Evidence of meeting #49 for International Trade in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site.) The winning word was clause.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
It's clause 7, amendment NDP-3.
Just to let the committee know, amendment NDP-4 cannot proceed with NDP-3, so it's one or the other.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I found it. I'm sorry; I went out of order there.
This reflects a suite of amendments that would add further objectives to the purpose of the bill, and in this case the purpose of this amendment is to add taxation transparency into one of the purposes of the bill.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
To save time, could we have recorded votes for all the amendments? Then I won't have to say it every time.
Conservative
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
On a point of order, Mr. Chair, is it possible to say, “Mr. Speaker, I believe if you seek it you will find that the vote applied to the last could be applied to the next?”
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
The clerk is saying he wouldn't advise it.
I really don't see the upside of having a recorded vote at this stage. Nonetheless, I'm not going to object to it, and we're not going to battle over it. If you want it, you're going to get it. That's not a big issue.
Let's move on. We're through with it, and NDP-3 is defeated.
Now we will go to amendment NDP-4. It can be moved because amendment NDP-3 was negatived.
Go ahead.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Thank you.
Again, Mr. Chairman, briefly, this amends the purpose part of the bill to add harmonious and sustainable development as a purpose of the trade agreement between Canada and Panama.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
It's a recorded vote.
(Amendment negatived: nays 7; yeas 4)
The amendment is defeated. We will now move to amendment NDP-5.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Again, it's another amendment to the purpose of the bill, to add to the purposes the goal of increasing sustainable investment between the two countries.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
As per the motion, go ahead.
(Amendment negatived: nays 7; yeas 4)
The amendment is defeated, so we do not need to go to amendment NDP-2. It can't be proceeded with.
Now I'll ask for NDP-6.
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The fourth amendment that the official opposition New Democrats would make to the Canada-Panama trade agreement is to add to the purpose of the deal the right to collective bargaining, and to put that as one of the purposes of the bill.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
As per the motion, go ahead.
(Amendment negatived: nays 7; yeas 4)
We'll now move to amendment NDP-7.
Mr. Davies, are you interested in moving it?
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
It's our final amendment to the purposes of the Canada-Panama trade agreement, and it would be to amend the purposes of the agreement to include the promotion of sustainable human development as part of the definition of sustainable development.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
As per the motion, we will proceed.
(Amendment negatived: nays 7; yeas 4)
(Clause 7 agreed to: yeas 7; nays 4)
(On clause 10—Canadian representative on Joint Commission)
Now we'll go on to clause 10 and amendment NDP-8.
Go ahead, Mr. Davies.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
This amendment, Mr. Chairman, would require the minister...well, let me back up.
The current clause says the minister is the principal representative of Canada on the joint commission, which is part of the administrative structure of the free trade agreement between Canada and Panama, and the amendment of the New Democrats would require the minister, in the performance of this function, to consult on a regular basis with representatives of Canadian business, labour, environmental and human rights organizations.
Briefly, Mr. Chairman, the purpose of this amendment is fairly obvious. Trade agreements are not signed for the governments of the countries; rather, they're signed by the governments of the countries for the people of the countries. The people of the countries who will actually be most affected by the free trade agreement are the stakeholders that I mentioned: the business community, labour groups, environmental groups and human rights organizations. They have an important stake in seeing that this agreement or any free trade agreement is carried out, and monitoring that.
Any responsible government would want to consult regularly with representatives of those groups to see how things are going in the discharge of their duties as a representative on the joint commission. This amendment would make that consultation a requirement. I would urge all parliamentarians on this committee to require our minister to consult with those stakeholder groups, including, I might emphasize, business, who would be involved in this.
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Mr. Chair, as we go through the different amendments, I notice some of them are actually fairly significant amendments that would really change the legislation. The question I have is—and you must excuse me for not necessarily knowing right offhand—if these amendments were to pass, what would be the ramifications on the deal itself? Would the government be obligated to go and renegotiate a deal if these amendments were to pass?
If we could get some clarification on that point, I would appreciate it.
Cameron MacKay Director General, China Trade Policy Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
I'm not sure I could give a generic response. It would really depend on whether the amendment that was being proposed had a direct impact on the text in the treaty itself. I can't provide a generic response; it depends on the proposed amendment, the specific amendment.
Conservative