of increasing gaps between the wealthy and the poor and of infringements on indigenous lands—and sadly, right now, infringements on indigenous lands by Canadian tourism interests, which under this agreement would be able to further penalize Honduras should it decide to change its tune and want to protect indigenous rights.

Does the hon. member have no qualms about this agreement with Honduras?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for those points. I would just like to repeat that Honduras is absolutely far from being an angelic and perfect country, and we are fully aware of that. It is our judgment that at this moment a trading relationship would help us to help the positive forces in Honduras and would help Honduras move in the right direction,

Again, this is not something we sign and walk away from. It behooves the Government of Canada and all of us here to watch it very carefully, and if we feel there is a retrograde movement in Honduras, we will need to act.

On the point about Canadian companies and their behaviour in Honduras, that falls under encouraging corporate social responsibility, which I have already cited. This is a very strong point, and we need to take great care as representatives of the Canadian people to encourage Canadian companies to behave abroad as we would demand they behave at home.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, I too welcome the member for Toronto Centre.

My question relates to what the government needs to do to ensure that benefits from trade agreements accrue back to Canadians.

The fact of the matter is that while the Conservative government is absolutely great on rhetoric, it is terrible on results when it comes to trade agreements, other than signing them. It is one thing to sign them, but we need a positive balance at the end of the day for the sale of Canadian goods and services.

Here are the facts with respect to the Conservative government. Since November 2008, the government has managed 48 months of trade deficits. From January 2011 until November 2013, there were consistent trade deficits every month. The present Conservative government is the first government in 30 years that has had an annual trade deficit, so although the government signs agreements and provides great rhetoric about what it is doing, the results are not accruing back to create middle-class jobs.

My question is this: what more needs to be done to stop the government's failure in terms of trade results?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague's excellent point underscores my point and our general argument that while we are strongly in favour of free trade, it needs to be embedded in a much more ambitious, much more effective agenda for Canadian economic competitiveness in the 21st century.

The hon. member's point about the trade deficit is particularly telling and particularly unforgivable, given that this has come at a time when commodity prices are at all-time highs. As we all know, we are a commodity-exporting nation, so it is really startling that this has been happening.

What do we need to do better? As my hon. colleague said, we need to ensure that when we talk about the free trade agenda, when we talk about embedding Canada in the global economy, we are not just signing pieces of paper, getting the sound bite, and walking away. We need to be absolutely sure that the structure of those deals supports middle-class jobs back home in Canada, and, more broadly, that these deals support the creation of world-beating companies based in Canada but selling into the global marketplace.