Evidence of meeting #49 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 ukraine.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
Oh, my God. I can't do all that in 15 seconds.
The only thing I will say is I do want to assure everyone that while I am confident people on that side of this table will not agree with every single thing that I or my government do, I want to assure you all I'm a farm girl and I know how to keep my foot on the gas pedal. We are doing that. We're driving very hard on our trade agenda, including with the United States. We understand the importance of that relationship and we are working very hard to deepen it.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking
We're going to go to the NDP for two and a half minutes.
Ms. Ramsey, go ahead.
NDP
Tracey Ramsey NDP Essex, ON
Thank you, Chair.
This is the largest deal since NAFTA, and it has significant changes. We've seen a lot of changes in this last year that Gerry alluded to on the court system.
Why are you asking Canadians to sign on to the same investor court provisions that Europeans clearly won't agree to? Given the concerns expressed by Belgium and others, are you open to removing or further changing the investor state provisions in CETA?
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
First of all, it is appropriate to point out that the NDP supported the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement, whose ISDS provisions are considerably less progressive than the ones in CETA, so there may be some questions that should be asked inside the NDP.
As I've said, I am extremely proud of the improvements to the ISDS that we've made in CETA. It creates an investment dispute settlement process that is the most progressive in the world. CETA is an agreement that has been supported by all 28 European member states, including those led by socialist governments.
When it comes to the further development of the investment dispute settlement process, as I've said, there are many elements inside the CETA agreement that are intentionally open-ended. We are building—
NDP
Tracey Ramsey NDP Essex, ON
If Europe says they won't sign, will you remove or further change the investor state provisions?
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
The agreement was signed on October 31 by the EU after all of the member states—
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
That wasn't about provisional application. That was about the EU signing and moving to Parliament—
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
What is the case, as I've said, is that the investment dispute settlement is the element of the agreement that is national competency. It is not the part that will be provisionally applied if and when the agreement is ratified by the European Parliament.
NDP
Tracey Ramsey NDP Essex, ON
If member states don't sign, will you take them and remove them from our portion?
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
It's not a question of signing by member states. Our next stage is ratification at a parliamentary level.
December 1st, 2016 / 1:10 p.m.
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
After that happens, the agreement will be provisionally applied, and 98% will come into effect. Then it is the turn of the national parliaments to study the agreement and to vote on whether the remaining element is then applied.
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking
I'm sorry. Time is up for everybody. We have to get Mr. Peterson in here, and we have about three and a half minutes.
Mr. Peterson, you have the floor.
Liberal
Kyle Peterson Liberal Newmarket—Aurora, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair, for this accommodation. I appreciate it. Thank you, Minister, for being here.
I want to change track a little bit and talk about CUFTA.
Liberal
Kyle Peterson Liberal Newmarket—Aurora, ON
Like yourself, I'm of Ukrainian heritage, so although I think it's a great deal for Canada on an economic basis, I also think it's a symbolic deal. It shows the deep friendship between Ukraine and Canada.
Could you elaborate on that component of the deal? That is, please elaborate on how this is more than just a trade deal but actually a geopolitical deal that shows Ukraine that it has a good friend in Canada, especially when it's in times of need.
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
Of course. I don't know if people know that Kyle Peterson is actually Kyle Petryshyn. It's true. It was very nice to be with you at the Holodomor commemoration.
Yesterday I had a great privilege. Nadiya Savchenko, the Ukrainian pilot who had been captured and held captive by Russians—who knows what horrors she experienced?—was released and is back in Ukraine. She is a very active Ukrainian political leader, and I had the opportunity to meet her, which was very moving for me. She's a real hero.
The economy is not her principal focus, but she said to me that she particularly wanted to talk about CUFTA and that she saw this agreement as a chance to deepen the strategic partnership with Canada at a time when Ukraine is quite rightly feeling particularly vulnerable. She sees the agreement also as a chance for Ukrainian companies to learn from Canadian standards.
MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, who also happens to be Ukrainian-Canadian, was in Ukraine last week talking about labour standards and some of the elements we've built into CUFTA to help Ukrainians raise their labour and environmental standards. Nadiya Savchenko was really grateful for that. She said they see Canada as more than a partner; they see Canada as a friend. They trust us and they see a deepening of our economic relationship as an opportunity for them to develop higher standards of their own.
There are going to be real economic benefits as well. I think the estimates we've done say CUFTA should increase trade between Canada and Ukraine by 20%. That's significant. I think there is also something very appropriate about our discussing the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement, which I do hope the NDP will support. I hope we can get unanimous support in Parliament for it.
The European Union has a trade agreement with Ukraine as well. We're now able to have a trading space that goes from Vancouver all the way to Kharkiv. That's a great accomplishment.
Liberal