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.
Mayor, Halifax Regional Municipality
Well, I want to thank you for your role in my graduation to municipal politics.
NDP
Robert Chisholm NDP Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
I asked this yesterday of the gateway partnership folks.
I'm curious about the whole transportation infrastructure. This deal talks about increasing the bilateral trade by 23%, and the folks yesterday talked about how the capacity is there and that we're good to go. However, I know there are some challenges with the railway and roads and so on.
Regarding investments and infrastructure, what do you think needs to be done by the different levels of government to prepare for that increased bilateral trade?
Mayor, Halifax Regional Municipality
The infrastructure is very important. In the same way that the federal government was very involved in the infrastructure on the Pacific gateway, there are infrastructure requirements on the eastern seaboard as well.
We have a relationship with CN Rail that's very important to us. We're working with CN to make sure that is as strong as possible. The whole gateway council is about ensuring that we have the infrastructure, not only the physical infrastructure in terms of the roads and things like that, but also, as you know, of transshipment and offloading of the traffic that comes in from the port, which you have in increasing capacity in your constituency of Burnside.
What was the name of the company that we opened recently, Fred? It was a refrigeration plant. It's a wonderful spot. We did a tour of that about a month ago and I just thawed out last week. But that kind of capacity is there.
I mentioned the extension of the runway, which is really important to us. It allows us to be world-competitive in bringing in air cargo, which will allow us to do more shipping of seafood directly out of Halifax, as opposed to going to Montreal or Boston. It will be very helpful to us, and there is a possibility that this deal will allow us to look at better air access routes directly into places like Frankfurt, for example.
The infrastructure, writ large, is really important to us, and I'm very confident that the folks who are doing this through the gateway council are bringing together the right partners to make sure, whether it's air, rail, road or by sea, that those infrastructure requirements are being built.
NDP
Robert Chisholm NDP Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Thank you.
You indicated that an analysis had been done by staff of the deal.
Is that public? Has that been made available to the committee, or could it be?
Mayor, Halifax Regional Municipality
We're going to leave you with our presentation. We only have it in one official language, but we've given it to the clerk for distribution.
The work we've done as municipalities has largely been done through FCM and also the Big City Mayors' Caucus, which is the appropriate way to do that. As you know, FCM has been involved in this, as they were in pushing for infrastructure investments in the federal budget, which we were largely successful in seeing in the budget this year.
We have our own analysis of those purchasing requirements, whether it's $7.8 million on the major construction projects, or the other ones. As I said, we have to keep an eye on this, like everybody else, to make sure that at the end of the day this meets our needs.
We're certainly supportive of increased trade, and we think it could be very good, not only for Halifax but for this region.
NDP
Robert Chisholm NDP Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Thank you very much.
Mr. Etchegary, I appreciated your presentation. What you talked about—the access to the resource by foreign fleets, European fleets in particular—is a matter of some concern. There is no doubt about that. It continues to be a matter of some concern.
You mentioned the amendment to the NAFO agreement back in 2007, 2009. I note your book, which is a great read, entitled Empty Nets .
I haven't yet had the chance to go back to gather the testimony that was done at those committees. I wonder if you could speak a bit more in relation to how those amendments lessened the ability of Canada to keep the European fishermen off our coast.
Chairperson, Fisheries Community Alliance, As an Individual
Yes. There were three amendments. Number one had to do with a dispute mechanism where, for example, if a country participating in the fisheries had a dispute with respect to overfishing or some infraction, or this, that or the other, the amendments to that dispute mechanism made it almost useless for dealing with the dispute, weakening it to a considerable degree.
The second one had to do with the objection procedure, and that was a major one. The objection procedure was on the basis of NAFO, the organization governing fishing outside 200 miles, awarding a quota, let's say, of 10,000 tonnes to Spain, whose representatives at the annual meeting had 60 days to return to their government, review the quota level, and if their own scientists and their own industry determined that it was too low and not justified, they would fish beyond it to any limit. It made the organization useless really. So the objection procedure was further weakened.
The third one had to do with Canada allowing the return of the European Union nations to participate in our fisheries, provided that Canada offered the invitation. That was embedded in the amendment. We asked a simple question, if you don't want them to come back into our fisheries, why in God's name do you make provision for it, and there was no answer.
It was such that both standing committees, the Senate and House fisheries committees, were so seized by it that they brought it to the House of Commons floor.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
Thank you very much.
Mr. Shory, you have five minutes, and that will close off this session.
Conservative
Devinder Shory Conservative Calgary Northeast, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, witnesses, for appearing this morning.
Mr. Etchegary, it was nice talking to you last night. I was listening to your testimony this morning. It seems like you have not been happy at all with the Canadian government for decades.
I have a quick question, do you think that Newfoundland joining Confederation was a bad decision?
Chairperson, Fisheries Community Alliance, As an Individual
Was a bad decision?
November 26th, 2013 / 9:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
No, go ahead. You can answer it or not answer it. It's up to you.
Chairperson, Fisheries Community Alliance, As an Individual
I don't mind answering, Mr. Chair.
As you may know, the vote on Confederation was 50.2% for, as against 49.8% against. A lot of people in Newfoundland were not that over-anxious about it because of the fact the fishery was that important to us. The negotiations leading up to Confederation and leading to us entering brought forth many points of view that people in the fishing industry were very skeptical about. That was largely because the vote was so close.
Conservative
Devinder Shory Conservative Calgary Northeast, AB
Thank you, Mr. Etchegary.
Let's move to some positive things.
NDP
NDP
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Perhaps I can say it. I'd like the clerk to please advise the committee if it is a rule of this committee that questions have to be relevant to the topic?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
I'll rule on that. The questioner actually brought up Confederation and the fishery and the questioner was asking on that basis, so I allowed it.
Go ahead. It's not a point of order.
Go ahead, Mr. Shory.
Conservative
Devinder Shory Conservative Calgary Northeast, AB
Mr. Etchegary, you made a comment on the WTO ruling as well. Let me ask for a suggestion. If you were the fisheries minister, what would you do to convince the WTO to allow the seal hunt to continue in Canada?
