International Trade Committee on Feb. 5th, 2021

[Doug Forsyth]

All of those things are certainly possible and will certainly be looked at before we launch negotiations, absolutely.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Okay. There are some opportunities, then, in a bilateral agreement, which we wouldn't necessarily see in the CPTPP. There's a reason to do that.

I understood that they have to do a bilateral with us before they can actually go into the CPTPP. Is that correct?

[Doug Forsyth]

Yes, that's correct. We have made it clear that the TCA is not sufficient to complete the bilateral negotiations in the context of the CPTPP. They would need to do more.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

As far as gaining market access for other ag commodities goes, what are the things we're going to be looking at that will allow us to gain that market access?

[Doug Forsyth]

I think that in the context of the CPTPP that the U.K. wants to join, they will need to prepare a market access offer for CPTPP members, on which they would base their bilateral negotiations with other CPTPP members. They will have areas where they could potentially go farther.

We are certainly interested from a goods perspective in increasing some of the areas on the agriculture side of things where we did not achieve that in a bilateral context. We talked earlier about beef and pork. Certainly, those would be at the top of my list, but again, we would want to hear from all of our stakeholders before we were to finalize an overall negotiating strategy.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

We'll go on to Mr. Dhaliwal for five minutes, please.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

As you know, Madam Chair, you've been here in beautiful British Columbia long before I got elected. I represent the riding of Surrey—Newton, and for most of the businesses here, if you look at the communities, they are very diverse. My question will be from the perspective of British Columbia to see which sectors in particular will be able to take advantage of this new continuity agreement.

What are some of the provisions in that agreement that will help British Columbians prosper?

[Doug Forsyth]

British Columbia produces some of the best products in Canada, including especially on the commodity side, whether it is timber and wood or whether it is fresh berries and other agricultural products. The B.C. regions will have opportunities to export products like that, similar to other regions across Canada.

I think it's just a matter of recognizing that the U.K. market is an important market for British Columbia. It's my understanding that they have done a very good job of exporting into that market for the last number of years. Our trade commissioner service has helped to connect companies from B.C. with their U.K. counterparts to help open up some of those opportunities. I expect that will continue. As I said, the U.K. market is our number three export market for Canadian exports. This means that companies all across Canada benefit from that marketplace.

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

Madam Chair, I would like to thank Mr. Forsyth for giving the outlook for British Columbia.

Another question raised during the debate on Bill C-18 in Parliament was that this agreement, or our other agreements in general, would not help with small and medium-sized businesses. In Surrey, for instance, I think Randeep would agree that most of the businesses here are small and medium-sized businesses.

I would like to know how this will help small and medium-sized businesses, and particularly how it will help female entrepreneurs.

[Doug Forsyth]

In terms of the agreement, there are no specific provisions for small and medium-sized enterprises, but it does allow them to access the provisions, as it does other companies. The other part of that, though, is that the government does open up the access, but then we need to help. We need to do as much as we can to help small and medium-sized enterprises, help women-owned businesses and help aboriginal businesses access what we have negotiated. I think that's the bigger challenge we are facing. It's not so much that the access is now open; it's how to get businesses to that access.

We've been able to do that through our trade commissioner service, both here in Canada and around the world, linking them to opportunities and doing our best to help companies. We'll continue to do that. Our website is there. Our folks are in the regions. Our folks are “in-market”. We are doing our best to make those connections and to make sure that Canadian companies, both small and large, are successful.

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

Our goal in the next three years is to achieve bilateral trade between the U.K. and Canada. What are some of the specific steps the negotiators can take so that women, the LGBTQ community and minority communities can take full advantage of this forthcoming agreement?

[Doug Forsyth]

I think the best way to approach that is through the consultative process. We really need to hear from small businesses, from LGBTQ businesses and from aboriginal businesses some of their concerns on how we can help out. I think we will do that through the consultative process. We will consult far and wide to make sure we have all of the appropriate information available to us. It certainly will help us help inform our negotiating position as we move on to the next steps with the Canada-U.K. bilateral agreement.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

Monsieur Savard-Tremblay, you have two and a half minutes, please.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

I'd like to get some clarification.

Of all the supply-managed products, only cheese is covered in the agreement, namely in a side letter.

Why is that?

[Doug Forsyth]

The Canada-U.K. agreement is a replication agreement of CETA. Under CETA, the only supply-managed product that was part of the agreement was in fact cheese. Canada was very clear about this, that no other supply-managed product would be part and parcel of that agreement. That's why, given that it is a replication exercise, we're only talking about cheese in the context of Canada-U.K. trade continuity.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Could we see an increase in cheese imports from the U.K. under Canada's WTO cheese TRQ? Have you looked at that?

[Doug Forsyth]

There won't be any increased amount of cheese in the Canadian marketplace as a result of the Canada-U.K. TCA. Will there be more U.K. cheese? That is very much for Canadian importers to decide. They are the ones that have the quota and they will make their own business decisions in terms of deciding what they import. The total amount of imported cheese coming into Canada will not change, but the makeup of it may.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

I see, so the makeup of the cheese imports may change.

Still, the British told you quite clearly that it was just a matter of time because it was a priority for London in future negotiations. Isn't that right?

[Doug Forsyth]

Yes, we have heard on many occasions from our U.K. counterparts that cheese is an important export for them, not just in the Canadian context but around the world.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you.

Next is Mr. Blaikie.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you very much.

When the agreement was announced, it came as a surprise to many of us that what had been touted as a transitional agreement didn't have any kind of sunset clause in it. I know we've had this discussion at committee before, but now that the text of the agreement is public and the legislation is public, I wonder if you could delineate for the committee today, as well as you can in the very limited amount of time that I have—and perhaps you could also table those in a letter to the committee—the aspects of the agreement that the trade department believes will ensure that a successor agreement will be concluded by the end of the three-year period, and if our trading partner decides that it is not content with the provisions of the TCA, which otherwise operates as a permanent trade agreement?

[Doug Forsyth]

I'm certainly happy to do that.

Madam Chair, we can certainly table what I have said today, in terms of outlining some of those provisions.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you.

Do you want to provide a little bit of comment today, just in terms of what you think those major points of leverage are and then table something more detailed subsequent to today?

[Doug Forsyth]

Thank you for the clarification, yes. Sorry, but I heard the second part of the question and not the first.

I would just emphasize that there are the provisions. There's the provision to go back to the negotiating table within one year, and for the consultations to be part of that. I fully expect that we will go back to the negotiating table in 2021 with our U.K. counterparts.

In addition to that, there are best efforts to complete the negotiations within three years, so by the end of 2023. We are certainly working toward that on the Canadian side. I can't speak necessarily to the U.K. side, but certainly the Canadian side is gearing up to do that. When I speak with my U.K. counterparts, I'll see what they are going to say.

In addition, as I mentioned previously, there are the other provisions within the agreement that don't necessarily force the U.K. back to the table, but there are certainly strong reasons for them to come back to the negotiating table, as I said, on cumulation. That was a key ask for the U.K. Those provisions will expire at the end of three years, so at the end of three years they will not be able to use the EU materials. The EU materials will not count as material in the rules-of-origin context and so they will lose preferential access. They will lose the ability to claim preferential duty under the Canada-U.K. TCA.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you very much.