Foreign Affairs Committee on May 17th, 2006

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

By not using it--

[Michael Wilson]

Let me just make one other comment.

The dispute settlement mechanism, with the exception of this particular industry, has worked reasonably effectively for quite a period of time. So let's not throw out the whole system just because we've had some differences of opinion in one particular industry.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

It's the binding nature.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Mr. Julian, you have about 20 seconds, and that's for an answer as well.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

The binding dispute settlement mechanism is dead. What replaces it, as far as the softwood lumber draft goes, is something that is completely toothless.

I gather from what you're saying, the instructions to you were that it was negotiation at all cost.

[Michael Wilson]

I think you're trying to put words in my mouth.

The point I'm making is that the dispute settlement mechanism has worked. I forget your words precisely, but it is not without good use, and it has been put to good use in a number of ways over the course of the past 15 years. There's no reason why that can't continue.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Mr. Van Loan.

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'm going to ask you a kind of future-looking question. In managing any good relationship, whether it's a marriage relationship, a relationship between friends or between working colleagues, one of the things that helps make it work well is to identify problems before they become too big and to try to resolve them early on.

I think on that emerging problem with the western hemisphere travel initiative, Canada was asleep at the switch and it was allowed to become a bigger problem that we now have to wrestle with. The same is the case, I think, with softwood lumber; it festered because it wasn't dealt with early.

Looking down the road, are there issues you see that perhaps we in Parliament, you as ambassador, and others should be putting some attention to right now before they have the opportunity to become major irritants or problems between the countries, that if a little effort and dialogue and relationship building happens now, we can avoid problems in the future?

[Michael Wilson]

In my opening remarks I said we had to anticipate and try to get more ahead of the wave than maybe we have in the past. That requires a lot of dialogue so you can see the development of issues on the horizon. Sometimes it's not possible to do that. Sometimes things just come out of the blue and it's not possible to anticipate them.

I did make reference to the importance of the border. I think it's important for us to try to stand back and get a broader perspective of the border and how the border relates to the range of trade issues, the range of environmental issues, and the range of security issues. That will help us, I think, in a number of ways, in seeing problems developing as we're reviewing things against that broader perspective.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Mr. Van Loan.

Mr. Martin.

[Keith Martin, Liberal, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Thank you.

I'll make this a short question.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Make it very quickly then, Mr. Martin.

We're on our third round, so we'll just close off after Mr. Martin.

[Keith Martin, Liberal, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Ambassador Wilson, one of the biggest concerns I think all of us here have is the current account deficit and deficit spending in the U.S. It's going to put our economy into grave risk if this continues. Can you just tell us to what extent you've brought this issue up with the U.S. administration?

[Michael Wilson]

If you have been noticing what Minister Flaherty and Governor Dodge have been doing, they have been raising the question of the role of the International Monetary Fund in the context of the global imbalances and what can be done to achieve a more effective response to them.

You mentioned the U.S. deficits. Well, there are other country surpluses that match those U.S. deficits, so it's not only one country that should change its policies. Both sides of the problem have to deal with the problem in a way that results in a smooth transition into a more stable situation, rather than a disruptive transition.

One of the things Mr. Dodge has been encouraging is for the International Monetary Fund to have a much stronger role in surveillance. At the spring meetings of the fund two or three weeks ago they agreed to do this. I think one of the real champions for bringing that about was Governor Dodge, but he's been strongly supported by Minister Flaherty as well.

Another element of that is going to be giving the strong emerging economies a greater role in the fund by increasing their quotas and, through that, increasing their voting strength and their influence around the table.

I think the initiative of those two elements is very well understood by the Americans. The Secretary of the Treasury is very much aware of the initiatives taken in that regard and we'll continue to press that in the United States. I know this will be done more broadly than only in the United States. It can't only be focused on one country, as I said in my opening comments in response to the question.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Mr. Ambassador.

You spoke in your statement about our relationship with the United States quite extensively, as well as in the questions and answers. You talked about the United States as being our number one trading partner--$1.6 billion or $1.8 billion a day. They are our closest neighbour, our closest ally.

Certainly, we wish you all the best in your position there. We wish you all the best in helping to rebuild the relationship.

I come from a rural constituency, and I know you did answer the question about BSE, but in the rebuilding of this relationship, do you hear of issues that are contentious between us and the United States? I know in the beef industry, for example, we talk about BSE and how frustrating it is for Canadian producers. I know the Americans have a couple of little issues that are not little to them, bluetongue and anaplasmosis, being two of them. Are these issues brought to you in your capacity as our ambassador, looking for movement?

You've heard a lot of issues that frustrate Canadians. Can you tell us a little about how you deal with the frustrations the Americans may have?

[Michael Wilson]

The Americans aren't bashful, so if they have an issue, they're going to bring it to us, and we will try to work things out the same way as they try to work things out when we have issues to bring to them. Sometimes we have some very real constraints in dealing with issues and sometimes they have some very real constraints. Those can be political, they may be financial, economic, or very much policy-oriented issues.

What I'd say to you is that there are far more opportunities where we can do things productively by working together. We can do things they can't do. In some cases, they can do things that we can't do. But if we have that broad positive relationship on a range of issues where we are partners, when they come to us or we come to them with specific complaints, irritants—however you want to describe it—that need action, then the backdrop, the environment for trying to get a positive resolution, certainly is far better. That's really what we're trying to achieve.

We have far more in common with them than we have things that divide us. Those are the areas where we can have some good results, as I've indicated in my opening remarks, in other parts of the world where we're both moving in the same direction with some of the same goals in mind.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you very much, Mr. Ambassador. We looked forward to your appearance today and you certainly didn't disappoint us.

We will suspend for two minutes, and we will come back to deal with some committee business.

Good luck in catching your plane.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

We resume our meeting of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

We have one piece of committee business that we want to deal with. We have a motion.

First of all, Mr. Casey is unable to be here for medical reasons. I think I've spoken to most, and there's a consensus that we can go ahead with this motion.

Mr. Patry.

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

I just want to say, Mr. Chair, that we passed this motion in the last Parliament. I think it was report number 6 or 7. It was also adopted in the House of Commons. As far as that is concerned, I'd be very pleased to sponsor it, because we sponsored it before. On behalf of Mr. Casey, I would like to sponsor it.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Just one moment.

Mr. Allison, did you want to speak to the motion? I think you were prepared to sponsor the motion on behalf of Mr. Casey. Is that correct?

[Dean Allison, Conservative, Niagara West—Glanbrook, ON]

Yes, and thank you, Mr. Chair.

Just to that point, in terms of the motion, over the last three years the Canadian Parliament has passed this motion. I think in terms of disease around the world, a disease doesn't respect any borders at all. Taiwan certainly is strategically placed in the Pacific and has over 10 million travellers each year, including 150,000 visitors to Canada. So keeping some of these things in mind, it would be beneficial for Taiwan to be able to participate in WHO.

With that in mind, the motion we have before us, that the committee support the bid for Taiwan to have observer status at the World Health Organization, is something we should consider.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Mr. Julian.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

On behalf of the New Democratic Party, I'm pleased to second the motion.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Mr. Julian. As I understand it, we don't need a seconder, but we do have co-sponsors. So Mr. Allison and Mr. Patry will co-sponsor that motion, if that's all right.

Were you going to speak?

Madame Bourgeois.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

I simply wanted to say that this is a motion that everyone would like to support because it is extremely important for Taiwan, and because it is necessary.