Evidence of meeting #28 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 fowl.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Director, International Trade Policy Division, Department of Finance
What happened is that as a result of international trade negotiations at the WTO, Canada made spent fowl part of its schedule to the WTO. So it has formed part of our domestic law. It's there. It exists.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
Are you saying that you can't change that? There's no will to change that?
Director, International Trade Policy Division, Department of Finance
I'm going to come around to a point Minister Ritz will recall, that years ago—
Director, International Trade Policy Division, Department of Finance
“Mr. Ritz”, that's correct.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
I've got to get your speed up, because I have lots of questions.
Director, International Trade Policy Division, Department of Finance
That exists in our customs tariff schedule to the WTO, and the way to amend it is to renegotiate it with the WTO. We did that years ago with a product called “milk protein isolate”, on which we raised the tariff from 6% to 265%—
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
So you've got a formula that you've used in the past that you could use in this scenario. Is that not correct?
Director, International Trade Policy Division, Department of Finance
—but what happened is that we also had this commitment in our Canada-U.S. FTA, and subsequently the NAFTA. So we couldn't stop imports from the United States. But what it did was that it stopped imports of these products from France, Switzerland, and New Zealand, and shifted production entirely, which continued duty-free. Even the industry has given up on this approach of eliminating this tariff. In fact, I asked them why it exists, why they allowed it to exist at the time of the Uruguay round—
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
I'm going to stop you right there because I've got to keep going.
Mr. Seppey, you've said that you've has this working group since 2012. What recommendations have you made from this group to the minister to take forward to cabinet to get some sort of decisions made?
Chief Agriculture Negotiator, Trade Agreements and Negotiations, Market and Industry Services Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
That concerns advice to ministers, so I don't think I'm in a position to provide answers in that regard.
Conservative
Chief Agriculture Negotiator, Trade Agreements and Negotiations, Market and Industry Services Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
We provide advice on a regular basis but I think you can appreciate that I cannot...this is cabinet confidence.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
Okay, so in the mandate letters of all three of your ministers, where is this issue talked about?
Chief Agriculture Negotiator, Trade Agreements and Negotiations, Market and Industry Services Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
The mandate letter to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food talks about the importance of defending the interests of the ag sector in the international trade negotiations, which is exactly what we have been doing over time, and we continue to do, in working with the industry.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
Going back to Ms. Lapointe's question about what's been done in the last year, you've offered hi-speed Internet and consultations. What have you done on this specific issue? What recommendations have you made to the ministers? What has gone forward to actually see some action on this file?
Chief Agriculture Negotiator, Trade Agreements and Negotiations, Market and Industry Services Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
On this file, we have been working diligently with the industry. For example, on spent fowl, the preference of the industry is the DNA testing, because they understand that we won't be able to do a change—
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
What's your timeline, then, in regard to DNA testing, so you can say, “Okay, this will work; let's get it implemented”?
Chief Agriculture Negotiator, Trade Agreements and Negotiations, Market and Industry Services Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
As my colleagues from CBSA indicated, we need to ensure that...because it's very important for our country, which bases its policies on science-based evidence, and good regulatory policy and meeting our international trade obligations—
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
Okay, but still you have to have timelines. Again, I'm a farmer sitting here and I'm losing money every day—
Chief Agriculture Negotiator, Trade Agreements and Negotiations, Market and Industry Services Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Yes, and we are working.... For example, on the DNA testing, the first thing would be discussion with the Trent University, the university that developed the test, to ensure that this test is absolutely robust, doesn't expose us in terms of our trade obligations, and then to introduce a pilot project, for example. That's one of the options we are developing to see how it could work.
Chief Agriculture Negotiator, Trade Agreements and Negotiations, Market and Industry Services Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Nobody.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
Nobody. Okay, you're saying there's no short-term fix for this at all. This is going to take time, moving forward.