Evidence of meeting #4 for Finance in the 39th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was information.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
How do you control that both parties will not try to defer, or postpone, or...?
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
We control our own procedures. We set the time limits for them to provide evidence, to respond to the other party's evidence. We set the time available for a hearing, etc. It's a very tightly controlled process.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
I have one last question. On the $9.4 million for last year, do we see that anywhere in the annual report, what the breakdown is, how much each court case or each request would cost?
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
No, we do not.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Would we be able to take, for example, the cost of 78 cases and then divide it evenly, or do some cases take more than others?
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
No. Unfortunately, that's not a very good measure, and we are struggling with this to try to arrive at some way of measuring this, because you can have very simple cases or you can have very complex cases. Recently we had a case involving an agricultural product where we had 25 different parties appearing before the tribunal, with lawyers and everything else, all within the same time limit. What it meant is we at the tribunal, to digest this information and to ensure that the process--
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
That goes back to my previous question. So there, in that specific case, you had 25 people intervening. Did you know ahead of time you were going to have 25 and know exactly how long the hearings were going to be?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister
I'm sorry to interrupt, but we only have time for a short answer. We're out of time for Mr. Pacetti.
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
No, we don't know until people file a notice of appearance.
Conservative
Bloc
Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
There are two subjects I'd like to talk about. First, I'd like to continue the discussion on procedure. If I've understood correctly, requests may come from the Governor in Council or from companies which believe they have been adversely affected due to dumping, for example.
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
That depends entirely on the type of case. Cases of dumping and countervailing duties are private matters. The government, therefore, does not intervene.
Bloc
Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
In that case, are the companies themselves the only entities to be able to intervene, or can third parties, for example unions, also make such requests?
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
All interested parties may make representations.
Bloc
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
Union representatives sometimes come forward and support one side or the other. It doesn't happen often, but in the case of consumer goods, retailers sometimes frequently intervene, because the action we take may have an impact on their activities.
Bloc
Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
Third parties can only intervene at a hearing at some point in the process, but they cannot request an investigation per se, is that right?
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
They can request an investigation as industry representatives.
Bloc
Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
So, only industry can request an investigation. A union could not call on the Tribunal to rule on any given matter.
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
It could do so if it represented the industry. For example if it had the support of the producers on whose behalf it worked, the two could lodge a complaint together.
Bloc
Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
I see.
Last September, you rendered a decision on inexpensive bikes. You suggested countervailing duties.
Could you explain this decision to the committee?
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
I can, but only the broad brush strokes, as the tribunal doesn't usually explain its decisions, aside from listing the grounds upon which a decision was made.
The tribunal was seized with the case and conducted an investigation. It found there was hardship and recommended a number of measures. We forwarded these recommendations to the government, and that marked the end of our mandated involvement in the case. The onus is now on the government to respond.
Bloc
Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
To your knowledge, did the government follow-up on these recommendations?
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
Not yet.