Evidence of meeting #14 for International Trade in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was public.
A recording is available from Parliament.
1 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
I believe that the study done by the department said it was $12 billion per year, if I'm not mistaken.
1 p.m.
Director of Research, Atlantic Institute for Market Studies
That is one time. That builds up.
1 p.m.
Conservative
Devinder Shory Conservative Calgary Northeast, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for coming here.
You can see totally different visions on both sides. In the last testimony the Council of Canadians and the NDP teamed up, basically. They went so far as to say that this trade agreement is stupid, when we know from the research that there will be 80,000 jobs created. There will be $12 billion in increased trade. I don't see anything stupid in job creation for Canadians.
Let me go to you, Mr. McIver. In one portion of your presentation you talked about the recognition of foreign education and certification. That is very near and dear to my heart. Of course I agree with you. You recognized the labour shortage. You recognized the labour mobility issue and all of that.
Quickly, because the chair will not give me enough time, I'd like you to comment on the opportunities CETA will provide, for example, for labour mobility.
1 p.m.
Director of Research, Atlantic Institute for Market Studies
As I suggested in my comments, I don't think there is a lot of benefit that comes through CETA for this, because we are already making efforts within the country to address it. In fact, the advances we've made in certification basically have pre-empted CETA. As I understand it, what they wanted we already have decided to give, and not because we are negotiating with them. As I've tried to say throughout, we did it because it's in our own self-interest, which is exactly to your point.
1 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
Thank you very much.
Thank you for coming in. You've created some interesting stimulus over the last hour, and we appreciate your testimony and your time here before the committee. Thank you very much for coming.
With that, the meeting is adjourned.