International Trade Committee on Feb. 3rd, 2014

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

I'm not disagreeing with you. Just quickly, how many businesses would exist in the city of Burnaby, roughly?

[Derek Corrigan]

There would be probably 5,000.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Approximately 5,000 businesses, and of those 5,000 businesses, how many would do business with the city through a contract?

[Derek Corrigan]

A relatively small number of those businesses would, although we do have a very diversified job in the sense that we're working in parks and recreation, roads, sewers—

[Derek Corrigan]

Yes, I was aware that there was a threshold. That number is relatively small in regard to civic projects. Our most recent project was a community centre with costs in the area of $40 million, so typically—

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

How often do those come along?

[Derek Corrigan]

Oh, we're having projects like that probably every two years, projects of that nature.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

How many of those 5,000 businesses in Burnaby do you think would be involved in the export market?

Let me just put this in context. Your website for the city of Burnaby highlights that Burnaby is a high-tech city, with information technology, wireless, biotech, life science, new media, and environmental technology companies present in your city, and you're trying to attract more of them. Would you not suspect that many of those businesses would benefit from a trade agreement with the European Union, with access to 500 million people and a $3-trillion infrastructure market?

[Derek Corrigan]

Well, certainly, our focus has mainly been in the Asia-Pacific. Much of our focus has been on China, Taiwan, and Korea for opportunities like that. Europe is a long way from British Columbia, so in regard to the issue of how much impact there would be directly on our business, it is, I suspect, different than it would be in eastern Canada.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Would it be fair to say that these kinds of companies, though, are looking at world markets, and that the European Union, being the largest single market, would be one that would be attractive to them?

[Derek Corrigan]

I think there are obviously businesses on both sides looking at attractive markets. I think the most attractive thing about Canada for businesses is commodities. We know that the main area we're looking at is access to commodities. For us, it's professional advice and professional services.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Exactly, and this brings us to Telus and Electronic Arts. In your opening remarks, you had some very harsh things to say about multinational companies. Did you know that Electronic Arts is a $4-billion company? It's the third-largest company of its kind in the world. Are you aware that it's a multinational company?

[Derek Corrigan]

I'm aware, fully.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Okay, and Telus, similarly, would be even larger in terms of its revenues.

[Derek Corrigan]

I don't know how multinational Telus is. I think Telus is more focused in Canada.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Well, Darren Entwistle recently posted a blog on the Telus website wherein he comments on CETA. He says, “Uninhibited free trade and liberalization of foreign ownership rules will undoubtedly expose”—companies—“incumbent Canadian organizations to increased competition, including in” his industry, which he “wholeheartedly” supports.

He says, “Indeed, we welcome healthy competition and we believe that most Canadian entrepreneurs would share this view given the opportunities that free trade provides.” He closes by saying, “We applaud the Government's move to strengthen our trade relationship with the European Union, and look forward to such future agreements with additional trading partners around the world.”

Obviously you know Darren Entwistle. He's—

[Derek Corrigan]

Of course.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

—your largest CEO of the largest company in Burnaby. That's a huge ringing endorsement for this kind of agreement and future agreements of its kind.

You're trying to attract these kinds of businesses to Burnaby, yet you're basically telling the committee that, in your words, there's a small number of local companies that have contracts with the City of Burnaby that should have greater preference, and it's the reason why you, as a city, oppose this agreement, when in fact the largest employers in your city and the kinds of employers you're trying to attract endorse and benefit from these kinds of agreements. How do you square those two? How do you—

[Derek Corrigan]

It's not surprising. I disagree with them on tax reform too. Certainly, we have differences of opinion in regard to what we think is best for Canada. Darren Entwistle—

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

That's probably the best answer you can give, so I'm going to call it there.

I want to thank you very much for coming forward, witnesses. It was a very interesting session. With that, we will suspend as we set up the next panel.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

We'd like to call the meeting back to order. We ask members to take their seats. We have witnesses before us and we look forward to this final hour before we get into a lunch break.

We have with us from British Columbia Technology Industry Association, Bill Tam, president and chief executive officer.

Also we have another mayor. From the City of Abbotsford, we have Mayor Bruce Banman.

With that, Mr. Mayor, the floor is yours.

[Dr. Bruce Banman, Mayor, City of Abbotsford]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Members of the committee, honourable colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, bonjour and good morning.

As the mayor of Abbotsford, it is a great pleasure for me to be here this morning in beautiful downtown Vancouver to represent our great city of Abbotsford and the interests of a key local economy here in British Columbia.

Just in case any of you visiting from out of town are wondering, yes, it is always this beautiful here. Welcome to winter on the west coast. I think you brought this cold snap with you, because it was much warmer a few days ago.

Anyway, all kidding aside, I would like to begin my remarks with a brief introduction to the city of Abbotsford, which often gets referred to as the city in the country. The city of Abbotsford is a city that is in the growth stage of development. We are the largest municipality located in the agricultural hotbed of British Columbia's fertile Fraser Valley. We are British Columbia's fifth-largest municipality. The Conference Board of Canada has identified Abbotsford's local economy as one of the most diverse in the country. Our main industries include agriculture, manufacturing, and aerospace, which means we most certainly have a vested interest in the Government of Canada's Canada and European Union comprehensive economic and trade agreement initiative.

As a local government leader in Canada, I believe it is critical for us to continue to support our communities' key economic drivers. In fact, local governments across this country depend on trade and investment to drive economic activity and create jobs for local residents and businesses.

One thing we do know is that trade liberalization leads to job creation and prosperity, resulting in a higher standard of living and quality of life for us all. With this in mind, as mayor of Abbotsford, I would like to voice my support to the Government of Canada for opening trade policies that will allow our local Canadian companies preferential access to sell their goods and services in the European Union as well as through international markets across the Pacific and around the world. We know that CETA will give companies across our country, including those in Abbotsford, access to a vast market of consumers who are among the wealthiest in the world. I believe this will be of benefit and provide opportunity for Abbotsford's local economy and specifically for producers in our agricultural sector.

What many don't know about Abbotsford is that we are an agricultural powerhouse. Abbotsford is one of the most intensely and diversely farmed areas in Canada, supporting significant berry, vegetable, greenhouse, dairy, poultry, and hog operations. To this end, Abbotsford boasts the highest dollar-per-acre agricultural land in the country, greater than the North Okanagan region here in British Columbia and greater also than the Niagara region in Ontario.

Today, we are the largest producer of blueberries in the world. Agriculture is the literal economic backbone of our community, permeating every aspect of our city from land use to sweeping income and employment benefits. Taken in its entirety, the total agriculture-related economic activity in our city amounts to almost $2 billion every year, and we're only just getting started. It is safe to say that agriculture operates with the expectation of prospering in Abbotsford, not just surviving. In this regard, CETA will be a big win for our workers, businesses, and families as almost 94% of European Union agricultural tariff lines will now be duty free. This will also be especially beneficial to our berry growers, our pork producers, and our agrifood producers.

In addition to tariff elimination, the trade agreement will also provide improved access to European markets for our locally manufactured goods and services and new opportunities in European Union procurement markets. While our businesses will soon have access to a market almost 15 times the size of Canada's economy, so too will our consumers—the one area in which we would ask the Government of Canada to ensure that they remain sensitive to our Abbotsford-based businesses.

While CETA will give all of us more choice in consumer products, which will invariably result in lower prices and better service, the industries that have benefited from tariff barriers in the past will now have to compete with lower-cost imports. With that in mind, I am confident that a well-balanced agreement, along with a successful economic transition plan, will most certainly open the door for those industries to continue to thrive.

Mr. Chair, members of the committee, I thank you again for this opportunity to provide you with a community perspective on the proposed Canada-European Union comprehensive economic and trade agreement. As mayor of the city of Abbotsford, I am pleased to support this agreement and the outcomes that we expect it to deliver for our community.

Thank you so very much for your time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Thank you very much.

Two mayors, two different views—great to see.

[Dr. Bruce Banman]

It's not unusual for Mr. Corrigan and me to be on different sides of an agreement.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Well, I'm sure the questions will come that way.

Mr. Tam, the floor is yours.