Evidence of meeting #17 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 41st Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was panel.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Director General, Market Access, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
A minute ago I said I didn't have any information on the domestic market. It has just been handed to me, so now I do.
The way the combined sales are measured is in terms of what is called “landed value”. It's basically landings. The peak year was 2006, when it was $34.1 million.
Director General, Market Access, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
It's for landings. They would have found their way into both the domestic market and export markets.
NDP
Ryan Cleary NDP St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
I'm looking for some clarity. This is a follow-up to the question Mr. Chisholm asked.
You talk about permitting Greenlandic and EU domestic seal products to be sold in the EU. You mentioned that the Greenlandic hunt is carried out by the Inuit there, but what are the figures for the Greenlandic and the EU hunt? Is the EU hunt also an aboriginal hunt, an Inuit hunt, or is it a...?
I'm looking for numbers for Greenland and the EU in terms of how much their hunts were worth over the same timeframes that you gave us for the Canadian export and domestic markets.
Director, Government Procurement, Trade and Environment Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
The EU hunt is primarily in relation to marine resource management.
Director, Government Procurement, Trade and Environment Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Yes.
For the number of seals that are culled in any one year we have some fairly precise figures for Sweden, and I can't recall the figure specifically for the northern Scotland area. For the one in Sweden, I think it's around 100 seals. It's quite a small number. For Finland the number is about 600.
So in size, the seal cull in the EU is fairly limited.
NDP
Ryan Cleary NDP St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
If you don't have the overall numbers here for Sweden and the other countries.... Mr. Chair, can we ask the witnesses to provide us with the overall numbers of the animals that are culled and for the value of the products?
Director, Government Procurement, Trade and Environment Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
I'm not sure that we have, as a result of the WTO case, the value of the product, but certainly for Sweden it was about 100 seal culls, and then for Finland it was about—
Director, Government Procurement, Trade and Environment Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
It was the number of seals culled. Then it was about 600 for Finland.
As to the timeframe, these are recent annual numbers.
NDP
Ryan Cleary NDP St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
To simplify, then, if as a Newfoundland and Labrador politician, a Canadian politician, I talk about the hypocrisy of the European Union in that they banned Canadian seal products but at the same time have culls in Greenland and in the European Union itself....
What is the total number of animals and the total dollar value of those culls in terms of resulting products from the animals that are taken in the cull?
Director, Government Procurement, Trade and Environment Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
For the EU itself, it's in the range that I just identified.
Greenland publishes figures on a more systematic basis, and we can provide the committee with that information. But the Greenland hunt is not just a cull for marine resource management purposes. It's in effect a commercial seal hunt.
NDP
Ryan Cleary NDP St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
Here is one last, quick question.
We know how people in the European Union generally, if you listen to the propaganda from the EU, feel about the Canadian seal hunt. But what has been the impact on Canadian fish products sold into the EU because of people not being exactly overjoyed with the Canadian seal hunt?
Do you get the question?
Director General, Market Access, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
I don't have any information that indicates that our fish and seafood exports have been compromised as a result of this.
NDP
Ryan Cleary NDP St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
Is there a fear that they would be with the Canada-EU free trade deal? Is there a fear that this may happen?
Director General, Market Access, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
What I can tell you about the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement is that it will provide us with unambiguously better access to the EU market, as a result of the elimination of tariffs on a very wide range of products, in fairly short order—if not immediately, then over the implementation period of a number of years.
As I said, I don't have any information to suggest that our fish and seafood or some other exports have been compromised as a result of the seal case.
Conservative
Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, gentlemen. I have just a few questions. I think they're easier than the last ones, and that will be good.
Can you tell me, first of all, how the panel was composed for the first decision that was made? Who was on it, and how was it decided who would be on it? Then I have a similar question for the appellate body. Is it the same group of countries, for example, that have representatives on that?
Were the most recent hearings in March public? Are there public transcripts available of them that we could look at, if anybody wanted to look at them?
Let me start with those.
Director General, Market Access, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Sorry to take up some of your time getting the answer, but the answer to your question is that in both cases, these are three-member bodies, both the panel and the appellate body. They are drawn from WTO-member countries. In the panel itself, the members were from Switzerland, Singapore, and Australia. In the case of the appellate body, the members are from China, Korea, and the United States, appointed by the director general of the World Trade Organization.
In terms of the panel process, these things can vary a little bit depending on who the complainants and defendants are, but in the case of the EU and Canada, one of the things that we see eye to eye on is a robust level of transparency in terms of panel proceedings. So as a practical matter, not only are all of the submissions available upon request, but the actual hearings can be witnessed by the public. There's a mechanism, closed-circuit television sort of thing, for interested parties to be part of it.
Does that answer your question?
Conservative
Director General, Market Access, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
There aren't transcripts of the actual process. There's not a transcript, but as I said, the written submissions can be made available.
Conservative
Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC
You mentioned that we should get an answer sometime in May, I think. If we were successful at that, what would it look like? Is there any chance, in your view, that if we were successful we would somehow get back to 2006 numbers, or has the horse left the barn on this issue?
