Evidence of meeting #27 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 tpp.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:15 a.m.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
Mr. Sinclair, do you favour NAFTA or any trade agreement?
10:15 a.m.
Senior Research Fellow, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
The approach I would favour is perhaps the one that Canada took when it negotiated the free trade agreement with EFTA, that is, with Iceland and Switzerland and countries outside the European Union. It's essentially a tariff liberalization agreement that relied mainly on the World Trade Organization to address all these other issues around services and investment and standard-setting.
10:15 a.m.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
So if we were negotiating NAFTA right now, would you counsel the Government of Canada to sign NAFTA?
10:15 a.m.
Senior Research Fellow, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
I was involved in the debate on NAFTA and critical of that agreement, but at the time if I'd known more about investor-state dispute settlement, I think I would have been even more opposed to it.
10:15 a.m.
Liberal
10:15 a.m.
Senior Research Fellow, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
No, you're putting words in my mouth. I'm saying that the many regulatory issues that have been glommed onto international trade negotiations have provided a very convenient way for corporate lobbyists to get regulatory changes they find difficult to achieve through the front door of the democratic process.
10:15 a.m.
Liberal
10:15 a.m.
Some hon. members
Oh, oh!
10:15 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking
That wraps up our dialogue today, folks.
Thank you very much for coming. This has been a very active meeting with good dialogue and good questions from the MPs. Enjoy the rest of your day. If you have anything else you want to send to us to be put into the report, feel free to pass it along.
We're going to suspend for a few minutes and then go in camera.
[Proceedings continue in camera]