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.

Second Reading

[Peter Fonseca, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague's question pertains to my riding of Mississauga East—Cooksville and the many great businesses that do a great deal of trade right around the world. As we have heard, we punch way above our weight when it comes to trade in Canada. We have companies like Maple Leaf, which deal with agriculture and selling many of their products to many of the CPTPP countries, and also those in the manufacturing supply chain.

I know many manufacturers in my riding produce some of the products and machinery that help with mining. Many of those machines are then exported around the world to be able to do the work in various countries. This means jobs for my riding and for the ridings of all the members in this chamber. These are good, well-paying jobs. We know that export-oriented companies have some of the highest-paying jobs in our country, and that is why we have to double down on exporting and looking at diversifying our markets. This is a very important agreement in terms of enabling us to do that, to be able to reach into some emerging economies and also to have a better agreement with some very established countries like Japan, where we have a tremendous opportunity to do a great deal more business.

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

Mr. Speaker, I note my hon. colleague extolled the virtues of this agreement to expand trade. I wonder if he has any comments on the issues I presented of the deep concern of many Canadians that we are expanding the right of Malaysian, Japanese, and other corporations within this agreement to bring cases against Canada and take public funds to compensate foreign companies for things domestic companies would never have a right to claim.

[Peter Fonseca, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, through our consultations from coast to coast to coast, we heard from many sectors. Yes, there are some sectors that had very serious concerns about ISDS. However, there were also other sectors, like financial services, the minerals industry and mining, which need to have these provisions in place to be 100% able with certainty, stability and assurances to invest in these countries and provide great-paying jobs here in Canada. These countries needed to have those assurances through an ISDS system that would work for them so those investments could be made. We want to ensure those precious Canadian dollars being invested in other parts of the world will be secure.

The House resumed consideration of the motion that Bill C-79, 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, be read the second time and referred to a committee, and of the amendment.

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Implementation Act

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Durham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is always a deep privilege for me to represent Durham. At this the start of the fall session, it is great to be able to speak on the subject of trade, something I worked on as parliamentary secretary to the great member for Abbotsford, probably our best international trade minister in the history of this country.

It is also great giving my first speech after our caucus having grown yesterday. I am very proud that the member for Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill brings perspective on trade to our caucus that was lost in the government's side, not realizing that trade and security go deeply together. I will keep that in mind in the context of remarks on the comprehensive and progressive agreement for the trans-Pacific partnership, really the TPP-11.

In large part, most of the heavy lifting done on the trans-Pacific partnership deal was done by the Conservative government. Members may realize that during the 2015 election, all the parties, and there were 12 at that time, and the United States had come to an agreement. It was quite unusual for that to happen. However, unlike what the leader of the Green Party suggested, when there is an international agreement like that, we cannot ask them to wait until our election is over. We got the deal done in a way that did not pit one industry over another, in a way that Canada was at the table for jobs, not for posturing, not for virtue signalling, not for domestic politics. The Prime Minister and the Liberal Party actually use trade to advance their social agenda for their electorate in Canada while putting hundreds of thousands of jobs on the line. Of the many failures of the government highlighted in its #SummerOfFailure, perhaps the biggest risk it is playing with our economy is what it is doing on our trade agreements.

In the last few years, we have seen countries like Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Philippines, India—of course the whole world knows about that trip—China, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and the United States all frustrated with Canada.

[An hon. member]

Italy.

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Durham, ON]

There is Italy as well. Members are welcome to heckle by yelling out more countries because they are hard to keep track of.

However, we are here to talk about the trans-Pacific partnership, TPP-11, because this represents Canada's reassertion of our role as a Pacific nation and the fact that in the last 50 years the Pacific has generated as much wealth than in the previous 100 years.

I had the honour as parliamentary secretary to go on the ground along with Senator Yonah Martin and Barry Devolin, the former MP for Kawartha Lakes, to help secure the final stages of our free trade agreement with South Korea. Now, it is not part of the TPP, but that was our first free trade agreement in Asia. It recognizes that Canada is a Pacific nation.

As the middle class grows in Asia, it is demanding the world's best agricultural products from our country: beef, pork, grain and oil seeds. We are world leaders and Canada is trusted for our high-quality product. My riding's name is Durham, but when world agriculture thinks of durum, it does not think of my riding. It thinks of the wheat developed in Canada. We have been innovators, and our farming families are some of our most committed Canadians to our economy. These trade deals from South Korea to TPP recognize that.

The trans-Pacific partnership with the 11 countries represents almost 500 million consumers. Let us see the wealth that is developed there. China has gone from a country that was considered impoverished 40 years or 50 years ago to being a world-leading economy, the number two economy. I was shocked by the fact that following the Korean War, in which over 500 Canadians died serving and which forged our relationship with that important Asian friend and country, South Korea was one of the largest recipients of food aid. The actions of Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and our allies has led to prosperity in that country through security and trade and today it is one of the largest net donors to food aid around the world. In 50 years to 60 years, it is remarkable to go from one of the most impoverished to one of the most successful countries, as well as an ally we can count on.

That is what trade can do. That is what working on trade and security together can do. That is why the member for Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, after three years of banging her head against the wall in a government that is about platitudes and photographs of its leader, of neglecting our trade relationships or insulting our foreign allies and friends, and of withering away the prosperity that Canada enjoys, is sitting on this side.

With TPP we have the ability to access a combined GDP in these countries of almost $14 trillion. As I said at the outset, under the Harper government, many of our trade deals were centred around the importance of our agricultural sectors and industries. This is going to be part of the case. As I said, this will have us accessing markets that are growing, the prosperity that is growing in Vietnam, for example, one of the countries, and in Japan, the world's third-largest economy. They have a high demand for our pork, beef and grains. They are going to see tariff rates reduced. In 10 to 15 years, all tariffs will be reduced off of pork and beef, for instance.

If members go to Seoul, like I did, they will try Korean barbecue. Koreans love pork and beef, and they prefer that it be Canadian. By getting in there when we did, we were able to compete on an even playing ground with Australia and the United States. Our product always wins. We just need fair access.

Wheat and barley will see tariff reductions almost immediately, and canola will see reductions within five years. There will be huge wins for our agricultural sectors.

Representing part of Oshawa, and being the son of someone who worked more than 33 years at General Motors, there have been some concerns on auto. I would refer some of the people who have these concerns to the fact that we have a global supply chain for the auto industry. In fact, the globalization of the auto industry started with Canada and the U.S., with the Auto Pact in 1965, where a vehicle rolling off the line in Oshawa was treated as domestic and tariff-free if sold in the United States.

Since then, since the 1960s, 80% of the vehicles we have assembled in Canada have been sold in the United States, yet the minister did not even mention the auto industry in the NAFTA priority speeches. In fact, the Liberals took six months to put proposals forward on auto. That was a huge failure, and six months were squandered.

Diversification and the trans-Pacific partnership are making sure that our auto parts suppliers and auto companies are competitive and have access to those markets. If there is going to be capital investment and Mexico, our NAFTA partner, is part of the trans-Pacific partnership and we are not, where do members think more investment from global automakers, from auto parts companies will go? It will go to the country that has the best access tariff-free around the world.

We need to be at the table. Forty-five per cent of the vehicles made within the TPP countries, the 11 countries, need to be assembled by the member countries, one of those 11 countries. We need to be part of that.

Who supports that? One of our leading executives, the CEO of Linamar, one of our biggest auto parts companies supports TPP. I will quote what she said:

Perhaps those opposing TPP are afraid of global competition; I am not. I don't agree that it will be a negative for the auto sector.

On the parts side folks are worried about competition from Asia, but I say we have to be competitive on a global basis and will do so based on efficiency, innovation and great products.

Linda Hasenfratz is one of our leading executives. There are companies like hers and companies like Magna. There are some of our global automakers, like Toyota and others, that are assembling in Canada. Toyota has its Canadian parts distribution plant in Clarington in my riding. This is a global industry.

I am glad to see the Liberal Party has signed on to our approach on TPP. I am still a bit confused by the NDP's approach. Conservatives will always stand up and fight for access for our world-class manufacturers, our world-class auto industry and our world-class farmers.

[Celina Caesar-Chavannes, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Madam Speaker, I sat through the debate yesterday and today on this particular issue. I heard the member for Essex specifically point to me as the member for Whitby and express her chagrin about the CPTPP and what will happen to the auto sector.

Yesterday as well as today, the member for Durham spoke about the confidence he has, much like our government has, in the auto sector, in its competitiveness and ability to compete in a global market. I wonder if the member opposite could talk about Durham region, GM being in our neck of the woods, and how with this particular trade deal we can continue to be competitive and do well for Canadians and particularly residents in Durham region.

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Durham, ON]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Whitby for bringing the debate home to Durham. We are neighbour ridings.

She knows the former member for her riding, the late Jim Flaherty, worked closely with Stephen Harper to save the auto industry in Canada. It was a tough time, and for Conservatives it was a tough decision, but it was a temporary measure to make sure that GM and Chrysler survived, because the hundreds of thousands of jobs that trickle out to the auto parts industry are critical. These are important jobs, whether it is auto plant workers or GM retirees in Whitby, in Oshawa, or in Durham.

As I said at the outset, since 1965, we have always produced export, mainly to the United States, but we started a very serious diversification effort under the last Conservative government. It is very good that was done now that we have President Trump in the United States, who is protectionist. We will continue to do that.

Linamar, Martinrea and Magna are world-class auto parts and auto companies. We can compete; we have competed and we will compete.

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

Madam Speaker, I am quite pleased to hear Liberals and Conservatives talking today about the importance of auto jobs. However, unfortunately in the field they are not listening to the auto sector itself, which is saying not to sign the CPTPP because it will harm jobs in Canada. This is not me as the member for Essex or the NDP who are asking this; it is actually the people they are claiming to represent. If they are not listening to those in the exact sector they represent, to those whose jobs will be lost in their community, then I do not know how they have the nerve to stand in the House and talk about auto in a way that says they are representing it.

Auto is in the crosshairs in NAFTA and in the potential 25% tariffs. I ask the member, why are you not standing up for auto workers and standing against the CPTPP?

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Again, I just want to remind the member she is to address the chair and not the individuals themselves.

The hon. member for Durham.

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Durham, ON]

Madam Speaker, I would turn that around. Is the member for Essex somehow discounting the auto workers that work in Woodstock, or Cambridge at Toyota? Is she somehow discounting the jobs in Alliston? Is she somehow suggesting that the auto parts and auto assembly business worldwide is not global when some of the largest investments in recent years in Ontario, many of them unionized jobs, have been from global automakers?

The NDP briefly in the last Parliament supported the South Korean trade deal. I think it was the first time in history. The light shone through the stained glass here. It was remarkable. Now it seems the NDP has gone back to suggesting that the jobs for Toyota workers or Honda workers do not count. I will fight for workers in Windsor and Essex, in Oshawa, in Oakville, in Cambridge. We are world class. We will win, and we need access to those markets.

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

Madam Speaker, what a privilege and pleasure it is to rise on such an important issue as international trade. I have been listening to the debate, both yesterday and today, without too many surprises. I recognize and appreciate very much the Conservative Party's position with respect to supporting the government and recognizing the importance of passing this legislation by supporting the time allocation motion that was brought forward.

I am not surprised that the NDP have continued to fight anything to do with trade agreements, and I will try to provide some further comment on that. However, as we have heard a lot about details, numbers, and so forth, I would first like to highlight what I believe is important for this House, the viewers, and the people who might be following the debate to recognize.

Since day one, it has been this Prime Minister's number one goal and objective to fight for Canada's middle class and those aspiring to be a part of it. I would suggest that looking at the world markets and the potential they have for Canada with respect to increasing our quality of life and number of jobs is something we cannot work hard enough to achieve, because of the type of potential that is there.

I believe we could do so much more, and we have a government that is committed to doing more. Since day one, ministers have put the trade file front and centre as we try to ensure we are creating opportunities while working with Canadians, business, stakeholders, labour and so forth to enhance the opportunities abroad. The bottom line is that it is working.

Throughout these discussions and debates over the last two and a half years, we have seen a lot of agreements signed. Many Canadians might not be aware of how many countries are involved with the EU trade agreement in particular. There are some 25 plus countries, plus Ukraine, plus legislation dealing with the World Trade Organization. All those agreements and all those sign-offs that have occurred during this administration, along with the support from many other initiatives, have led to the generation of over a half million additional jobs in the Canadian economy today.

We are very fortunate and blessed to have such a skilled workforce. As has been pointed out by some in this House, whether it is the automobile industry or the agriculture industry, we have the best workers in the world. I believe the CPTPP is an agreement that will secure markets into the future.

Whenever I have the opportunity to talk trade with constituents, I try to explain how I see trade from my perspective. I see it as something that is absolutely critical to Canada's middle class, and I will attempt to try to explain it in the best way I know. At the end of the day, trade provides employment in a very tangible way, and I would like to give a couple of examples.

About 18 months ago I had an opportunity to go out to Neepawa, Manitoba. HyLife Foods LP is there, which produces pork. At that time, at least 95% of all the pork leaving the plant was going abroad, to Asia. That is a significant amount of pork. To put it in terms of jobs, we are talking about hundreds, not dozens, of direct jobs in the relatively small but beautiful community of Neepawa. That's just the direct jobs, those individuals who show up on the plant floor every day, and it is a market that is growing.

After we look at those direct jobs, we have to think about the indirect jobs. Those hundreds of employees are consumers of automobiles, housing and food. They are engaged in the communities. They are adding to the social fibre of that particular community.

Let us think about it in the sense that if not for those workers and their contribution to Manitoba's or Neepawa's or indeed Canada's economy, we would have lost a significant portion of Canada's overall GDP.

The example I am giving of Neepawa is taking place all over our country. These jobs are critically important. If not for trade, we would not have those jobs. Canada is a trading nation. We need to have markets abroad. This is a significant agreement; we are talking about over 500 million additional consumers. We are talking about a significant number of people.

When we can assist, by securing markets and by having something on paper, that is a positive thing for communities like Neepawa, and for businesses like HyLife that want to be able to continue to expand and employ more individuals. There are not only those direct jobs, but also those indirect jobs.

That was around 18 months ago, and I might be off by a month or two. I would think all members of Parliament would be familiar with a company called Canada Goose. Canada Goose is a world-class business that exports winter apparel, the best in the world. I think they now have three factories established. I am very glad that the latest addition to the Canada Goose family is in the heart of Winnipeg North, the area I represent. There will be hundreds of additional jobs as a direct result of that expansion. I think it is around 700, but I am not 100% sure on the actual numbers.

Here we have a first-class, world-quality product that is being manufactured in Canada and is employing hundreds of people. They too need those export markets. Those export markets are what allow companies such as HyLife and Canada Goose to look to the future and see ongoing growth. To me, that is what world trade is really all about.

As legislators, we should not be fearful of trade. This is where we differ from New Democrats. I listen. I have listened to many speeches from New Democrats on trade. They do not support trade. If it was up to the NDP, we would still have hundreds of horse-drawn buggies being manufactured in Canada. They just do not want to advance the economy. They do not seem to understand that the world is changing. Technology causes change. There are jobs that will be generated.

The proof is in the pudding. We have a Prime Minister, a cabinet, and Liberal government members who are saying we believe in Canadians and we want to invest in Canada, whether it is through infrastructure or social programming.

At the end of the day, we understand that if strength is added to Canada's middle class, we are really allowing the economy to be healthier and stronger. When we have a healthy, educated citizenship, and as we move and strive to improve upon that, we will see that our companies here in Canada are the best in the world. All we have to do is ensure that we get them the markets, and we will continue to prosper well into the future.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Speaker, it is good to have my colleague back. I sure missed him over the last three months, and I know I am going to miss him even more after 2019 when I will not be able to see him in this place again. All in good fun. I hope he will be campaigning in my riding as well.

In the context of the trans-Pacific partnership, when we talk about the opportunities that exist for increasing trade in the Asia-Pacific area, one of those opportunities involves strengthening exports of our energy resources to our partners in the Asia-Pacific area. However, the government has shown time and time again an inability to make progress when it comes to proceeding with pipelines.

When will we finally see the Liberals' plan to actually get pipelines built in this country?

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, it is truly amazing to what degree the current Conservative opposition members seem to worship the ground Stephen Harper walks on. Even at the mention of his name, they will often clap because they believe that Stephen Harper was the best prime minister and the one they want to emulate. We see that in their current leadership. There is no difference. When we look at what Stephen Harper did in terms of pipelines, it was not a positive thing for Canada, in particular the province of Alberta.

The Conservatives did not get one inch of pipeline to the Pacific market in over 10 years. We finally have a government that is prepared to ensure we will get that. When it came time for us to acquire the assets, members opposed it. If it were Stephen Harper or their current leader, we know that the pipeline would never happen, but Albertans and all Canadians know we have a Prime Minister who is committed to expanding the market to Asia also.