International Trade Committee on May 19th, 2016

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

Thank you, Minister, for coming to our committee.

I'd also like to welcome your assistant deputy minister and your deputy minister.

You're lucky to have a parliamentary secretary who, even when we throw him in the deep water, is welcoming, has a nice nature, and always takes a positive approach that helps us to have a relationship with your department.

Minister, you mentioned you have talked to 400 stakeholders during this process, and that's important. That was clear when we were travelling through western Canada and British Columbia, and we had a large number of people who came out, and wanted to make a point, and wanted to have consultations.

From a British Columbia perspective, Minister, I would like to know if you have done any consultations, and if so can you give me the name of a couple of key stakeholders you have talked to?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

B.C. is a part of our country that is very strongly focused on trade and has a natural interest in trade in Asia-Pacific. We made a point of travelling to B.C. in January to hear people's views on trade in general. We talked a lot about trade with Asia-Pacific more broadly, China and India, and we talked about the TPP.

You asked me to name some of the people we spoke to: Robin Silvester, who is well known, especially to B.C. MPs. He's the CEO of Port Metro Vancouver. He organized a round table of groups and businesses that do a lot of business in the port. I was happy to speak with him and to speak with that group.

We also did a round table with the chambers of commerce of the TPP signatory countries that are in B.C. We heard their views about the agreement. We had a very important discussion at UBC. That was a public discussion. We had academics involved, and we had a lot of students. I think we had about 200 people talking about this agreement and Asia trade generally. We also had a very good conversation on Canada's export opportunities in Asia, with a particular focus on China and India at Stewart Beck's organization, the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. We had a lot of meetings.

As people who follow Twitter will know, I had a very good conversation yesterday with Christy Clark, the premier of B.C. Our focus of that conversation was softwood lumber, but we also talked about trade.

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

Thank you, Minister.

You mentioned Asia-Pacific. When we look at British Columbia, we have the closest port to South Asia. We have the port in Vancouver and in Prince Rupert. When we were travelling through western Canada, there were a lot of stakeholders who were coming forward and saying that there is a lot of trade that they are doing with China and India. From your ministerial point of view, what are your plans over the next three and a half years to open up markets to South Asia in a progressive way?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

As you know very well, and I hope members of the committee know, an important focus in my mandate letter is our commitment to open up trade with emerging markets, with particular focus on India and China. I won't mention the date because I'm not sure I'm allowed to, but I will be having a bilateral meeting soon with India's minister of commerce. That's a priority for us. We need to start talking about ways that we can expand that relationship. I met with her already in Nairobi, and I'm looking forward to having a longer conversation with her about ways that can grow our essential trade with that country. I know that Randy, with the Saskatchewan pulses, has a strong knowledge of and interest in that business.

As for China, the Chinese minister of commerce was not at the APEC summit, but his vice-minister was. His vice-minister had a long meeting with our ADM, and I had a very good conversation with him, too. That's another area where we are working very hard. This is something very important to bear in mind when we think about—

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

I'm sorry, Minister, we're going to have to move over to the—

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Sorry.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

That's all right. I keep the time pretty tight.

We're going to move over to the NDP for five minutes.

Ms. Ramsey.

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

Thank you for being here today, Minister, and all of your team.

It's been a very busy season with TPP, CETA, softwood lumber, and labelling. There have been a lot of things that we've been discussing here at this committee, and I do believe we've been one of the most active committees. I want to move through my questions quickly because I have limited time. I'll focus on the TPP first.

Obviously, Canada has received worse terms in the TPP than the U.S. Is it true that your government did not even consider an attempt to renegotiate the terms of the TPP?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

On the TPP and on where we are, as you know very well, the TPP agreement was finalized during the election campaign. We came into government, and you came into Parliament at a time when the agreement was already complete.

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

Was there an attempt to renegotiate?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Just give me a chance to answer.

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

I have limited time, so I'd appreciate it.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

I know, but it's complicated.

We came into government when all the partners had concluded the negotiations. Our job now is to talk to Canadians, to hear their point of view, and very much to be part of the conversation between TPP countries, as I was in APEC this week.

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

Was there an attempt to negotiate?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

As I've said, when we formed government, we inherited a finalized TPP agreement.

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

That's not an answer, but when can we expect an impact study?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

We inherited a situation where the work that the previous government had done on an impact study was largely restricted to before the negotiations, to 2012, looking at the landscape before we knew the shape of the deal.

I have instructed my department to look very closely into the impacts of the TPP, and also very importantly, into what the impact would be for Canada if TPP were concluded with Canada outside the deal. That work is ongoing, and I'm looking forward to its completion.

I am very pleased that as part of this period of national debate and discussion of the agreement, other Canadian groups are having a chance in groups around the world to come forward with their studies of the TPP. That's also a really important contribution to the discussion.

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

If Canada ratifies the TPP and it comes into force, we've heard many people sitting in front of us here saying essentially that we will lose a lot of good paying jobs in Canada. We have a Tufts University study we can refer to that says 58,000 jobs.

How many jobs do you expect will be created or lost in the TPP?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

We are currently doing our work on the impact of the TPP if it were to come into force and also—this is an important fact for the committee to consider and it's something that I asked the department to be looking at when we do our work on the impact study—we need to be very thoughtful of what the consequences would be for Canada if the TPP were to come into force and Canada were to be outside that agreement. That's the economic assessment that we're working on, and it's an important one for the country.

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

Yes, I think we can agree that if we lose 58,000 jobs in Canada, it will be very devastating to our economy and our local communities.

I've heard a lot of criticism about the public consultations, that they haven't been meaningful. We've heard them at this committee. Have you properly consulted first nations, because our committee has heard that you've not.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

That's a very important part of the process. I have spoken with Perry Bellegarde about first nations consultations, and we are working with the Department of Indigenous Affairs. David and I are very closely engaged in that effort. We have some meetings over the next few days. They will definitely be included in the consultation process, and thank you for pointing that out.

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

We'll all be waiting for that economic impact study.

Chair, I have a motion I'd like to bring forward to the committee, and I hope we can adopt it inside this—

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

We're not going to have a motion right now. You've only got 15 seconds left. We're going to get to—

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

Can I not enter a motion right now?

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

No, motions have to be presented to everybody before.