Mr. Chair, I'm moving that the international trade committee invite the Minister of International Trade and officials to brief the committee on Tuesday, November 22, 2011, or no later than Thursday, November 24, 2011, about the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks and Canada's efforts to be accepted as a participant in these negotiations.
I see this motion as rather urgent. The discussions lately on the Trans-Pacific Partnership are raising concerns by some industries.
While I support our being a part of those discussions, I'm concerned that on one day the Minister of International Trade said there was really no reason to be in the discussions, and then 24 hours later the Prime Minister said there was—this after President Obama seemed to be pressing Canada to be a part of the TPP discussions. Definitely, supply management had to be on the table.
Mr. Chair, as you know, because you and I attended the same meeting on CETA the other day, the Europeans have made it clear that there will be no deal unless there are some concessions on dairy. The minister continues to claim that on both the tariffs and import access it's zero-zero, but we know the Europeans have made it clear that there had to be some concessions on dairy and poultry.
So we really need to know from the minister and officials why they're going into these discussions on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Are they actually giving up on some of our industries before they even enter the negotiations just to sit at the table and have a discussion? I think we need some clarity from the government on this issue.