Evidence of meeting #24 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.
Senior Policy Analyst, Canadian Cancer Society
The health warnings are sound, and plain packaging is acceptable. The fact remains that, in order to eliminate any possibility of abuse, legal proceedings, or delays for Canada or for the other 12 countries, article 29.5 is very important.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I know that the government will be looking at the issue of plain packaging of cigarettes. According to your information, Australia has had plain packaging since 2012. Has the smoking rate in Australia fallen between 2012 and 2016?
Senior Policy Analyst, Canadian Cancer Society
It fell. Historically, it fell to its lowest level ever recorded among youth and adults. The Australian health department found that, to date, plain packaging has helped them reach their targets in that regard. It has been working very well.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Okay.
What were the smoking rates in 2012 compared with those today?
Senior Policy Analyst, Canadian Cancer Society
From 2010 to 2013, smoking rates fell from 15% to about 12.6%. The definitions are different from those in Canada. Over there, they do a national survey on smoking every three years.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
All right.
Do you know that right now, the proportion of Canadians who smoke is about 20%?
Senior Policy Analyst, Canadian Cancer Society
Yes I do. There are still five million Canadians who smoke. We still have a lot of work to do in that regard.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I am going to proceed quickly, as I don't have much time left.
Mr. Schumann, by opening our doors to foreign workers, whether these are engineers or not, do you think that more people will come to Canada to work or that more Canadians will go work outside the country?
Canadian Government Affairs Director, International Union of Operating Engineers
There would be definitely more coming to Canada. I can't give you a number, but I see very few Canadian construction workers going anywhere, to any of these countries—maybe Australia in the wintertime, but they're not going to go to Mexico, Chile, or Peru. The work standards and safety there are much lower. The pay is much lower. There's no benefit for Canadians, unless they're really desperate for work and want to take a chance. There won't be any significant numbers.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking
Thank you.
We will move to the Conservatives now.
Mr. Hoback, you have the floor.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
Chair, quickly, with respect to committee, I'll bring this up right away before I start my questioning. I'm going to put forward a motion that the committee invite trade officials from Global Affairs Canada to answer questions on TPP on or before June 16.
The reason I'm making this motion is that there is a lot of contradictory evidence coming from certain members in this and other panels, versus what we've heard before from Global Affairs. I'd like some clarification.
I'll put that on the record. If there's unanimous consent, we can deal with it now. If not, we could deal with it on Thursday when we go in camera.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking
You put it on the floor. We'll deal with it when we're finished here.
Go ahead, sir.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
Mr. Schumann, I'm just concerned. Some of the concerns you brought up are happening today. The province regulates the safety on work sites, is that correct?
Canadian Government Affairs Director, International Union of Operating Engineers
Correct.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
So are you saying the provinces have insufficient inspectors and people going around to inspect these work sites at this present time?
Canadian Government Affairs Director, International Union of Operating Engineers
Yes. There are thousands and thousands of job sites. There are not enough people out there provincially on the job sites. There are three streamsBMR. There's one where they check safety, but federally, enforcement is not happening with regard to the foreign workers coming in.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
So you're saying, yes, then.
In that scenario, whether we have a TPP deal or any other trade deal, that scenario still exists at this present date, correct?
Canadian Government Affairs Director, International Union of Operating Engineers
Yes.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
So it's irrelevant whether we do TPP in regard to that argument about having unsafe workers. Whether you're unsafe as a Canadian, say if I go on a job site and do a job I'm not capable of, or it's somebody coming in from Japan or somewhere else, it's the same. Wouldn't that be a wash for you as far as your support for or opposition to TPP in concerned?
Canadian Government Affairs Director, International Union of Operating Engineers
No, because with Canadian workers if you are trained in Ontario as a crane operator, you're going to be a safe operator who understands the rules already. If you're trained in Mexico, I don't know if you actually know how to operate it.