International Trade Committee on May 3rd, 2018

[Brian Innes]

Unfortunately, we're all subject to the same problems in India.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

That's good to hear.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

We were recently in Malaysia. When we were talking with them, they said they had to give up a lot to sign up trade with India. I'm certain that you probably feel the same way.

You mentioned that looking at China and Japan is going to create 33,000 jobs. That's a fair bit. As the chair mentioned, in farming communities, particularly the field that you are in.... How would you encourage more women to become involved in farms? How would they be able to take advantage?

[Brian Innes]

When we say 33,000 jobs, that's only from the Chinese agreement. The trans-Pacific partnership would bring many more.

When we look at the opportunity for equality in our sector, we have seen, right from the very roots of farming in Saskatchewan, that it has very much been a partnership opportunity on farms. We're seeing an increasing number of women as farm operators as well, taking primary responsibility for the operations.

The 250,000 jobs in agriculture are for farmers, yes, but also for highly skilled engineers, whether they operate our processing plants or are involved in exporting our products around the world. From a business perspective, then, we see opportunities in the highly skilled areas, whether in the life science world of developing new technology, among the highly skilled operators who are required for our processing plants, or increasingly, also on the farm.

For example, look at the number of women engaged in agricultural education. In many colleges across the country, enrolment is favouring women more than men at the moment.

There are, then, many opportunities in agriculture, regardless of gender.

[The Acting Chair, Liberal, Kyle Peterson]

Thank you.

Ms. Laverdière, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Welcome to the students of Havergal College, our future colleagues.

Mr. Adams, according to what I understand, there are import licences in Brazil for automotive parts. In the United States, at least according to certain reports of the American government, there are often long waiting periods before obtaining those licences that allow them to export goods.

Is this a problem in your experience? Should it be taken into consideration in negotiations?

[David Adams]

Thank you for the question.

I, unfortunately, can't speak directly to that issue. I don't represent parts makers in Canada. I would encourage the committee to bring the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association before the committee to discuss these topics.

Obviously the import licences represent a challenge. Again, notionally speaking, if there is a delay in issuing those licences, or other, I guess, administrative games being played around the issuance of those licences.... Again, that would certainly be fodder for trade negotiations going forward to make sure that if those licences were to stay in place, some of the issues surrounding those would be eliminated to ensure open opportunity for Canadian parts manufacturers to export to those countries.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Thank you very much.

I'd like to ask you a more political question. I don't know if you be able to answer it.

You mentioned that currently, the industry is focusing on NAFTA negotiations. I don't know if we can say that there is a delay in negotiations, but proceedings have again being postponed for a few weeks. There are going to be elections in Mexico this summer, and in addition there are the midterm elections.

What is the current state of those negotiations?

I know that this is not the main topic of our meeting, but I can't resist taking this opportunity to ask you that question.

[David Adams]

I'll try to be very quick.

It's been certainly a different negotiation, and some would say it's not been a real negotiation at all.

As you mentioned, we are running into, I think, the short strokes of getting an agreement finalized. We do have the constraints of the Mexican election on July 1 and, as you mentioned, the U.S. mid-terms that are coming up. Ambassador Lighthizer has been clear about May being the opportune time to get a deal in principle done.

I'm not sure that if something doesn't get done, it means the agreement is over with. I think it means that we get into this whole period of a “zombie NAFTA”, as it's been called, where the negotiations are in limbo until things settle down both in the U.S. and in Mexico.

There is a desire, though, to get this agreement before the current U.S. Congress; I know that.

[The Acting Chair, Liberal, Kyle Peterson]

You have one minute left.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Okay.

I'd like us to talk about the implementation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Forgive me, I normally sit on the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, and this may influence my questions somewhat. That committee is currently studying the Canada-Asia-Pacific relationship. According to testimony we have heard, aside from such an agreement, Canada must adopt a more integrated approach to Asia and increase its presence on the ground at all levels.

Would you agree with that assessment?

[Brian Innes]

Yes. We see the trans-Pacific partnership as the ideal way to help build stronger ties in Asia. We see the markets growing in Asia. We see this agreement is based on the rules-based framework that Canada has excelled at, including ensuring that measures around food and agriculture are based on science.

When we look at our ability to have tighter relations with Asia, the ability for our industry to prosper through a rules-based system, the trans-Pacific partnership, the CPTPP is such an opportunity and is on the path to help us do exactly as you describe.

[The Acting Chair, Liberal, Kyle Peterson]

Thank you.

[David Adams]

I would concur with that.

For our membership, the CPTPP agreement is very important in levelling the playing field for all our member companies, and indeed the whole automotive industry, by gradually putting all manufacturers and importers on a pathway toward zero tariffs coming into Canada.

[The Acting Chair, Liberal, Kyle Peterson]

Thank you for that.

For the benefit of those who recently joined us, we are completing our study of a potential free trade agreement between Canada and Mercosur, which is Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.

With that, we're going to continue.

Ms. Lapointe, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Welcome to the witnesses.

I also want to welcome the Toronto students. It may be up to you in a few years to sit in these chairs and ask questions. That is what I wish for you. Go as far as your dreams will take you.

My first question is for you, Mr. Innes.

You spoke earlier about sanitary measures and science-based agriculture, but I'd like to hear you talk about our export capacity. We can discuss free trade agreements, but are we limited by our export capacity?

[Brian Innes]

Thank you for your question.

When we look at our capacity to export, it's not a limitation on our capacity to produce. There are some limitations on our transportation network, as the committee heard from the previous witness. Our industry has been very vocal about the importance of passing Bill C-49 without delay because that does set us up for a stronger framework in the future to get our products from where they're produced to tidewater. There are also other limitations when it comes to infrastructure. In the Port of Vancouver, for example, we look for investment in infrastructure broadly to enable our product to get from where it's produced to export. The investments in infrastructure, both in transportation and at port, are all important for our sector.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

I have another question.

Earlier you said that Mercosur produces a lot of canola, as does Canada. Do you benefit from an exchange of temporary workers between the northern hemisphere countries and those of the southern hemisphere?

[Brian Innes]

That is not very common in our sector. Mercosur countries produce soybeans and we produce canola. Both are oil seeds that produce oil and proteins, but our crops are not identical. Mercosur countries, for instance, produce very little canola.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

I have a question for you, Mr. Adams.

Earlier a witness told us that at this time Canada encourages businesses to be more productive and innovative rather than looking to free trade agreements like the one with Mercosur.

I'd like to hear your opinion about that.

[David Adams]

Right now, from a manufacturer's perspective, I think other witnesses have highlighted the fact that Canada is a fairly high-cost jurisdiction for producing vehicles in this country. That being the case, one way of addressing a high-cost structure is to become more productive and innovative in what you do. Certainly, I would look at it as two parallel tracks that need to be pursued. Certainly we need to become more productive and innovative in what we're doing, but we also need to keep our eye on the ball to ensure we retain access to the markets we have already secured through free trade agreements, and as Mr. Innes pointed out, that we move forward with the implementation of other free trade agreements like the CPTPP, which provide benefits as well. In our view, free trade has proven to be a good measure in increasing overall GDP and increasing employment and so forth. We see them as two parallel tracks.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Regarding vehicles, you explained that there are a lot of manufacturers in the Mercosur market. Should there be an agreement, do you think we will be able to increase our automobile exports to Mercosur countries?

[David Adams]

If there weren't automakers there, we could increase our exports?

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Yes.