Evidence of meeting #151 for International Trade in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cusma.
A video is available from Parliament.
10:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking
Thank you, Ms. Ramsey.
We're moving over to the Liberals now.
Mr. Dhaliwal, you have the floor.
10:35 a.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the presenters.
Before we reached this deal, people in British Columbia were not very optimistic in dealing with President Trump, with all the tariffs we had. Once this agreement was reached, you have expressed your opinion but when I'm out in the community on the doorsteps, whether it's the small and medium-sized manufacturers or the labour groups, the workers, everyone has said to me, “Sukh Dhaliwal, we want you to tell Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland the great work they have done to get this deal done.”
Do you hear the same on the ground, or a different opinion out there?
10:35 a.m.
President, Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association
Our members were frankly surprised that we were able to get an agreement that had higher regional value content. It's a very straight line between the RVC level and business prospects. There was a positive assessment of this deal. The only question is, are we going to ratify it or not?
They are all of one voice. I just finished my annual conference in Windsor this week and everybody is hopefully optimistic that we do get it passed and we get it moving.
We have a lot of other global forces against Canadian competitiveness. Nobody else is standing still. This deal is helpful for auto parts manufacturers and then soft auto parts suppliers in the IT space.
10:35 a.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
How about the rules of origin and labour provisions? Would they slow down the movement of jobs to Mexico or the other way around?
10:35 a.m.
President, Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association
Do you know, I think the naked American objective here was to do exactly that, to repatriate jobs from Mexico, not all of it fact-based and frankly, not a lot of it reversible without hurting American interests and objectives. Those are American companies that invested in Mexico. Closure costs put into a unit price hurts everybody.
The fact of the matter is that with this new labour provision, this labour value content, which is the United States domestic content by another name, is going to buy us supplier investment to north of the Mexican border, and then the rest of it is up to us to hustle. Certainly, I see an uptick in supplier activity, as I've been saying, no longer being an issue of whether we're on an equal playing field with the Mexicans.
10:35 a.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
Ms. Citeau, would this treaty benefit farmers in British Columbia?
10:35 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance
Absolutely, farmers in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, and all across Canada will benefit. Essentially, the deal provides certainty in a very uncertain world at a time when things unrelated to trade affect trade.
As some of my colleagues have said before, it is time to ratify CUSMA, and the sooner the better.
10:35 a.m.
Liberal
Rob Oliphant Liberal Don Valley West, ON
Thank you, Mr. Dhaliwal.
My question is for Ms. Dey from the Council of Canadians.
My question is regarding your modelling on the effects of a two-year patent extension to the biologics, which would affect biosimilars. Have you modelled in that and worked with groups like patient advocacy groups to understand the balancing of the need for new biologics and the extensive research that goes into them, as well as patient access, and then factored in reforms at the PMPRB, potential reforms at CADTH and CDR, as well as pharmacare plans, which are obviously being discussed after Dr. Hoskins' report?
10:40 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking
That's a loaded question.
I don't think it's fair to you, because you only have a minute, so I'll give you a minute and a half to answer the question.
10:40 a.m.
Trade Campaigner, National, Council of Canadians
We are not the economic modelers. We're relying on information from the Parliamentary Budget Officer, who has modelled that information and has looked at what that would do to biosimilars and how that would act in the market, and what those costs would be to pharmacare. I urge people to look at the Parliamentary Budget Officer's report, which answers many of those questions.
10:40 a.m.
Liberal
Rob Oliphant Liberal Don Valley West, ON
I would actually urge you to look at it too for what's not in that study pertaining to all the other factors. If you only had one factor in and didn't look at all the other possibilities, then you really would not get data as good as you could get.
I just think patient groups are.... I was the president of a patient group for four years. We looked at access to medications, as well as development of biologics. We had a vested interest in both. I would hope the Council of Canadians has vested interests in the development of biologics as well as access for patient care.
10:40 a.m.
Trade Campaigner, National, Council of Canadians
There's quite a lot of research on how—
10:40 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking
Sorry, but we'll have to leave it at that.
Members, I recommend that if you have a good question, maybe you should load it up at the front end, so we can have a good dialogue, because I don't like going into overtime on the five minutes.
Ms. Ludwig, you have five minutes.
10:40 a.m.
Liberal
Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Thanks Chair, and thank you to all of the witnesses.
My question is for Ms. Citeau.
You had mentioned in your testimony about different committees, a committee on trade, a working group, and a sanitary/phytosanitary group. How does your consultation process work in feeding that consultation back to government?
10:40 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance
We are in constant contact with negotiators. We're never at the negotiating table nor do we see the details or have any access to any of the details, but it's a two-way communication with the officials and our members. We're very plugged in. This is why we have gone to all the negotiating rounds and have remained in very close contact with them.
10:40 a.m.
Liberal
Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB
When we look at international trade or expanding to different markets, is there a skills gap that government can help fill or support within your members?
10:40 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance
This is a question which I think would be best addressed directly to some of our members who are really focused essentially on trade liberalization at this time.
10:40 a.m.
Liberal
Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Great, thank you.
You also mentioned competitiveness, certainly between urban and rural areas. I represent a rural riding and also a coastal riding, so ratifying NAFTA is certainly an important trade deal for us in Atlantic Canada.
How do you see that for your members in the Atlantic region?
10:40 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance
I think the same is true whether it's in the Atlantic region or elsewhere across Canada. When the agriculture sector does well, it bodes well for the food processing sector as well. Those two sectors work hand in hand.
When there are opportunities abroad, it means greater growth and opportunities at home here. When we talk about competitive access to the world's markets, our members, for sure, want to emphasize the importance of the North American market. Therefore, there's the need to ratify CUSMA as quickly as possible, because it preserves the supply chains that have been developed in the agriculture and food sectors across the continent, essentially. Our members are also very much looking forward to growth in Asian markets.
10:40 a.m.
Liberal
Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB
In terms of expansion, then, on the innovation side, I can tell you that some of the farmers in my area have done amazing work on innovation, certainly working with government on that partnership. When we're looking at the barns or, as the chair mentioned, the happy cows, what innovation opportunities do you think are before us in terms of expanding to different markets?
10:45 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance
I think, again, this would depend on the various sectors' commodities, and I would be happy to have my members follow up directly with you on this.
10:45 a.m.
Liberal
Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Thank you.
Mr. Adams, my question for you stems from Mr. Peterson's question on the threat of President Trump's ripping up NAFTA. What impact would that have not only on the Canadian auto sector, but also on the Canadian economy?
10:45 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Global Automakers of Canada
I think if you look at the automotive industry in Canada, it's an industry of hundreds of thousands of people, from Mr. Volpe's members through the whole vehicle assembly sector as well. I think that, if you don't have access to the United States, you really in effect don't have a Canadian automotive industry because the Canadian economy cannot absorb the production coming out of those plants.
As was referred to earlier, it is an existential threat not only to the automotive industry in Canada but also to the Canadian economy. The automotive industry comprises, if I'm not mistaken, bout 12% of Canadian GDP.