Evidence of meeting #30 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 jordanian.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Gerald Keddy Conservative South Shore—St. Margaret's, NS
Perhaps I did. What I wrote down was that the government needs to ensure that terms and conditions are met, and improving the environment in Jordan and labour practices can do nothing but help, so maybe you were talking about Canada's relationship.
5:05 p.m.
Deputy Director, International Department, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
Regardless, what is important and what did not happen under the U.S.-Jordan free trade agreement, until there was an exposé, was substantial commitment. There needs to be substantial commitment on behalf of both governments to take this agreement seriously. The Bush administration in the United States not only did not really monitor the implementation of the agreement, but in fact sent a letter to the Jordanians that essentially said they were never going to enforce the labour provisions of the agreement.
High-level constructive dialogue and engagement between governments is absolutely essential to make this work. And going back to the point I made earlier, right now is the point of maximum leverage Canada has with regard to Jordan. I don't think the Canadian government would consider moving forward with this agreement if the Jordanian government were far out of line with its obligations under the investments chapter or the services chapter. It's important that the commitments undertaken here be taken seriously and that both governments do what is necessary to come into compliance with the terms of that agreement before moving forward on the ratification.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Gerald Keddy Conservative South Shore—St. Margaret's, NS
I appreciate that answer.
It raises one other question, and that question.... I'll go back to rules-based trading. You do see the importance of dialogue, and you do see the importance of all parties being at the table and being able to have those frank discussions on human rights, on labour agreements, and on the environmental aspects of this agreement, but I'm asking you if you're suggesting in any way, shape, or form that it's anything but an improvement to the situation in Jordan. You're certainly not suggesting, I don't believe, that the U.S. would cancel its agreement with Jordan for any reason at this point, are you?
5:05 p.m.
Deputy Director, International Department, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
No. I think it's unusual that the U.S. would cancel an agreement regardless of the conditions on the ground. There was recently a coup in Honduras, and that wasn't sufficient for the U.S. to consider withdrawing from the Central America free trade agreement. It's very unusual for states to withdraw from international economic agreements.
However, again, it's going back to the balance of the trade agreement itself. Not having studied the rest of the agreement, I don't know whether, on balance, this agreement makes sense for Canadian workers or Jordanian workers. By looking at the labour cooperation agreement in isolation, yes, this does provide some opportunity that Canada could also take up in the context of its relationship with Jordan through the ILO or other international institutions. Given that you've negotiated this agreement, I'm reiterating that it's important that it be given the utmost seriousness and that both countries come into line with its commitments under this agreement before moving forward with ratification.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
5:05 p.m.
Deputy Director, International Department, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
This is putting aside any critique I could have of other chapters of the agreement, which I think also have due bearing on the economy and the government being able to properly provide for its citizens.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Lee Richardson
Thank you for those answers. That does take us past five o'clock here in Ottawa.
I particularly want to thank Mr. Wilcke for staying up so late in Munich to join us today. Thank you for your very useful comments throughout.
Also, to Mr. Vogt in Washington, thank you for joining us today and for answering questions.
If either of you have anything you want to add, please don't hesitate to send it through to our clerk and we'll be happy to add it to the record of this meeting. With that, I will bid you adieu.
We're going to suspend the committee for two minutes while we convert to in camera to do committee business.
[Proceedings continue in camera]