International Trade Committee on Feb. 22nd, 2021

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Thank you so much, MP Gray, and it's very nice to see you here today as well.

The timeline and the work that lies ahead, I think behooves all of us as parliamentarians. This is about getting Bill C-18 through the parliamentary process, both in the House of Commons as well as in the Senate.

I take, with absolute urgency, the request by our many businesses and workers who are looking to the ratification of Bill C-18 so we can continue to protect those Canadian jobs and that stability and the certainty—

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Thank you, Minister.

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

I think the answer to your question is, we're all going to need to work very hard to get this bill to that finish point so it can be ratified.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Thank you, Minister, but this feels a little like déjà vu. Last year we were bringing up the point that it had to go through Parliament and it had to go to the Senate and we didn't have any specific dates or timelines. This seems very similar. You can't give us any commitment.

Have you spoken to the Senate about their work plan and when this would go through the Senate?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Absolutely, we ensured that the Senate is briefed on the elements of the bill. The officials are providing technical briefings. We continue to work with the Senate, with parliamentarians as we need to, to ensure an expedient passing of this legislation and the work ahead.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

So is it actually in the work plan for March? Are there dates that they have slated to work on this in March?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

The work that is ahead, I think, is absolutely, as you rightly pointed out, important to get to the early passage, and I can assure you that we are in active dialogue with the Senate, just as we are with colleagues in this House, to ensure a speedy passage of this legislation.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Minister, if this doesn't pass by the end of March—we know that the memorandum of understanding goes until the end of March—is there an extension process between Canada and the U.K.?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

There is continuous dialogue taking place between Canada and the United Kingdom on ensuring that the continuity and predictability are in place between our countries, for our exporters and our businesses, and that work and that dialogue continue.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much, Ms. Gray.

We go now to Ms. Bendayan.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

On a point of order, Madam Chair, according to my clock here, I'm at three minutes and forty-nine seconds. My team's clock shows the same thing, so I'm not sure if there was a bit of....

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

On my clock it was 11:44, which would mean a five-minute round. I'm sorry but there was no other room there.

We go now to Ms. Bendayan.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Thank you, Minister, for appearing on such short notice.

I find it interesting that the opposition should raise the fact that we, as a committee, will do all of our work in order to ratify this as quickly as possible, when on Friday it was they who cancelled the meeting at which you were to appear. I'm very pleased to hear that the opposition is interested in moving quickly, and I'm sure that we can work together in order to achieve that.

Perhaps to that end, Madam Minister, you could speak to the importance of a speedy ratification, particularly since my understanding is that we do export a significant number of services to the United Kingdom. I think you mentioned that in your opening statement. Our exporters of services are not currently covered by the MOU, and I do believe that we all have an interest in supporting our service exports.

Are there any other reasons, to your mind—and certainly that one would be sufficient—that we should move quickly towards ratification, Minister?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Absolutely, it's really important that we get this bill ratified.

You pointed out that the access to $118 billion of the U.K. procurement market is but one. I would also say that the numbers that I read out earlier, in answer to a question, around the benefits of CETA with the EU—and that includes the U.K.—such as the 16.6% increase in export levels to pre-CETA time, are one reason we continue to provide as much certainty and as much predictability as we can to Canadian businesses.

Certainly the business groups and the workers they employ are really counting on all of us to speedily pass Bill C-18 so that predictability and that certainty can be had for workers.

On that, I want to thank everyone for their terrific hard work. I'm looking forward to continuing to do that, because it is absolutely crucial to the stability that businesses need, and they're looking for us to do that with the passage of this legislation.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Thank you.

I believe it was in December of last year that our NDP colleague on this committee put forward a motion with respect to this trade agreement to ensure that England would respect its obligations to the people of Ireland under the Good Friday Agreement. A similar motion was also passed unanimously by the foreign affairs committee.

I wonder, Minister, if you would like to comment on that. Canada has played an important role in ensuring the free movement of people under the Good Friday Agreement. Would you like to add any comment with respect to that?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

I think I had it on record before, but it bears repeating that Canada firmly believes in preserving the Good Friday Agreement and that it's crucial to maintaining peace in Northern Ireland. Canada of course helped support the establishment of the Good Friday Agreement, and we've consistently worked to ensure and to support the realization of peace, and we're going to always maintain the integrity of the Good Friday Agreement, including in this context. We are pleased to see that the U.K. and the EU have arrived at their own agreement in respect of the Good Friday Agreement, and Canada is firmly supportive of preserving this agreement.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Madam Chair, can I get in one last question?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

A very short question, please. You have one minute, and that's for question and the answer.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Thank you.

A lot of women in business are having a very difficult time during this pandemic. Many of them are calling this a “she-cession”. I noted in particular that you mentioned the importance of women's economic empowerment in our negotiations in the future.

Could you say a few words about this very important issue?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

It is a very important issue. Both Secretary Truss and I have an absolute commitment to women's economic empowerment. I humbly serve leading Canada's first ever women's entrepreneurship strategy, and this really is about growing our Canadian businesses supporting those women-owned businesses so that they can be successful here in Canada and certainly abroad.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you, Minister.

We go on to Mr. Savard-Tremblay for two and a half minutes, please.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to continue discussing the need for transparency.

During the CETA negotiations between Canada and the European Union, some provinces, including Quebec, had a negotiator representing them at the table. This was at the request of the European Union, not Canada.

You said that other negotiations were planned. We want to hear more about them soon.

In the case of the new negotiations coming up—

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Madam Chair, the translation and Mr. Savard-Tremblay were together, so I couldn't fully hear the question, because the translation was on top of it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

I'm sorry.

You will have to start again, Mr. Savard-Tremblay. Your time will then start again.

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

Okay, thank you.

I was simply saying that, during the CETA negotiations with Europe—