Evidence of meeting #46 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 witnesses.
A recording is available from Parliament.
President, Canadian Council for the Americas
We have around 600; it comes and goes.
NDP
Jasbir Sandhu NDP Surrey North, BC
What industry or what sectors of our economy would benefit from the trade with Panama?
President, Canadian Council for the Americas
I think engineering services, very much, because of all this infrastructure development, and banking services, not only because Panama is such an important banking hub in general but also because often our banking services are around these Canadian companies that are doing other kinds of business.
I think our pension funds can do well in Panama if the environment keeps stabilizing, and maybe the funds that are now doing well in places like Chile or Brazil, where there's been a lot longer period of this level of stability, could take a better look at Panama in this environment.
NDP
Jasbir Sandhu NDP Surrey North, BC
You talked about pension funds benefiting if we had a free trade agreement with Panama.
President, Canadian Council for the Americas
I think it would help their opportunities.
President, Canadian Council for the Americas
The funds generally go to places where the legal environment gives them the security they need and where there are growth opportunities. For instance, in Chile there's been a lot of investment, and in Brazil there's been a lot of investment. In the past places like Panama weren't considered very stable for this kind of investment. As Panama keeps developing and keeps becoming richer, and becomes more democratic and more stable, I think you'll see more and more interest in that sense.
NDP
President, Canadian Council for the Americas
Would there be negative impact from a free trade agreement with Panama? I don't think we have much exactly in the way of competition in products or sectors with Panama. It's not a manufacturing economy; it's mainly services. Off the top of my head, I wouldn't say so, but....
NDP
Jasbir Sandhu NDP Surrey North, BC
Surely we have tariffs on certain products and services right now. If we eliminate those, that would provide some sort of competitive advantage to those companies.
President, Canadian Council for the Americas
To Panamanian companies that want to sell to Canada, replacing Canadian products, do you mean?
President, Canadian Council for the Americas
I don't know if Panama is manufacturing so much for export. It's very much a service economy. You have the Panama Canal and the services around that. You have the banking sector, but I don't see them moving into Canada. I don't know of any products they export. They export bananas, where we don't have anything. I don't know of anything, but I could be corrected.
President, Canadian Council for the Americas
In terms of a tax haven, there's that OECD process to determine how transparent they are, but I think Panama has made a lot of progress on that.
NDP
Jasbir Sandhu NDP Surrey North, BC
When you say “progress”, are you saying that there were some issues with the banking system there, or...?
President, Canadian Council for the Americas
Oh, for sure. Yes, there were.
President, Canadian Council for the Americas
There were a lot of issues of corruption. There were a lot of issues of lack of transparency. That's what the OECD process was all about: this business of signing tax agreements with other countries and meeting a certain number of standards to be on the list of countries that are reliable. Panama has made the move to that list now, away from the bad old days, I'd say.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
Thank you very much.
Mr. Shory, you have five minutes, so make it short. Please go ahead.
Conservative
Devinder Shory Conservative Calgary Northeast, AB
As usual, Mr. Chair, thank you so much, and thank you to the witnesses for coming here this afternoon.
I understand that when new business opportunities are created, they bring prosperity. They also, of course, lift up the standard of living. Also, they require change, and improvements are made in working conditions as well. I understand that clearly.
Both of you made the specific statements that many improvements have been made in Panama. I want you to elaborate on them and give some examples. What improvements are we talking about when we talk about working conditions in Panama?
President, Canadian Council for the Americas
Would you like to start, Mr. Tilk?
Conservative
President and Chief Executive Officer, Inmet Mining Corporation
Okay. I''m able to go back over the 20-year evolution. By the way, it was December of 1989 when Noriega was forced out of the country, and 1990 was the commencement of democracy in Panama. I have seen the development of free elections. I have no doubt that the elections of the president of the assembly and anyone who has an elected position are proper. I don't believe there was ever any question of manipulation. To me, that's the basis of the democratic system: free elections.
I've seen huge differences in the judicial system and the appointment of Supreme Court judges. There were many judgments that were made by the Supreme Court contrary to government action, whereby the Supreme Court challenged the government. It's usually a sign of independence when that happens. I've seen tremendous improvements in the GDP, in the standard of living, in the educational system, in the general infrastructure, in the availability of health care—a huge improvement there—and in the availability of education to most people.
I still find—and I'm still bothered by—a lack of positive change in the rural areas, which is where Panama as a country has not been able to reach out, but certainly in the other areas there have been very significant improvements.