International Trade Committee on March 25th, 2014

[Kirsten Hillman]

I guess my question would be, what do you mean by “Is it on the table?”

[Malcolm Allen, NDP, Welland, ON]

It's primarily the dairy sector. The three pillars of supply management. Is it still sitting on the table as a negotiating piece? Or have you removed it and basically protected it? It's the basic question.

[Kirsten Hillman]

We entered the negotiation saying we would be willing to discuss whatever countries wanted to discuss with us. As you said, New Zealand and others have said they wanted to discuss with us all aspects of Canada's agricultural sector. And we said we would talk to them about that.

[Malcolm Allen, NDP, Welland, ON]

I never like to put words in anyone's mouth. I'll take that as a yes, it's still on the table.

I hear my friends across the way talking about transparency. This is a question of, is it on the table or is it not on the table, and it's now all sectors are on the table. In the agriculture sector, I'll assume supply means it's still on the table.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

You start with everything on the table.

[Malcolm Allen, NDP, Welland, ON]

It's a pretty simple question, I would think.

The other piece is, if we look at the CETA, which is sort of done but not kind of, since we're still waiting for all the other bits to get done, part of what we thought we'd see there, or we think we see there, on the supply side is an opening up of allowables when it comes to the cheese market. Sectors might be this or that but ultimately—

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

I have a point of order. It's with regard to asking the witness on the TPP about another agreement, the CETA, and asking for her personal input. This is an agreement she hasn't been working on.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

I'll allow the question.

He can ask what he wants, and the answer can be appropriate...whenever.

[Malcolm Allen, NDP, Welland, ON]

I think my friend across the way will find that the issue is: is there something similar in the TPP agreement that we might be discussing around what we saw in the CETA? So it is about the TPP.

Is there a sense of a bargaining position from your perspective as the chief negotiator? Are you looking at the potential of allowables similar to what happened in the other one? Would that be a position you might take, or are taking?

[Kirsten Hillman]

Specific positions within the negotiation in this area or another area are still very much under discussion. I think we are committed to ensuring that we work to protect Canadian interests across all sectors, and that's what we're doing.

[Malcolm Allen, NDP, Welland, ON]

I appreciate that.

When you bargain you can't necessarily just tip your hat. That's understood, including by the Canadian public, since we are your members, if you will, but you have to do that.

Ultimately, the other part of it is, and listening to the tail end of that comment about protecting from the supply management side—there are three pillars in supply management, as I know you know—so I'll take it from your last statement that you are talking about “that's the type of protection we would look at”, as well as other sectors, but I'm specifically homing in on this one.

Will it be our intention, or at least will it be our hope, that we protect the three pillars of supply management, not only through the entire negotiations, but as you've suggested, this is when it's done it's done, we take it all or none. Would this be something we would be looking at, to say this needs to still be there and intact when we get to the end, or is that a bargaining position that still...and I'll accept that. I understand that, Ms. Hillman, if it's a bargaining position we're still not quite clear yet.

[Kirsten Hillman]

I don't think I fully understand the question.

[Malcolm Allen, NDP, Welland, ON]

There are three pillars of supply management.

Are you going to protect them right to the very end of negotiations? When you sign off we'll know they're fully protected?

[Kirsten Hillman]

Our responsibility in the negotiations is to pursue Canada's interests as vigorously as we can across every sector, and within a sector, across all areas. That's what I'm tasked with doing and that's what I'm doing.

[Malcolm Allen, NDP, Welland, ON]

Fair enough.

Let me switch to the pharmaceutical piece.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Do that very quickly.

[Malcolm Allen, NDP, Welland, ON]

Yes.

There are issues around pharmaceuticals in the sense of IP. When it comes to intellectual property, is there any sense that when this is finalized that the price of pharmaceuticals will go up, and if so, have we done any studies around what that might be as a magnitude of price increase for Canadians?

[Kirsten Hillman]

The area of IP generally, and pharmaceuticals in particular, within that chapter is a very important—and I think “sensitive” is fair—topic for everybody around that table. We are at the table pushing for, and negotiating hard for, an outcome that represents Canadian policy and the balance we have struck.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Hiebert, the floor is yours for five minutes.

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

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Hillman, for being here.

I have a number of questions. You talked about this stakeholder event that was new or novel to these negotiations, and for anybody who might be following this discussion, I'm wondering how these stakeholders would get on the list to participate in that kind of event.

[Kirsten Hillman]

The country hosting the event would have a website and registration would be open via the website for any stakeholder from any TPP country.

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

Singapore posted a note saying anybody who would like to participate should submit an application.

[Kirsten Hillman]

On our Government of Canada website we have a TPP page and we would offer a link on our page to, for example, the Singapore page, notifying Canadian stakeholders that they could sign up.

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

Were there any Canadians participating in this event?

[Kirsten Hillman]

Yes.