That's correct.
Evidence of meeting #23 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 workers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #23 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 workers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:45 a.m.
Political Action/Media Strategist, First District, Canada, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
That's correct.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Gerry Ritz Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
We have Canada, U.S., and Mexico all involved in this TPP deal. What are your thoughts on the labour and environmental chapters that seek to raise.... The high tide floats all boats. There are some questions about labour standards and environmental standards in Mexico, so this now brings them to our standard. It's not about dumbing us down. It's about raising them up.
Are you happy with that clause?
9:45 a.m.
Political Action/Media Strategist, First District, Canada, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
On the environmental side, I'm not aware of the clause. I've focused specifically on labour, so I can't touch on the environmental side.
Obviously, raising standards for labour workers across the globe is important to us. At the same time, I think we look at the standards we try to set. You mentioned bringing workers over to different countries through SNC-Lavalin or those types of things. As Chris mentioned, typically those contractors, even if a large general was going to do work for SNC-Lavalin, they would bring maybe a general foreman or a supervisor over the whole project and then come there, but they would be under the standards of that individual country, obviously, not Canadian standards.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Gerry Ritz Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
Exactly. Then Canadian standards take precedence when they come here, so that does carry on.
You talked about codes. You mentioned Russian, Chinese, and Ukrainian electricians. They are not involved in the TPP, and I wanted to clarify that, but there are also huge differences. I was a general contractor; it paid for my farming habit. There are huge differences province to province in codes. I mean, an electrician from the Saskatchewan side of Lloydminster can't simply walk across to Alberta and do things either.
9:45 a.m.
Political Action/Media Strategist, First District, Canada, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
There is a Canadian electrical code which supersedes everything. That is the standard across Canada. There is a Canadian electrical code that will identify it, and it's the same with the Canadian building code.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Gerry Ritz Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
Sure. You can adhere to that, but then there are variances between Saskatchewan and Alberta, B.C., all the way across, so those standards have to be met as well.
9:45 a.m.
Political Action/Media Strategist, First District, Canada, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Very minor, but yes.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Gerry Ritz Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
Yes. Electricity is dangerous. We all agree on that.
Mr. Chopra, on your talk about rBST, the point that needs to be clarified is this is not a human health issue; from Canada's perspective, it was an animal health issue. Basically, it burns the cow out faster, and that's why it was banned in Canada. It has nothing to do with human health. The science is there to say it's not a problem.
9:45 a.m.
President, Canadian Council on Food Sovereignty and Health
That is wrong, sir. That's an incorrect statement. If the cow is sick, if the cow has poisoned the milk, if in the milk there's a secondary hormone that causes cancer, then that safety is not just for the cows. We're talking about human health.
When I worked in the human safety division—
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Gerry Ritz Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
But I'm talking about the ruling that was made on rBST.
9:45 a.m.
President, Canadian Council on Food Sovereignty and Health
—and when the Senate looked at it, they not only looked at the rBGH. There's an interim report you should look at from the Senate committee. It's the rBST investigation and the drug regulatory process at Health Canada that was compromised. That should be looked at.
9:45 a.m.
President, Canadian Council on Food Sovereignty and Health
It's not a matter of just trade. This is a matter of safety, public safety.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Gerry Ritz Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
The concern I have, then, is that you're saying all the scientists at Health Canada, PMRA, Ag Canada are wrong and you're the only one who's right.
9:45 a.m.
President, Canadian Council on Food Sovereignty and Health
No, sir, that's not correct. I am saying that we have five materials in our food supply that have been approved contrary to the requirements of the Food and Drugs Act and regulation by the Minister of Health. That was recognized by the Senate agriculture committee while they were investigating, and those hormones and antibiotics.... It's precisely because of that reason the European Union will not trade food with us. They actually banned the BGH in the European Union for the same reason and in Canada we didn't. Therefore, we have genetically modified organisms that have never been assessed. We have hormones, beef hormones.
9:45 a.m.
President, Canadian Council on Food Sovereignty and Health
Health Canada should actually publish the MRLs.
9:45 a.m.
President, Canadian Council on Food Sovereignty and Health
They don't publish in the Canada Gazette. They're breaking the law.
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking
Okay, we're going to move over to the Liberals now.
I just remind MPs, and of course the panellists—and I'd sooner not have to cut anybody off—that if you see the red light on, just finish your remarks because I'm going to try to get back to another MP and move on.
Madam Ludwig, you have the floor for five minutes.
June 2nd, 2016 / 9:50 a.m.
Liberal
Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Thank you.
Thank you all for your presentations. It's absolutely fascinating to listen to the testimony and the variations and some of the similarities between them.
My first questions will be for Mr. Smillie, Mr. Wayland, my friend from New Brunswick, as well as my colleagues at the end of the table.
It terms of trade agreements, you've all said that you support trade. Is there a particular trade agreement Canada is engaged in that does protect workers like you're looking for?
9:50 a.m.
Senior Advisor, Government Relations and Public Affairs, Canada's Building Trades Unions
No. This is a new wrinkle in our universe. As I mentioned previously, NAFTA has a system for professionals and there's no real mechanism, other than a paper application at the border. So this is new wrinkle, and this is why we were so surprised. The temporary foreign worker system that we currently have is strained, at best. The previous government did a bunch of work to make changes to further protect Canadian workers. We thought those were decent. But if you talk to the people at Service Canada, or ESDC, they get somewhere in the range of 500,000 applications a year for the TFW program, so it's strained.