International Trade Committee on April 2nd, 2019

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Thank you, sir.

We're going to the NDP now for three minutes. Mr. MacGregor.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Minister Carr, in 2015 China and South Korea signed a free trade agreement. Subsequent to that, South Korea decided to install an anti-missile battery. China responded with the following actions: It curbed tourism to South Korea by manipulating tour packages, it found alleged fire code violations in a chain of South Korean department stores, and then it promoted popular boycotts against Korean exports like Kia and Hyundai.

I'm not saying we're installing an anti-missile battery, but Chinese officials have alleged that the current imbroglio we're in is related to the Huawei case. Going forward, given that China has no reservations about using heavy-handed tactics when it feels that national pride or national interests are at stake, at what point does the Government of Canada look at the fact that we have a trade deficit with China that's over $40 billion? At what point do we start looking at a list of Chinese imports to Canada and saying that we're going to start looking at what we take from their country, because they are treating us with absolutely zero respect?

I appreciate that you are following a scientific-based approach, and I think that's the correct way to go, but we also have to keep in mind the elephant in the room. This may in fact be a political problem and we're dealing with a government that has a history of using heavy-handed tactics against countries like South Korea, which we're a little more closely aligned with.

[Jim Carr, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

We don't think it's in Canada's interests to escalate the tension. We think it's in Canada's interest to resolve the problem, and the way to resolve the problem is to agree on what the problem is. That's why our efforts were so focused on dealing with the issue on that level.

If we were to all of a sudden make speculative accusations, if we were all of a sudden to raise this to the highest levels of diplomacy and politics, that perhaps wouldn't be the fastest road to a solution to this problem. We have to be measured. We have to be scientific in our approach. We want to be aligned with our provincial counterparts, with the industry and with producers—and we are.

That's not always easy to do in Canada. All of us around here are students of Canadian federalism. We probably could enjoy sharing stories about occasional tensions between the Government of Canada and the provinces. It's not the case here, and it's not the case here because there's clearly a Canadian interest. We've seen it before.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Can I just add a quick question with respect to the—

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

You'll have to be very quick.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Okay.

When do you expect the composition of the trade delegation to China to be known and the date when it can be sent to China?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Actually, I sent a letter to my counterpart in China and this delegation would be headed by the president of CFIA. They want it to be technical in the first step, at least. Hopefully we will resolve the situation there.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

We're now going to move over to Mr. Dhaliwal. You have a question, so go ahead.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the ministers and staff for being here.

Minister, as you know I come from beautiful British Columbia. Canola counts for a large amount of field crops, country grains and oilseeds produced in British Columbia. I'm just wondering if there's an impact on British Columbia. If there is, what have you and your counterparts done to mitigate that effect so it would help British Columbians?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Actually, British Columbia represents less than 1% of the production of canola that is exported. It's really the three provinces of the Prairies that are the most affected by the situation.

[Jim Carr, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

You have other assets.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Obviously, yes, all the programs I've talked about, like the advance payments program and AgriStability, they are all—

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

However, it's my understanding that 30% of the grains and oilseed crops that are grown in British Columbia are canola, and that's why I was a little concerned. If it is 30%, and particularly in the Peace region, is there anything you can do to find out how that will impact the farmers in British Columbia, and what can we do?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

We want to support all of the producers.

The information I have in front of me is production in 2018 in tonnes. It shows that, really, Saskatchewan is the most affected, with 53.7%; then Alberta with 28.9%; Manitoba with 16.3%; and British Columbia with 0.6%.

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

Thank you.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Obviously, we're working at diversifying our markets for all the provinces.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

As my father would say, every acre is important.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Of course.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

There's a tipping effect. It affects exporters. It affects the domestic.... We know that.

Mr. Weir, welcome to our committee. We have unanimous consent here for you to ask a question.

Go ahead, sir. You have the floor.

[Erin Weir, Independent, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank members of this committee for giving me a chance to participate, since reopening the Chinese market to Canadian canola is a huge priority for Saskatchewan.

I also want to ask ministers what actions the government will take to support canola producers until the Chinese market is reopened. As you know, the Saskatchewan government has asked for an expansion of the advance payments program to provide interest-free loans of up to $1 million. Is the federal government prepared to do that? And if you need to wait for the working group, when can we expect a concrete answer to that question?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

I'm open to review the different programs we already have, but I want to take the time to get all of the relevant information. Sharing information on that is is one part of what I'm asking the working group to do. Their first meeting will be this Thursday. It will be a telephone conversation. Since we already have a variety of programs that farmers and the producers can apply for, it gives us the time to really review the different programs, like the advance payments program and AgriStability, and to make sure that the best decisions will be made in considering how the situation evolves.

If I may add, I want to apologize if it got lost in translation, because I really didn't mean to say that British Columbia growers are not important. I'm sorry. It would have been lost in translation if I said something to make you feel this way. Obviously, I understand all of them. Each and every farmer is very important.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Yes, I think you understood. It was how much was grown, not the importance.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Of course. Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

That's fine. Thank you for that clarification.

That ends our second round, but there's consent among the parties to have one more question.

Mr. Maguire, you can be the last one up. Go ahead, sir.