Evidence of meeting #7 for International Trade in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was europe.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks again to our witnesses.
Following up on that, Mr. Delaney, approximately how many farmers does the Grain Growers of Canada represent?
4:15 p.m.
Support Staff, Director, Grain Growers of Canada, Atlantic Grains Council
The Grain Growers of Canada is an organization made up of 14 sub-members. When the math is done on who those 14 sub-members represent, it's in the area of 50,000 coast to coast.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
Do you survey your members? How do you get feedback or responses on CETA?
4:15 p.m.
Support Staff, Director, Grain Growers of Canada, Atlantic Grains Council
Each of these organizations has a membership, and they collect levies. The levies give them an indication of who their members are and how many they represent. Each of these organizations has a policy analysis component to it, or a good many of them do, for example, the Canola Council of Canada; the canola growers; the western wheat producers association; more recently the barley council; and more recently yet, Cereals Canada and commissions that have taken some of the load off of grain marketing and policy analysis from the Canadian Wheat Board.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
So the sentiment is that across Canada this is going to open up opportunities. Have you been able to quantify what potential growth there will be from this CETA, not only in the short term but also over the long term?
The analysis of potential economic growth that we saw in a pre-study approximately four and a half years ago was that it would mean about 80,000 jobs and $12 billion in economic growth to the GDP of the country. I'm wondering if in your sector, the grain industry, you have been able to do an analysis along those lines.
4:15 p.m.
Support Staff, Director, Grain Growers of Canada, Atlantic Grains Council
Thanks for that question.
The best number we have is through our relationship with CAFTA, the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, and the number is in the area of $1.34 billion. That's made up of gains in beef, pork, bison, canola, sugar, biofuels, common wheat, other grains, processed foods, and fruit and vegetables.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
That's $1.4 billion. That's fantastic. Thank you very much.
Mr. Surette, thank you very much for your comments as well. You were talking about the significance of this. You said that this is a major agreement for the fish industry. How many employees are involved with the Nova Scotia Fish Packers Association?
4:15 p.m.
Executive Director, Nova Scotia Fish Packers Association
We have approximately 60 companies, which would put employment at somewhere around 2,000. On a good day, it might be 2,500.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
You mentioned that right now your trade is about 20% European Union. Could you give an overview of what your trading partners look like? Where is your revenue stream coming from right now?
4:15 p.m.
Executive Director, Nova Scotia Fish Packers Association
In Europe, you mean?
4:15 p.m.
Executive Director, Nova Scotia Fish Packers Association
Overall? Sixty per cent is U.S., and 20% is Europe, and we're making headway in Japan, China, and other Asian countries. After the United States, which takes up to 60% and shrinks a little bit every year now, 20% to 25% is what we're floating at in Europe. It's a big market, and it's not like dealing with Walmart, where we pay for less.... We're getting more bang for our buck when we can go there. There's a lot of red tape and a lot of hassle, but they pay for quality.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
I appreciate that. That's one of the things we're also trying to do with the regulatory reform. We're trying to make sure that safety is number one, but we're also trying to streamline the process of bilateral trade.
You said that at 20% it's around $250 million right now.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
Has the association looked at the potential, at what the number will extrapolate out to in jobs as well as dollars?
4:15 p.m.
Executive Director, Nova Scotia Fish Packers Association
Like we said, we're looking for stability. We're seeing an industry that's shrinking. A member mentioned outmigration. At this point, we'd like to see something that will put the stop on outmigration. We're not worried tremendously about any growth immediately. We want to be able to see the plants basically start making some money, because money has been tight over the last five or six years. As I say, when you lose 35% to 40% of your advantage dealing in U.S. dollars essentially overnight, it hits and it hits hard.
In looking at this, we're looking at stability and at maintaining the status quo. Improvements in personal infrastructure in each company would be more easily gained when they start looking at their sales to Europe and thinking, gee, there's 20% on it that they don't have to pay anymore. Those are the sorts of things.... From there, if we can get that to work, growth is down the road, not in the immediate future.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
Diversifying to potentially 500 million more stomachs doesn't hurt, either.
4:20 p.m.
Executive Director, Nova Scotia Fish Packers Association
It doesn't hurt. As I say, they eat fish. They love it.
4:20 p.m.
Executive Director, Nova Scotia Fish Packers Association
We won't go there. Maybe they don't want to eat Newfoundland fish, and I won't go there either, but yes, it's a great market. They appreciate the quality. It's better than just peddling it off to the fish-and-chip industry. We don't need to do that. We have great products here.
4:20 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Mr. Ross, if I understand your testimony about your company, you're a steel fabricator. You build bridges and other manufacturing products, and you have about 400 employees. Is that right?
