Evidence of meeting #79 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 tpp.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Rick White  General Manager, Canadian Canola Growers Association
Jim Everson  Vice-President, Government Relations, Canola Council of Canada
Peter Clark  President, Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates Limited
Richard Phillips  Executive Director, Grain Growers of Canada

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON

I would like to follow up—

5:10 p.m.

Liberal

Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE

If you want to talk about who is breaking election laws, let's talk about today. There's a member sitting here who shouldn't be here.

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON

Mr. Chair, should I be subject to this abuse?

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield

Just carry on.

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON

Thank you.

Mr. Clark, I'm interested in the comments you made. “Free trade agreement” is a bit of a misnomer because it's more managed trade rather than free trade. Is that correct?

5:10 p.m.

President, Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates Limited

Peter Clark

It's not truly free—there are still subsidies and regulatory differences.

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON

Exactly. It's more like codifying a legal regime so that everybody who falls under that regime knows the rules to play by. It provides predictability and stability so there are no surprises.

5:10 p.m.

President, Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates Limited

Peter Clark

That's a fair description.

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON

Let me go back in history a bit. We talked about how the raising of tariffs is not necessarily a good thing. If we go back to the depression, the natural reaction of countries was to raise tariffs to protect domestic industry. Is that correct?

5:10 p.m.

President, Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates Limited

Peter Clark

That's the way we built our manufacturing industry, with the National Policy.

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON

The raising of tariffs in the late 1920s was a major cause of the global depression. Is that right?

5:10 p.m.

President, Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates Limited

Peter Clark

I'm not sure it was the 1920s or if it was the late 1920s and the 1930s. Smoot–Hawley was 1928, I think.

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON

That was a major cause of the global depression, you would say.

5:10 p.m.

President, Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates Limited

Peter Clark

Yes, it was.

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON

So tariffs are not necessarily a good thing, I think it is safe to say.

5:10 p.m.

President, Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates Limited

Peter Clark

I used to work for the Department of Finance. They didn't mean much to revenue but they did have a use.

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON

Canada's trade deficit is a major result of our strong dollar. Is that correct?

5:10 p.m.

President, Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates Limited

Peter Clark

Yes, it is.

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON

I know that the opposition would like us to have a weak dollar because that's what they base their industrial policy on. They say that Canada should have an industrial policy based on a weak dollar, but that's not what we believe on this side.

There are a number of trade deals that are negotiated for defensive purposes. Is that correct?

5:10 p.m.

President, Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates Limited

June 5th, 2013 / 5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON

The Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement was certainly one of them.

5:10 p.m.

President, Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates Limited

Peter Clark

The Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement gave us a significant market opening because we were prepared to make concessions on the security of energy supply and a number of other issues. NAFTA was a defensive agreement for Canada

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON

Okay.

There were exemptions even under the initial free trade agreement. For example, Canada exempted beer, right?

5:10 p.m.

President, Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates Limited

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON

It's a common practice to have exemptions.