Thank you very much.
I'm happy to be able to provide some views. I should make it clear that I'm not representing any particular party or any particular interest. I've been asked to appear in my personal capacity.
To give you a bit of my background, I'm a trade lawyer by profession, but I used to be in the old Department of External Affairs. I've been involved in international trade at the GATT and the WTO, and in Canada-U.S. trade for many years. I deal regularly—every day—with trade policy issues.
I'll be very brief. This is a bill to implement an agreement that has been concluded, signed and ratified by two parties, the United States and Mexico. It is now up to Canada to ratify this deal. The deal is done. It is not open for renegotiation. It is totally impractical to think that the United States Congress would be prepared to change anything in an agreement that they have approved and the President has ratified.
What we're talking about here—and I think the committee understands this—is changes to Canadian laws to bring our laws into line, where necessary, with a concluded agreement. When you look at the clauses you are examining, you will find that they are consistent, at least in my view, with everything that has been agreed to in the CUSMA. The task is to approve legislation to make some adjustments, if necessary—and frankly, I don't think I see any areas where adjustments are needed—to bring our laws technically into line with what has been concluded in the trade agreement.
As I said, in every practical sense, the agreement is not on the table for renegotiation. What is necessary on Parliament's behalf is to enact legislation that, where necessary, brings our laws into line with what has been agreed to with the United States and Mexico. Some of these adjustments are purely technical. They are nothing more than some moderate tweaking of Canadian statutes to comply with the agreement. There are some substantive provisions, as you all know, dealing with customs matters, tariffs and rules of origin, but that's something Canada has agreed to in CUSMA and now it is up to Parliament to pass the necessary implementing legislation.
As a final word, if Parliament were to reject this bill or to refuse to approve the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement, it would be unprecedented and, frankly, would set our economic trade and political relations back many years. It would be an astonishing result if Canada did not proceed with ratification.
Those are my views.