Bill C-282

An Act to amend the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act (supply management)

This enactment amends the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act so that the Minister of Foreign Affairs cannot make certain commitments with respect to international trade regarding certain goods.

Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

moved that Bill C-282, An Act to amend the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act (supply management), be concurred in.

(Motion agreed to)

The House proceeded to the consideration of Bill C-282, An Act to amend the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act (supply management), as reported (without amendment) from the committee.

[Aaron Fowler]

Thank you for the question.

If the United States has concerns with respect to Bill C-282 or its impact on Canada's ability to engage on issues affecting supply management, it will not wait for the occasion of negotiations on softwood lumber to bring those concerns to our attention.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

Mr. Chair, I have a question for Mr. Fowler.

Mr. Fowler, you mentioned that discussions are going on, but there's no indication when the negotiations can begin. Hopefully sooner or later the negotiations should start. When the negotiations start, do you expect that Bill C-282, if the bill passes and it becomes legislation, will affect the negotiations?

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Thank you very much.

I want to quickly switch gears to talk about the country-of-origin labelling that's percolating in the United States. We know that these are draft regulations and that they are voluntary, but it's a significant issue, I think, for Canadian beef.

Do you think that the passage of Bill C-282, which, I take it, will not be well received in the United States, will make this non-tariff trade barrier more difficult to resolve with the United States?

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

I have no more questions. I will simply thank witnesses for their answers. It was quite interesting.

They are right, except when they condemn Bill C‑282. Everything else was quite relevant.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Kingston.

If I could go to Mr. Laird, in your comments you mentioned our investment protections, that the dispute resolutions within free trade agreements are too defensive; they don't properly support our companies. For example, you mentioned that protection for foreign investment within CUSMA no longer exists, where it did under the NAFTA.

How key is it for Canada to get that back into a revised CUSMA? Will things such as passing Bill C-282, which protects supply management, make it more difficult for this to happen because our trading partners could see this as a trade irritant?

[Will Lowe]

In regard to veterinarians, I think a lot of this stuff goes back to some of the issues we had with COVID and with border issues at some of our ports. It has become a labour issue on the veterinary side. It's to no one's surprise that veterinarians here in western Canada and across the country are harder and harder to.... We're putting fewer graduates through college, and we're seeing older veterinarians in Canada retire. I'm thinking that the situation is similar in the U.S.

For a time, we had BSE issues. That was from 2003 until now, with the negligible risk status change that happened last year. That was 20 years in the making from our first BSE case. That issue is very slowly rectifying itself.

On Bill C-282, we see it as an impediment. It just throws up another irritant to the U.S. It's protecting one industry at the expense of other industries. We see protecting supply management as one of those things that becomes a trade irritant, especially when we're looking at the potential for another country of origin labelling protectionism non-tariff trade barrier in the United States.

We're asking the United States to not implement country of origin labelling. We've gone through this numerous times in the last 20 years. Canadians have always won those cases, but then we go and introduce Bill C-282, which protects one industry over another. We highlight an issue but the U.S. can say, “We're looking at country of origin labelling, but you're protecting your industries as well.”

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Thank you very much.

In the theme of the government's bringing in legislation without really consulting recently, I'd like to talk to Mr. Lowe with the National Cattle Feeders' Association.

You're probably aware of Bill C-282 and the criticism that there wasn't enough consultation. I was wondering if you could comment on this bill being a potential trade barrier.

Also please elaborate a little bit. You mentioned the veterinarian situation between Canada and the U.S. You'd think that we'd be able to get that one figured out. Could you let us know the status of this dispute between Canadian and U.S. veterinarians and what it means for the market here for Canadians and the costs?

[Dave Carey]

Yes.

In short, I think years from now, if Bill C-282 does pass, countries and parliamentarians around the world will be discussing Canada in the same way that we're discussing the U.K. and India, because we've legislated out a massive part of our sector as opposed to negotiating. In making sure supply management gets a deal that's protected, Bill C-282 will be viewed internationally by our trading partners as a trade irritant. It will also impact future WTO negotiations around agriculture for sure.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

They ultimately pay the price. Thank you for that.

I'd like to go now to the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance and Mr. Carey.

You talked in your presentation about some of the trade barriers that exist. You talked about direct government support, in essence, and most people would think monetary support, government policies, a regulatory approach. However, we recently reviewed Bill C-282 here. What it would do is preclude discussions of our supply-managed sectors when the Canadian government undertakes new trade negotiations.

CUSMA is up for renewal in the next couple of years. We're currently working on a Canada-U.K. trade agreement. We've just had the U.K. accession to the CPTPP.

Do you see this as a trade irritant that is just waiting to happen?

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

I guess I didn't ask my question very well. If we solve the quota situation, would you be in a situation of having a good, thriving business and have Bill C-282—

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

I have just one more question about cheese.

You briefly mentioned Bill C-282, which we have obviously discussed at this committee, and your concerns with it. You have these other concerns about the TRQ, the quota system. I'm not an expert here, but it strikes me that the quota system is more of a problem for you. If we got rid of Bill C-282, you would still have a difficult situation before you. Is that right?

[Joe Dal Ferro]

We find that Bill C-282 will limit the availability of cheeses from around the world for Canadian consumers. It will make it much more difficult to import cheeses from around the world.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Did you want to comment on Bill C-282 at all?