Evidence of meeting #40 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was remission.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:15 p.m.
Director General, International Trade Policy Division, Department of Finance
That's not something that's being considered right now. I know that's been done in the context of various free trade agreements. I don't think we're at that point, we don't see the kinds of imports at this point that would warrant that discussion.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Leah Taylor Roy Liberal Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Okay, so you don't think there's going to be damage from this that would warrant that kind of compensation?
4:15 p.m.
Director General, International Trade Policy Division, Department of Finance
Not from what we see now.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Leah Taylor Roy Liberal Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Not from what you see now, okay. Very good.
Do you see any other issues? It seems to me that we don't have a lot of data since there's only been one import in the half-year this has been in place. We don't really have much data to go on for the impact this is having on the sector, and we only have six months left to go with the remittance order. Are there any other aspects of it that concern you?
4:15 p.m.
Director General, International Trade Policy Division, Department of Finance
With respect to this sector in particular, I would say no. People have raised some possible concerns, and those are the types of things that we're certainly trying to track. We haven't seen anything else beyond that to cause us concern at this point.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative John Barlow
Thank you very much, Ms. Taylor Roy.
Monsieur Perron, you have two and a half minutes, please.
4:15 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Earlier, when Ms. Rood asked a question about the possibility of removing supply-managed goods if the order is renewed, you said you wanted to keep the remission open and thus keep supply-managed goods in it.
Are you really considering renewing the order after June 9? Might the order end on June 9?
4:15 p.m.
Director General, International Trade Policy Division, Department of Finance
I may have misunderstood the earlier question. At the moment, there is no plan to renew the order, which ends on June 9, 2023. We have not discussed it.
4:15 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Right.
In the event that the order is renewed, would it potentially be possible to consider removing supply-managed goods?
4:15 p.m.
Director General, International Trade Policy Division, Department of Finance
That could be part of the discussion. We would give our advice based on what we see with the...
4:15 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
It should at least be discussed with people in the industry, to find out what can be agreed to without destabilizing the systems.
4:15 p.m.
Director General, International Trade Policy Division, Department of Finance
Yes, we would look into it.
4:15 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
In my previous round of questions, I asked you whether you were certain that it was not coming from outside Ukraine. You answered my question. The objective is to help Ukrainians.
Are you certain that it is not coming from regions of Ukraine currently occupied by the Russian Federation? Is there a way of measuring that? Might there be goods coming from Ukraine where the profits would be going to the Russian Federation?
4:15 p.m.
Director General, International Trade Policy Division, Department of Finance
Imports from zones occupied by Russia are prohibited, so we don't think there is any risk in that regard.
4:15 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Right.
For the future, you say you are going to monitor the situation. To date, there have been no poultry imports. There has been ice cream and so on. We know that people at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency are working on authorizing the importation of those products. So there have not been any, because it was not approved.
Are meetings being planned with people in the industry for the future, for example with representatives of the supply-managed federations?
4:15 p.m.
Director General, International Trade Policy Division, Department of Finance
There have not been any for the moment, but I know there is a lot of interest in this. There are starting to be meetings with various people. I think the Minister's office has held these discussions. We are certainly going to think about it.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative John Barlow
Thank you, Mr. Perron.
Mr. Cannings, you have two and a half minutes, please.
4:20 p.m.
NDP
Richard Cannings NDP South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
Thank you.
Perhaps you've answered this before, but there have been a lot of numbers and things coming at me. I know it was a very rapid decision to bring in the remission order.
Mr. Forsyth might be best to answer this.
Was there any analysis done before, or has there been some analysis done, on how much chicken imports would increase into Canada, for instance? What's the effect on other markets? Has there been an increase in the EU market?
We're all trying to help Ukraine, but is this the best way? Has there been some analysis on how this might have helped Ukraine, overall—our efforts and, say, the EU's?
4:20 p.m.
Director General, Market Access, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Our department hasn't done any of that type of analysis.
Have you guys done any?
It might be that you have to ask the next group of officials. I think they would probably be the best placed to answer that.
4:20 p.m.
Director General, International Trade Policy Division, Department of Finance
Yes, I would say the same thing. We didn't specifically look at that and who was benefiting.
I mean, we're aware of the companies that are there, but as we've heard, they're not certified just yet, so it's a little bit hard to have a good understanding of what those impacts might be.
4:20 p.m.
NDP
Richard Cannings NDP South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
Is there any sense, again, say with the poultry market, of how many additional imports from Ukraine would be necessary before there would be some significant impact on prices to consumers and producers here? It's supply managed, so I'm assuming the producers are getting a set price. How is that whole market affected by this?
4:20 p.m.
Director General, Market Access, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
I would think that the next group of officials would be best placed to answer that. I don't think we're talking about the type of importation that would have any impact on the marketplace like that. There would not be that level of imports.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative