Evidence of meeting #94 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 tisa.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Ana Renart  Director General, Market Access, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Darren Smith  Director, Services Trade, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

3:50 p.m.

Director, Services Trade, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

Darren Smith

It's a difficult question because, as was said at the outset, while we made lots of progress up until the end of 2016 and we were close to a framework of an agreement, with the new U.S. administration there has been a pause in the negotiations. We actually haven't had a meeting since last December.

3:50 p.m.

NDP

Tracey Ramsey NDP Essex, ON

My next question is about the probability of including provisions that ban data localization. I think you mentioned things in the future. I think about NAFTA. We couldn't have envisioned the world that we're in now 25 years ago, so there wasn't language about that in there.

Do you think that data localization measures will be included in TISA? It's a concern for Canadians, in particular the two provinces, that we have to protect that.

3:50 p.m.

Director, Services Trade, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

Darren Smith

In fact, data localization is an issue that's being discussed in TISA. That work is not complete, but Canada's approach, which is shared by a good number of other participants, is to have a balanced approach so that we can still ensure a cross-border flow of data and at the same time protect the information that's held by government or in a government procurement context, so the two cases that you referred to, Nova Scotia and B.C., would not be part of TISA.

3:50 p.m.

NDP

Tracey Ramsey NDP Essex, ON

Okay. That's good.

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking

You only have 10 seconds.

3:50 p.m.

NDP

Tracey Ramsey NDP Essex, ON

We'll let it go, then.

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking

Maybe you'll get to your questions in the next round.

3:50 p.m.

NDP

Tracey Ramsey NDP Essex, ON

It's tough.

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking

We're going to move over to the Liberals now. Madam Ludwig, you have the floor.

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you both for your presentations today. My questions are actually rather general.

Sometimes we hear, or often we hear, criticism of international trade. I would like to ask Ms. Renart and Mr. Smith your position on how important it is that we are at the table discussing international trade and the opportunities to improve the standard of living if we're involved in a trade agreement. That's my first question. Thank you.

3:50 p.m.

Director General, Market Access, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

Ana Renart

I'll start off by saying Canada is a trading nation, right? One out of six jobs links to trade. It's the equivalent of about three million jobs that are linked to trade in Canada. That's two-thirds of our GDP, approximately, all linked to trade. It's an important part of our GDP, of what we do every day. I would start off by saying that.

You also look at the quality of jobs. When you look at the quality of jobs, the rates of pay tend to be higher for companies that export, so all around, it's good. It's good for Canada and it's good for our partners.

The other reason that it's important for us to be involved in negotiations, especially when they're ongoing negotiations in groupings, is to maintain a level playing field. For example, we're discussing with the Pacific Alliance right now. They are discussing potential free trade agreements with a number of other countries to also become associated states. If we weren't part of that discussion, they'd have a leg up on us.

It's the same thing with Mercosur. As they are discussing with other countries, we may want to also consider being involved in those negotiations.

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB

Thank you.

I would also like to ask you three other questions.

One is in regard to the opportunities for international education, for students from Chile, Argentina, or Brazil to study here in Canada. We know the K-to-12 system's been a popular one, but what about the opportunities for students in post-secondary education? Also, what about opportunities for tourism?

My next question is about risk in entering emerging markets, how to mitigate some of this risk, and the importance of diversification for the Canadian economy.

Thank you.

3:55 p.m.

Director General, Market Access, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

Ana Renart

May I start with the latter question?

Then Darren, do you want to do the first...?

3:55 p.m.

Director, Services Trade, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

3:55 p.m.

Director General, Market Access, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

Ana Renart

In terms of the risk in emerging markets, that's why we do FTAs. It's important to have strong rules so that we know what the terms of trade are going to be and have stability and predictability in our relationship.

I think that's a pretty simple answer. I'll keep this one short and let my colleague talk on the first question.

3:55 p.m.

Director, Services Trade, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

Darren Smith

In terms of the international education and training front, it's certainly something the department recognizes. It's not so much what we would do in the trade policy context; it's more something in the international business development or trade promotion context, where there's a lot of activity.

Nonetheless, we do work with our colleagues there, and with stakeholders, to identify any potential trade barriers that might exist in those different sectors, and obviously we try to address those accordingly. However, it is an area we've identified as having significant opportunities, not only in the Latin American context but also in the Asia-Pacific region and in Europe, and it does feature in our work in terms of trying to identify potential opportunities for Canadian entities.

3:55 p.m.

Liberal

Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB

That's great. Thank you.

I'll leave you with my last question. It's about language preparedness. We're looking at these international markets and the great opportunities that are there. We work in a bilingual market here in Canada. How important is it for our population to diversify in terms of increasing language capacity to be competitive in and work in these markets?

3:55 p.m.

Director, Services Trade, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

Darren Smith

It has to be a short answer.

3:55 p.m.

Director General, Market Access, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

Ana Renart

It's important. You have to prepare for the market that you want to do business in, so it's very important that when we start talking about doing FTAs, we ensure that we're transparent and that businesses are in the loop on what it is we're trying to do so that they can build it into their planning and start thinking ahead.

3:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking

Thank you.

We're right on time.

We're going to go into our second round now, and we're starting with the Liberals.

Madame Lapointe, go ahead for five minutes.

3:55 p.m.

Liberal

Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank you for being with us. What you are explaining today is very interesting. Earlier, you talked about small and medium-sized enterprises and the Pacific Alliance. I'm sure that small and medium-sized enterprises have objectives for the agreements you mentioned.

My riding is in the northern suburbs of Montreal, where a number of small and medium-sized businesses are located. In addition, Bell Helicopter and Bombardier are in the vicinity.

You are talking to us today about an agreement with Mercosur, which includes Brazil. But surely you know that one of our major competitors is in Brazil. That's why I was wondering if this was an issue. Many of our small and medium-sized businesses are in the aerospace and aviation industries, but also in transportation and agri-food. I'm talking about aviation, but I would also like to know how the agreements you are presenting today can be of benefit to companies in the agri-food, automotive and aerospace sectors.

3:55 p.m.

Director General, Market Access, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

Ana Renart

I just want to make sure I get all parts of your question.

First of all, when it comes to whether we can be competitive when it comes to areas in aerospace, we have excellent companies here in Canada. It's an excellent sector, world class. They can compete anywhere and everywhere, including in Brazil. Brazil is also very competitive.

Increasing and opening markets always improves the sector on both sides, right? Increasing competition is good. Including this sector in our FTAs is important in order to provide Bombardier and other companies in the sector with opportunities. There are obviously a lot of opportunities, because they already have a niche there in Brazil. There will always be ways in which they can work together.

When it comes to agrifood, there as well we have similar economies. Across the board, there are a lot of goods that are actually complementary between Canada and Mercosur countries, but there are also a lot of places where we can find niches. In the context of our consultations, there were a few sectors in agriculture where there was an expressed interest. Again, this is where Mercosur countries have very high tariffs. Bringing some of those down will allow our companies to compete and export to these countries.

4 p.m.

Liberal

Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Thank you.

I talked to you about aerospace and food processing, but which sectors do you think would be beneficial for us to choose?

4 p.m.

Director General, Market Access, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

Ana Renart

Sorry; are you asking in what other sectors it would be beneficial for us to export to those countries?

4 p.m.

Liberal

Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Yes. Which products made in Canada are we the most partial to?