Evidence of meeting #8 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 ceta.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
That's part of what I wanted to ask you: why would the province have accepted this cheque of $280 million? Is it a payoff?
Liberal
Advocate, Community Fisheries, As an Individual
Well, I'm protected, so I'll say, yes, it's a payoff.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Cody, that was a very interesting brief. You spoke about all the good things that this agreement has. I read it as well. You've sort of regurgitated some of the information there.
I didn't hear you say anything negative. In your opinion, what sectors will not be positively impacted? Do you see that in what you've read up to now?
Col John Cody
Mr. Clarke, I think, kind of summed it up. I got the expression “the staked goat at the lion hunt” because my friend Fred Morley was talking to them a little while ago, and they're very concerned. They're very worried about some of the smaller sectors—workers coming in, flooding in, workers from other provinces, workers from across the pond, being put out of business.
I think they're being a little pessimistic, myself. I don't see that.
Col John Cody
He represents a lot of the small sectors. He didn't really say it today, but it's the construction guys and the labour trades.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
We had the labour guys in last week, and they were preoccupied with the automobile sector. I think they were more in the sectors that have larger unions and larger labour forces.
I mean, in terms of the small sectors, it's interesting that you refer to that, because in the small sectors, some will profit, but some will definitely get hurt.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
What we've been hearing is that in order for you to export to Europe, you're going to need capital to expand your operations. Is that something you see as not being in this agreement—unless it's a payoff, like Mr. Fiander just said?
Col John Cody
What I see in the agreement so far, from what I've been able to read, is that this is one of the areas they're going to have to get into, and find out, and make the adjustments.
Liberal
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
My second question is with regard to something that Monsieur Morin had alluded to. You said that free trade has been beneficial, that free trade with the U.S. has been beneficial to Canada, but I'm seeing the numbers suffer. That's because of the U.S. economy, I would say—but the European economy is not any better. It's going to require investment on our part to penetrate the European market, I believe.
How are we going to benefit from a business point of view? I would agree with you from a consumer point of view that prices will come down as long as certain people don't pocket that money. Obviously if the tariff savings will be passed along to consumers, I think consumers will save. But how are Canadian companies going to be able to compete in the European market, according to you?
Col John Cody
It depends what kind of companies you're talking about. The defence sector won't. There are fences around that on both sides of the ocean, so forget that one.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Okay, that's your expertise. So why would you say that?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
Sorry, your time has gone, so just a quick answer, if you like.
Col John Cody
I think you get into these things, you find out where the problems are, and you make your adjustments as you go down the road.
Conservative
Devinder Shory Conservative Calgary Northeast, AB
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for appearing this morning.
In my opinion, when an agreement is negotiated, it's always give and take and has to have some balance, and all the parties must be happy at the end. So far, among the witnesses in Ottawa and here, I have not heard one single witness, except the unions last week, entirely opposed to this agreement. There are portions of the agreement that some provinces or some representatives don't agree with, but if you ask a straightforward question, do you oppose it entirely, nobody has said this agreement is really bad for Canada.
So I would like to ask Colonel Cody, in general terms, how does Nova Scotia stand to benefit from CETA, and in particular, do you feel that Nova Scotia is well-positioned to take advantage of what CETA has to offer?
Col John Cody
Yes, I do, and there's lot of room to improve on that.
The mayor addressed one area this morning when he spoke about the ability of this location to handle the amount of trade that's going to come back and forth and the increases in trade. It's quite astonishing, for those of you who don't live here. He talked about the big expansion of a transshipment point they've got up in Burnside industrial park. Burnside has got land till the ocean and they're slowly expanding that, and I'm sure there's room—we could get into that later—around this harbour for a third megaport. They could do that if the traffic warrants it, and I think that Mr. Clark was really asking to see the details. I don't think he was saying that he was negative or really opposed to it. He said he wanted to see the details of the agreement so that he could make up his mind, and I think there are going to be some people who, through these adjustments, are going to be displaced.
Conservative
Devinder Shory Conservative Calgary Northeast, AB
One issue struck me since I came here, after I talked to a cab driver who drove me from the airport to the hotel and to some witnesses yesterday. With all the opportunities here, whether in the shipbuilding industry or with CETA itself, there appears to be a real issue with skills gaps and labour shortages in this region.
What are your thoughts about how to remedy those in order to take advantage of the new opportunities on the horizon?