That's correct, but--
Evidence of meeting #18 for International Trade in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was colombia.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #18 for International Trade in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was colombia.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Bradley Trost Conservative Saskatoon—Humboldt, SK
But that category is treated differently from beans, and there's a reason why. I'm from Saskatchewan, where wheat, barley, lentils, and peas are all grown, but beans are not. I am curious whether this might change your view, because those crops we've listed—lentils, peas, wheat, barley, oats—are predominantly, to my understanding, imported by Colombia. Chile imports oats. The United States and Argentina import wheat, etc. But beans are treated differently because that crop is predominantly produced by the small producers.
My understanding is that they're keeping a 60% tariff, and that tariff will gradually go down over 20 years--Mr. Holder will probably know this better. But the crops that are not produced largely in Colombia will have their tariffs eliminated. I think that's a good idea, because it means that tariffs will be eliminated on crops that are not produced in Colombia, by and large--there are some exceptions and small things, but the crop that is most important to small producers is protected.
Do you not think that protecting that crop for small producers is good, whereas opening it up for the crop that is already internationally competitive is good for people who buy lentils, for the small bakers who buy wheat, etc? So is that not a good example of Canada and Colombia protecting the small producers but still expanding their trade?
5:25 p.m.
Professor, As an Individual
That's a great example. Thank you.
But another component of this is, for instance, rice production. I don't know if your agreement covers it or not.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
Bradley Trost Conservative Saskatoon—Humboldt, SK
Canada doesn't produce very much rice, so I don't think we'll be exporting. I understand that may be part of the U.S.-Colombia treaty, but I'm a Canadian and I'm not too interested in it.
5:25 p.m.
Professor, As an Individual
As a Canadian you may not be interested in rice production, but as a student of Colombia I know the impact of that component.
What I'm presenting to you is an overall assessment of the different free trade agreements of others, rather than only the Canadian one.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
Bradley Trost Conservative Saskatoon—Humboldt, SK
You mentioned beef and pork. They are two things I brought up when I was there talking with their ministry of agriculture. They opened it up to Canadian beef in mid-April because the Colombian ranchers were actually asking for barriers to Canadian beef to be brought down.
Are you aware that the Colombian ranchers themselves lobbied their own agriculture ministry to increase trade with Canada because they're interested in Canadian technology in breeding and genetics?
5:25 p.m.
Professor, As an Individual
I am partially aware of that, but what about the lecheros, the milk producers?
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
Bradley Trost Conservative Saskatoon—Humboldt, SK
My understanding is that's not included in the treaty between Canada and Colombia. It may be with Europe and the United States, but today we're dealing with Canada.
Listening to what you say, I think your position is closer to the Canada-Columbia treaty than to the Canada-U.S. treaty or the Canada-Europe treaty. So I think we may have more points of agreement than we first thought.
5:25 p.m.
Professor, As an Individual
One final thought, however, is on Canadian multinational cooperation investment in regions producing food, and the impact of that on the agricultural production of these regions--in other words, the unintended consequence of increasing mining in regions that produce food.
Have you ever contemplated the impact of that?
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
Bradley Trost Conservative Saskatoon—Humboldt, SK
A dual Colombian-Canadian citizen argued that it was very good to have Canadians involved in the Colombian mining sector. He was here as a witness the other day.
Thank you very much for your time. I appreciate your comments.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Lee Richardson
That wraps it up. We scheduled for one more, but I think that's enough for today. I'm sorry I have to cut the Conservatives off, never getting the full opportunity to ask questions, but we try to be fair here.
To all of our witnesses, thank you again for coming today.
I think that wraps it up until Thursday.
5:25 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
I want to stress that for Thursday's meeting the Afro-Colombian organization; the CLC, the national labour organization; NUPGE, which is Canada's largest union; and Justice and Peace have all indicated they're willing to come forward and are available to come before the committee.