International Trade Committee on Feb. 16th, 2017

[Gerry Ritz, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Yes, I understand that other countries.... China has talked about being there. Other countries are looking at it, such as South Korea and Colombia, and also others that aren't in it but are looking at it. I welcome that opportunity. I hope everybody takes it seriously, as we need to move forward. As you rightly point out, it will be a huge opportunity missed if we don't.

You also made some comments about the ASEAN group of countries. We trade with them as well, but not through a free trade agreement. I think it's very important that we move to that, ratify the TPP with or without the U.S., and then move to Canada as a component of an ASEAN group agreement as well. That's probably the fastest way that we'd get involved with India. We've had several tables with India, but that's never really gone anywhere. Moving into agreements that are already set is always better.

I know that Minister Freeland has made comments about ASEAN. I was wondering if you know of anything that's starting to happen in that regard, such as a complementarities study and that type of thing.

[Aminahtun Binti Hj A Karim]

In a recent meeting with Global Affairs, I was given an indication. I actually posed that same question. I understand that it's going to begin soon—

[Gerry Ritz, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Good.

[Aminahtun Binti Hj A Karim]

—and I was assured that it would be with not just policy-makers. It would initially be with policy-makers, of course, but subsequently with industry players as well.

[Gerry Ritz, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Good. Excellent. That's good news.

Regarding the 60th anniversary, you're absolutely right; there are a number of different things that have joined us together over the years. I haven't had the opportunity to be on the ground in Malaysia, but I've met with your ministers over the past decade at a number of conferences like those of APEC, G20, and different things like that, which we've attended. There are a lot of similarities. Tourism, Canadians visiting Malaysia, is growing exponentially. You have a lot nicer weather than we do in January, and it's always nice to make those inroads.

Thank you for your presentation today.

I'm certain I'm out of time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

No, you're all right.

[Gerry Ritz, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Thank you, Mr. Ritz.

We're going to move over to Mr. Dhaliwal.

Go ahead for four minutes.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome, Your Excellency and the first secretary.

I had the opportunity to visit your country. It's a wonderful, beautiful place to visit.

You mentioned British Columbia. You have the biggest investment in British Columbia. I would like to know if you faced any difficulties or things that could have been done differently to move that faster in a cordial way.

[Aminahtun Binti Hj A Karim]

I'm not actually an expert on this subject, but I did meet up with our team, the Petronas team that's based in British Columbia. I think they knew when they came to Canada, to British Columbia, that they were in for the long run. I think they have invested quite a substantial sum of money in the last three years to get the project off the ground.

I can confirm that they have had a lot of engagement with the first nation communities, which had some objection initially, but I think most of it has been overcome. For the moment, though, it has to be because there were something like 180 conditions placed on them, I believe, that they have had to take a business decision to step back and to review. That's where it sits right now.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

You mentioned about TPP and even if we do not go ahead with the U.S. and the recent government.... I was in Japan recently, and at every meeting, every political party was concerned about TPP. Even though there was 50% opposition to the free trade TPP agreement, they still wanted to go through with it because they have a similar view to yours, that it will be positive for Japan.

You said you are looking for an alternative solution. Is your government already thinking about pursuing something in the coming months, coming days, and coming year?

[Aminahtun Binti Hj A Karim]

If you're talking about the TPP proper, then certainly we are on board. We are going in for all the negotiations and all the talks, as I mentioned, and we will be participating.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

But if the TPP doesn't go through, then are you thinking of bilateral agreements with Canada?

[Aminahtun Binti Hj A Karim]

A bilateral agreement with Canada...?

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Yes.

[Aminahtun Binti Hj A Karim]

I think that, for the time being, I can say that it's not in consideration yet because I think we are still—

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Hopeful...?

[Aminahtun Binti Hj A Karim]

—hoping that there will be some outcome from these talks. Again, as I mentioned, we are also giving a lot of attention to the RCEP because in terms of membership, in terms of population, it will be for a larger group of people, with India and China coming on board with RCEP. This, as I said, is with countries that already have existing FTAs with us.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

You mentioned about child labour and environment. Is there quite a problem when it comes to child labour in Malaysia? On environmental issues, how do you see that, if we proceed with the TPP, you would be able to overcome those issues?

[Aminahtun Binti Hj A Karim]

Child labour, I don't think that's been a big issue. It's never really been brought up internationally. It's never been sort of associated with Malaysia. In fact, I think most of us around the table would know that Malaysia is a major importer of foreign labour. We have a lot of industries that need foreign manpower. It's normally in the plantation sector, in the household sector, and in the services sector, so we've not really had a problem with child labour.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Thank you.

We're going to move over to the NDP and Ms. Ramsey for four minutes.

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

Thank you, Your Excellency and First Secretary.

It was a very thorough presentation and it answered a lot of my questions as well, as you heard from Mr. Ritz.

You mentioned the RCEP and the agreement you're seeking there. My question is, how would it affect trade relations between Canada and Malaysia if you enter into the RCEP but the TPP does not happen?

[Aminahtun Binti Hj A Karim]

I think, for Malaysia, how we look at it is because.... We are really focused on TPP at the moment, but at the same time it does not exclude us from having other regional FTAs or bilateral FTAs. We have been continuously doing that.

As a country that strongly believes in free trade access for other countries, I don't think it would affect us anyway, just like you are having CETA, and at the same time you would be with us in TPP, or maybe even an ASEAN-Canada FTA.

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

We've had an interesting day here at the trade committee. We had our Minister of Small Business and Tourism here earlier, as I'm sure you saw.

I noted that you spoke about SMEs and exporting to Canada, so I wondered what percentage of Malaysian SMEs are exporting to Canada. Perhaps you could share with us some of the initiatives you have to encourage that.

[Aminahtun Binti Hj A Karim]

I don't have the figures on the number of SMEs participating or exporting to Canada as of now, but certainly on my part, I've been outreaching with various organizations here in Canada, most lately with the TFO. We had a very good conversation. They were informing me that they can avail their websites and they themselves for our SMEs to come.

I'm working on establishing contacts between them. We have our SME Corporation, which oversees all SMEs in Malaysia, so this is one avenue I see going forward for Canada and Malaysia.