Evidence of meeting #29 for International Trade in the 39th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was injury.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
We are looking at more or less 95 employees, including the members. The budget is around $9.5 million to $10 million. Essentially the budget is salaries. There's not very much operational budget.
Conservative
Ted Menzies Conservative Macleod, AB
Thank you.
The reason I asked that is partially that Canada is a very trade-dependent nation. In agriculture, for example—my former role in life—we are absolutely dependent on foreign markets. I look at this and many other industries, and we have more production than we can consume in this country. That's a great thing. We're able to share what we have and what we can produce with the rest of the world. That's a wonderful opportunity and gift that we have.
I look at CITT as a bit of a form of protectionism for those who are not wanting to compete or not willing to compete. That's just a bit of an observation, and I'm sure some people will disagree with me; however, that is my view.
We could belabour what has happened over the last few years for hours here, and I don't want to do that. I would like to ask what role you could play or what advice you might give us, in our study that we're taking part in now at this committee, on how to make Canadian companies more competitive on the world scale. What advice can you give us that we can put in this report to give to our Canadian companies on how to avoid pitfalls, so that they don't fall into the countervail and anti-dumping that your counterparts in other countries may hold against us? What advice could you give us on that?
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
Well, Mr. Menzies, both of those questions are a little beyond the mandate of the tribunal, so it's difficult for me to provide answers to those kinds of questions.
In terms of avoiding the pitfalls of dumping and subsidy, the only advice I can give a domestic industry is to be very careful about how it prices its goods in a foreign market, so that they don't expose themselves to the possibility of a dumping complaint or a subsidy complaint.
Conservative
Ted Menzies Conservative Macleod, AB
Okay, thank you. I was hoping that was more the reason we had invited you here, to look towards the future.
Looking towards the future, then, with the stalemate we now have at the WTO, you referred several times to that as the parameters of your decision-making, as based on the WTO. What changes do you see that we need at the WTO to limit these types of situations that land on your desk, if we can get the round restarted?
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
Perhaps I need to clarify, on the role of the tribunal, that it is not a policy-making organization. It's like a court, essentially. We take the legislation we are given and apply it to the complaints that come before us. It's really not our role to comment on how the agreements in Geneva should be changed.
Conservative
Ted Menzies Conservative Macleod, AB
I just thought you might have a wish list, that we might be able to avoid some pitfalls in the future from some of your past experiences.
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
Well, they would be personal. But since I'm here to speak on behalf of the tribunal, I'll limit myself to what the tribunal can speak about.
Conservative
Helena Guergis Conservative Simcoe—Grey, ON
Can you tell me if there are really any safeguard measures we might impose that would be vulnerable to a challenge at the WTO?
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
I don't believe we've had, in the recent past, at least, since the tribunal has been in existence, any case that we have heard and decided that has gone to the WTO. There has been no complaint against the way we've executed our responsibilities.
Conservative
Helena Guergis Conservative Simcoe—Grey, ON
So I guess on my question there would probably be the same answer that you've given to others, that you can't give us some insight from your experience as to what you think they might be.
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
Well, I think the agreements on dumping and subsidy and safeguards are reasonably clear, and these are internalized in domestic legislation. I think governments get into difficulty in the WTO when they don't respect the terms of the agreements that they've signed. So far, we've been fortunate that this has not happened to us.
Conservative
Helena Guergis Conservative Simcoe—Grey, ON
What about a role for CITT in expanding internal trade within Canada, in light of the B.C.-Alberta agreement that was recently signed? Do you see a role?
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
The only role we have internally at the tribunal is in government procurement, where we are the appeal court for complaints against the federal government in procurement matters. If the government decides that it sees a role for the tribunal in other internal trade matters, then it's really up to the government to give us that mandate. But at the moment, we don't have a mandate beyond the one in government procurement.
Conservative
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for being here today gentlemen.
I would like to follow up on Mr. Temelkovski and Mr. André's questions on the scope of the decisions and the regularity with which the federal government implements them.
You listed the decisions that the Tribunal has made. Could you tell us how many of them have been adopted and implemented by the federal government since 2002, and how many have been ignored?
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
In what sector?
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
In all sectors where the government has received specific directives or recommendations.
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
Are you referring to safeguard measures?
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
Yes, but also to any decision that concerned the federal government. I understand that you cannot force the government to respect your recommendations; however, I would like to know how often it has implemented your recommendations and decisions, how often it has fully incorporated them, how often it has partly implemented them, and how often it has disregarded them.
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
A decision by the Tribunal is binding in dumping or countervail cases. By this I mean that the tax is applied for a five year period from the moment the Tribunal determines that injury has been caused. It is not open to debate, it is automatic.
In some cases, the second part implies that the government must make a decision only when the Tribunal issues a decision and makes recommendations. For example, the government has mandated us to make recommendations on customs duties in the textile sector. So far, we have carried out three general inquiries on textile. In two of the three cases, the government implemented the Tribunal's recommendations. We are still waiting for the government's decision on the third, and most recent, case.
In both the bicycle file and the barbecue file, that your colleague mentioned, the government decided not to implement the tribunal's recommendations.
In 2002, an exhaustive study was carried out on imports of nine different steel products. In this instance, the Tribunal determined that five of the nine products had caused injury and, consequently, issued certain recommendations to the government. However, the government chose not to implement the tribunal's recommendations.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
Could it be said that the government respects the tribunal's recommendations in the majority of cases?
Chair, Office of the Chairman, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
The government decided not to implement the tribunal's recommendations on safeguard measures, but did implement those on tariff relief.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
Mr. André asked you to give us an indication of how much companies spent bringing their case to the Tribunal.
