Bill C-79 (Historical)

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Implementation Act

An Act to implement the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership between Canada, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam

This enactment implements the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, done at Santiago on March 8, 2018.
The general provisions of the enactment set out rules of interpretation and specify that no recourse is to be taken on the basis of sections 9 to 13 or any order made under those sections, or on the basis of the provisions of the Agreement, without the consent of the Attorney General of Canada.
Part 1 approves the Agreement, provides for the payment by Canada of its share of the expenditures associated with the operation of the institutional and administrative aspects of the Agreement and gives the Governor in Council the power to make orders in accordance with the Agreement.
Part 2 amends certain Acts to bring them into conformity with Canada’s obligations under the Agreement.
Part 3 contains coordinating amendments and the coming into force provision.

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Implementation Act

[Ken McDonald, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

Madam Speaker, the member spoke about losing jobs and the risk of the unemployment statistics. The unemployment rate in my home province is 16%.

Ocean Choice International is a company located in my riding that employs hundreds of middle-class workers. This company sees the trade agreement as a good thing. It exports some 100 million pounds of product to 35 different countries. CETA enabled it to increase its volume to that point.

I wonder if the member could comment on why this company should be held back from increasing its volume through this agreement as well.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Madam Speaker, I am in no way saying that we should create trade agreements or not create trade agreements that would block people from opportunities. What I am saying is that one person's or one sector's opportunity is not more important than another. If a person has more but others have a lot less, we have to talk seriously about that. This is the place where we are supposed to do that work and I honour that respectfully.

I am happy for the people in the member's riding, but at the same time I am concerned about the auto sector that is facing a crisis. We cannot ever minimize its experience.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to stand in the House to talk about Bill C-79, which is finally coming to fruition later this afternoon, to ratify the comprehensive and progressive agreement on the trans-Pacific partnership. Unfortunately it is disappointing that it has taken the Liberal government this long to get to this point.

Throughout the parliamentary session, the Conservative Party of Canada has given the Liberals ample opportunities to get this agreement ratified as quickly as possible. I recall earlier this winter, we outlined a process for them to expedite the approval of the CPTPP. Later in the spring, we tabled a motion to ratify the CPTPP immediately. Earlier this summer, the leader of the official opposition put forward a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to ask the Speaker to recall Parliament as quickly possible so we could ratify this agreement. Every single step of the way, the Liberal government and the NDP blocked these opportunities.

I want to emphasize what we potentially could have risked. We may not have been one of the first signatories to this unprecedented trade agreement that would bring Canadian industries, including agriculture and energy, more than 500 million new customers. This is what was at risk. We had to be one of the first six countries to ratify this agreement. Once the first six countries ratify the TPP, it is enacted within 60 days.

Let us put this into perspective. Had we not been, or we may not be yet, one of those first six countries, that is like going to the prom without a date, then asking for a dance once the music has started and everyone's dance card is already full. We would be sitting on the sidelines. It is very difficult to break into those markets once the trade agreements and side agreements are already made.

I have to emphasize through history just how important trade agreements have been. The previous Conservative government realized how important free trade agreements were. Prior to coming to office, Canada had free trade agreements with four countries. Over the 10 years under the previous Conservative government, we signed free trade agreements with more than 50 countries. The Canadian economy has felt the benefits of those free trade agreements in every level of the economy.

The Pacific region continues to experience among the fastest growth in the world. This is an incredible opportunity for Canadian industries, agriculture and energy to be part of the gem of this agreement, Japan, as well as fast and growing lucrative markets like Malaysia and Vietnam. The CPTPP will reduce tariffs in countries that represent 13% of the global economy. That is $10 trillion in GDP. This will create new opportunities and benefits for Canadian businesses, workers and consumers.

The CPTPP has the potential to boost Canadian income by more than $20 billion over the next decade. If we wait, Canadian firms risk losing jobs, opportunities, advantages and certainly will impact their supply lines. We cannot delay this any further. The risk to the Canadian economy is simply too great. We must be among the first countries to ratify this agreement so we can be part of those first opportunities.

That was why we urged the Liberals to table this legislation as soon as possible. That was why earlier this year we outlined a process to expedite the approval process, why we tabled the unanimous motion last spring to ratify the CPTPP and why we asked the Prime Minister to bring this back this summer.

The new and preferential access under the CPTPP is projected to provide Canadian exporters with tariff savings of $428 million a year, with the bulk of those exports coming to Japan at a total of $338 million.

I cannot stress enough how important this agreement is to Canada's agriculture sector and certainly to the farmers, ranchers and food processors in my riding of Foothills. The stakes for Canadian producers are high. They are high because of the damage the Liberal government has done with our foreign affairs and irritating our trusted trading partners.

Our agriculture sector has lost vital trading markets like India for our lentils and pulses and Italy for our durum wheat. Certainly now with NAFTA hanging by a thread, we are at risk of losing the United States, our number one trading partner. At every opportunity, the Liberal government has antagonized the United States administration by constantly tabling progressive social value domestic issues that have nothing to do with an economic agreement.

That is why we are in an incredibly weak negotiating position when it comes to NAFTA, which makes the CPTPP that much more important. We need to ratify this agreement so we would not only have those additional 800 million customers, but also have important leverage in the negotiations with the United States on NAFTA. I cannot express that enough. For example, Japan is Canada's third-largest export market for agri-food products. That amounted to almost $4 billion in trade in 2016 alone. Tariff cuts by Japan and Vietnam over five years could increase our annual exports of canola by $780 million and our beef exports by $380 million and our pork exports by $639 million. That the United States is out of the CPTPP makes those markets that much more lucrative. The opportunities for Canadian agriculture are incredible. With the tariff-free savings, our wheat and barley exports to Japan could go up by $167 million; our pork products by $51 million, our beef by $21 million, and our wood products $32 million.

These products are essential pillars of the economy in my riding of Foothills. The tariff-free access to the markets like Japan would be felt throughout my riding. It would be felt at Cargill meats in High River, which employs 4,000 people; by the farmer in Claresholm; by the farm-implement dealer in Pincher Creek, and certainly by the ranchers in the municipal district of Ranchland. This would be felt in every single corner of my riding.

According to research commissioned by the Canadian Agri-food Trade Alliance, the TPP would increase agri-food exports by $1.84 billion. Not being part of the TPP could cost Canadian agriculture almost $3 billion. There is simply no choice; we have to be part of this agreement. The agri-food sector is the biggest job creator in Canada, creating more than $2.1 million jobs and contributing 6.7% to Canada's GDP. To put that more simply, one in five jobs in Canada and 60% of our country's GDP are directly linked to exports.

As Conservatives, we understand the profound benefits of these free trade agreements. In fact, the TPP was negotiated by the previous Conservative government and very little of the language in the previous agreement has changed compared with what we are seeing here. What has changed is the delay after delay to achieve very minimal wording changes in the title. That has put our Canadian economy at risk for almost nothing.

There are incredible opportunities in the TPP, but unfortunately other opportunities would go unrealized. Not only is Japan looking for a secure supply of agri-food and agricultural products, but also for a secure supply of Canadian energy. It looks to Canada as a place of political stability, a place where it could have a reliable supply. While the trans-Pacific partnership would give us those opportunities, unfortunately the Liberal government has failed to provide the critical infrastructure to ensure that we can get our energy products to market and access those Asian opportunities.

The most critical piece of infrastructure was already approved and ready to go, with the northern gateway pipeline, but the Liberals made a political decision to cancel that pipeline, and now we have seen them bungle a second opportunity with the Trans Mountain expansion. Not only have they bungled that opportunity, but Canadian taxpayers are now on the hook for that pipeline at $4.8 billion and counting.

On the one hand, we have incredible opportunities when it comes to agriculture and agri-food producers across the country, and certainly in my riding of Foothills. On the other hand, I am concerned about those incredible missed opportunities that would help people in our energy sector in Alberta and across the country. Because of mismanagement by the Liberal government, we will not be able to take advantage of those opportunities that would put thousands of people back to work.

[Omar Alghabra, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade Diversification, Lib.]

Madam Speaker, I want to remind my hon. colleague of the facts. I know he did not intend to mislead the House or Canadians but he tried to say that the new agreement did not have many changes from the previous agreement. I want to set the record straight.

The agreement has been dramatically changed from the previously signed agreement by the Conservative Party. We consulted with Canadians for two years on the previous agreement. There has been so many concerns about the previous agreement and I am proud to say that there have been significant changes.

Does the member not agree with the protections this new agreement has for intellectual property which the previous agreement did not have? Does he not agree with the new upgraded and reformed dispute settlement mechanisms that we have implemented? Does he not agree that we need to protect Canadian culture from foreign takeover?

I look forward to his response.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Madam Speaker, my colleague knows that every expert, including most of the people in this House who have read the new CPTPP, understand that the language is almost identical to what was there before. The labour clause and all of those clauses that he spoke about, the vast majority of those clauses were in there. If he is talking about side letters, side letters are not part of the TPP agreement that is going to be ratified and signed. Those are going to be negotiated and discussed later.

What is here and what is in the TPP was negotiated, the vast majority by the previous Conservative government which understood how important free trade agreements are to the Canadian economy and certainly to build those relationships with our trusted trade partners around the world, which unfortunately the Liberal government is tearing apart piece by piece.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. The NDP has a lot of concerns about the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans-Pacific partnership. We are especially concerned about job losses in auto manufacturing, agriculture and the poultry industry.

We are also very worried about what the future holds for labour standards and protections enjoyed by workers in a number of countries that are party to this agreement. If those protections are downgraded, forget about progress because it will become extremely difficult to compete with those countries. The labour standards set out in this agreement will not apply unless it can be proven that any violation affecting a worker is in conflict with international trade and has an impact on trade between nations.

How can we sign on to an agreement that blatantly violates the rights of workers in other countries and jeopardizes jobs here at home?

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Madam Speaker, I am really glad that my colleague from the NDP brought up that question, because I did not have time to address it in my speech. I would like to remind him that the labour chapter in the CPTPP was negotiated by the previous Conservative government and it includes some of the strongest protections for workers of any trade agreement and requires all signatories to adopt and maintain in law and in practice the fundamental labour rights as recognized by the International Labour Organization, including freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, elimination of forced labour, abolition of child labour and the elimination of employment discrimination. Those were all negotiated as part of the previous TPP agreement by the Conservative government.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Madam Speaker, my colleague from Foothills and I are both Albertans. We are both very much cognizant of how much trade matters to our province. Going back to last spring, the headline in the Financial Post is “Foreign direct investment in Canada plunges to its lowest level in years".

Is there any hope in the TPP agreement that resources from western Canada can get to these markets should the federal government find its way to actually get one of the three pipeline tidewater projects that it inherited built?

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Madam Speaker, there are opportunities for our energy products from western Canada to be part of the TPP, but unfortunately, our problem is that the infrastructure is not in place because the Liberals have done such a poor job of this. They like to say that we built no pipelines at tidewater but that is not the case. We built four major pipelines including part of the line 9 reversal, which includes additional capacity to tidewater.

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise and speak on the subject of trade again. In the 21 years I have been in Parliament I have spoken on numerous occasions on our country's trade agenda. It is critically important, we all know. We are a small population with large natural resources, so foreign trade is extremely important for us.

In the early days, our trade with the U.S.A. was very high. We had a great trade relationship with the U.S.A. with our integrated economies. At that time we were in the opposition and we had a Liberal government in power. The Liberals talk about their trade agenda today, but they moved very slowly. At the time of prime ministers Chrétien and Martin, they did not sign too many trade agreements. They talked a lot about it, but they did not sign any meaningful trade agreements.

Also, during that period of time the NDP was expressing some concern. Let us be very clear. The NDP has always opposed any trade agreement.

Then we recognized the fact that Canada needed to open up its markets and not rely on one market. Henceforth, our government's efforts were directed toward that, with the help of the department of foreign trade and foreign affairs. We have some very excellent public service officers who have had extreme experience in negotiating trade deals. They are non-partisan, and look after the interests of Canada. I want to make that point very clearly, because this government is trying to put their work down as if the public servants in the departments do not know what is good for Canada. The fact of the matter is, when our Conservative government came into power it realized that we needed to push this agenda very strongly. As my colleague has stated about the number of trade agreements we signed, let us not forget how many FIP agreements we signed around the world as well, because FIPA is the first step in going into international trade. The member for Abbotsford, who led the file, worked extremely hard to ensure the groundwork was laid. Let us make it very clear that the groundwork was laid by the Conservatives.

The groundwork for CETA was laid by our government. The groundwork for TPP was laid by our government. NAFTA was, again, the Conservatives under Brian Mulroney. As we go forward, the groundwork for all trade agreements was done by the Conservatives.

Sure enough, when we changed government, the Liberals now recognize that these trade agreements are important. However, as usual, trying to please everyone, they do not look at the bigger picture and were more concerned with other agendas, and less for trade. It was only after the president of the U.S.A. started saying he wanted to renegotiate NAFTA, and with so many conditions, that we now face a situation where we need new markets. Suddenly, the Liberals have woken up. We cannot forget the Prime Minister leaving the other leaders waiting in Vietnam for them to talk about TPP. All the other leaders were there.

We get an idea of what the Liberals are talking about in changing the TPP. We had been negotiating with the same governments for a long period of time. Do they think they have suddenly changed and have started accepting what the Liberal government is trying to say, and that the markets have changed in the TPP? That is nonsense. They have their position. Even though they are tinkering to make it look like it is a Liberal agenda, it was our government that laid the groundwork, and as far as it is concerned, it is delayed again.

With the Trans Mountain pipeline now dropped, getting our resources to tidewater has been delayed and the impact on the economy is very strong. Now we see no pipeline to tidewater, no oil going out, and NAFTA now under challenge.

Now, suddenly, the Liberals have woken up and are saying they need TPP. Before that, if these things had not happened, the government's lacklustre agenda on trade would have been moving very slowly. Therefore, today I will say very clearly that I am very glad to have spoken in the House for 21 years on trade promotion for Canada, and to be the last speaker on this so that we can get this thing going very quickly. We need it implemented so we can get Canadian businesses working.

Indeed, the NDP will always voice concerns about it and talk about job losses. However, the great part of the whole thing is that when the economy moves forward collectively, everybody gains. Even though there might be a slight change in a sector, they will gain over the long term. If we contract our market, then the loss of jobs is far higher than we can anticipate.

Talking about farmers, my colleague sitting next to me is a successful farmer in Alberta, and he is also looking for markets to sell his crop. Therefore, when the NDP members say that the farmers are very worried, I can say that my colleague sitting next to me who is a farmer is not worried. He is looking for the opportunity that will allow him to sell his grain on the world market. This is what Canadian businesses are looking for. Therefore, let us look at the larger picture of what is important for this country. It is important for this country to have good trade agreements, so that Canadian businesses have a level playing field with other countries.

Trade agreements make level playing fields. As we see with China, we have an unlevel playing field. China has its own rules, which are not compatible with ours, and this is why the Chinese are not very keen. Neither were we, as the Conservative government, keen on opening free trade with China, because we have different regulations and systems. However, with other countries, and now with the opening market of Japan and all of these countries, we are looking at the growing economies of the world. We should be part of this growth, so that Canadians can benefit with jobs, jobs, jobs. Therefore, we need a collective approach from the government so that we can move forward.

I have to say one thing. I want to tell you guys here to wake up and smell the—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I will remind the member that he needs to address his comments and questions to the chair. He has been in the House a lot longer than I have, so he should know the rules by now.

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

I agree, Madam Speaker, and sometimes I get carried away. Nevertheless, let us get this moving forward fast, because this is good for Canada.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, this government has been moving quite quickly on the whole trade file. Within months, we had the signing of the agreement between Canada and Ukraine. Do members remember the Canada-European Union agreement, the one that was off the tracks? It was this government that got it back on track, and with those 25 plus nations we actually got it signed off. Do members remember the World Trade Organization legislation that we had that enhanced and enabled additional trade? Liberals understand the importance of trade and the impact it has on Canada's middle class and those aspiring to be a part of it. That is why it is such a high priority for this government.

Here we are talking about the Pacific trade. Once again, Liberals are out front, driving it forward.

We appreciate the Conservatives' support for the proposed legislation, but I wonder if the member across the way can explain why he believes that the NDP members want to oppose it. In fact, they oppose all trade legislation.

[An hon. member]

Oh, oh!

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I want to remind the member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman that he needs to behave. I know that it is a very passionate issue, but the hon. parliamentary secretary had the floor and should have had the respect of the House.