Thank you very much.
I didn't finish my thought on chapter 19, so let me begin there.
I was saying that there's a modest step forward that one might take from the requirements of chapter 19, namely, that the parties put in place rules that give effect to the ILO declaration. The problem is knowing what would actually be required to give effect to those broad principles that are set out in the declaration. One has to have reference to the conventions, which actually put meat on the bones of protection for workers so they can organize and bargain collectively and they don't have to compete with child or prison labour.
The parties rejected including any reference to the convention in the text, so while the broad principles are there, one has no obligation under the TPP to give them effect by putting in place actual rules that will make them effective and enforceable.
There's also a requirement that countries adopt provisions concerning conditions of the work: minimum wage, unemployment, those matters. But there's no floor, so a country may have to have a minimum wage law, but it may not provide any meaningful standard of living, even within the frame of that particular jurisdiction.
What we have in the labour chapter is the promise of some protection for workers and for their core labour rights, so they can be guaranteed some minimum conditions of work, but there's none of the meat that you would need on those bones to make the protections enforceable and real and material. It's a step forward, but it's more of a claim to concern than it is a practical one that could actually result in meaningful enforcement.
In terms of labour mobility, I think the removal of any requirement that someone seeking to bring foreign workers into the country first establish that there aren't Canadian workers ready, willing, and able to take those jobs, is outrageous in my view. Under free trade, workers have to compete with workers in other jurisdictions that have no labour protection and aren't paid anything resembling a reasonable wage. Now they're going to have to compete with foreign workers in jobs here in Canada, subject to the same corrosive erosion of their claim to fair employment at a decent wage.