International Trade Committee on Feb. 22nd, 2021

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

Thank you very much.

All that to say, my understanding is that this has come up in previous testimony as one of those leverage points to get the United Kingdom back to the table.

Am I correct in that assessment? This is one of those kinds of pressure points that would cause the U.K. to want to negotiate a successor agreement, or am I mistaken in that regard?

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

I am willing to stay for the minutes required, so that I can respond to Mr. Savard-Tremblay.

I've already said that we're committed to concluding negotiations within a three-year time frame. There are provisions within this TCA to ensure we are at that negotiating table to do that work.

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

My understanding is that one of those provisions has to do with the U.K. having this 2023 deadline for its cheese access under the WTO.

I'm trying to square the circle of, on the one hand saying, even though there isn't any hard sunset clause to this agreement, there are things like access to the Canadian dairy market that would cause the U.K. to want to negotiate a successor agreement. Then, squaring that with your statement that you're glad there's been no dairy market access concessions in this agreement, and that you won't make any dairy market access concessions in a future agreement.

If one of the reasons we can expect the U.K. to come to the table to negotiate a successor agreement is because their access to the Canadian dairy market is interrupted, how does that square with negotiating a successor agreement that doesn't provide any access to the Canadian dairy market?

Could you enlighten the committee on this?

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

Number one, we will not provide new market access for supply-managed sectors. Number two, there are provisions within the agreement that will help Canada and the U.K. arrive at a conclusion within three years.

I'm looking forward to ratifying this agreement, so that we can begin to talk to Canadians, and then get back to the negotiating table.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Madam Clerk, is the interpretation corrected?

If so, I'll go back to Mr. Savard-Tremblay. Otherwise, I'll go to Mr. Hoback, and then go back.

[The Clerk]

Yes, we can go back to Mr. Savard-Tremblay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

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

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

That's fine.

Minister Ng, can you hear the interpretation?

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

Yes.

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

This is wonderful.

I want to thank my colleague from the NDP for making sure that I had the opportunity to speak. I also want to thank you, Minister Ng, for offering to stay longer in case we lose time as a result of other technical issues.

I'll repeat my question.

During the CETA negotiations between Canada and the European Union, Quebec had a negotiator representing it at the table.

Now you're saying that there will be new negotiations with the United Kingdom. In addition, there are currently other negotiations with different regions of the world.

Could you repeat this approach in future rounds of negotiations by including Quebec and the provinces? You'll recall that, in the case of CETA, this approach was established at the request of the European Union, not Canada.

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

I think our commitment is really clear on transparency of consultations. We fully intend to ensure that provincial and territorial jurisdictions are consulted and closely informed on progress of any discussions that will ensue.

Of course, we also have the committee on trade, which is a mechanism that serves as a way to ensure that provinces and territories are indeed provided with regular updates and able to seek input. Our commitment to ensuring that there is consultation and that we are working with our provincial and territorial colleagues is a commitment that we intend to ensure we carry out.

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

You said that there will be consultations. However, I wanted to know whether you could repeat the approach used in the negotiations with Europe, where Quebec and the provinces had representatives directly at the table. At the end of the day, if we want something done, we must do it ourselves.

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

I think it's really important. Our commitment to transparency is one that I have stated and will continue to state. We are also committed to ensuring that we have the voices and the considerations of provinces and territories.

I hosted a federal-provincial-territorial meeting very recently, so I am engaged with my colleagues on their priorities with respect to international trade. That input and that commitment to work with our provincial and territorial colleagues is a commitment that our government will ensure we carry out.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you, Minister.

I'm trying to accommodate Mr. Hoback for the five minutes. I know Ms. Gray has an important question she was hoping to ask the minister as well. Any time we add to this session, of course, is taking from our next hour.

If we can be not too long with questions and answers, we can get both Mr. Hoback's and Ms. Gray's questions in within the five minutes.

Mr. Hoback.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Minister, for coming on Monday. I really appreciate that.

I just want to set the record straight. The Liberal party controls the House schedule that forced the vote on Monday. It's Liberals that actually control this committee and cancelled the committee on Friday. When the member says it's the opposition parties forcing this...no, the control actually does belong to the governing Liberal party.

Ms. Ng, you talked about how you recognize the need for actually getting a finalized agreement. You've said three years to get that in place. In the meantime, you've also identified that there are areas where there needs to be improvement.

Can you just give us some ideas on some of the things you would be looking for in the new agreement that does not exist right now?

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

Thank you so much. It's good to see you, Mr. Hoback.

We are looking forward to hearing from Canadians, of course. While this agreement replicates the very good agreement that is CETA—and you heard me talk about the benefits of it—a bilateral agreement with the United Kingdom would be one that can look at digital trade and how our two countries can pursue those opportunities. It's one that has high ambitions for the environment and how that works its way into a trade agreement. It continues to have good ambitions around market access, particularly for women entrepreneurs or for small and medium-sized enterprises, which are 99% of all businesses in Canada.

These are all areas, but certainly there are more—

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

I'm sorry. I don't mean to interrupt, but I have limited time.

There's one thing you're forgetting to mention. We had CAFTA in front of us talking about some of the problems they're having with the existing EU agreement, and I think we're all very aware of what those problems are. We have an interim agreement in place. These organizations still have the same problems.

What are we going to do in the interim to assist these organizations to alleviate those problems? If they can't get market access because we didn't have time to do the appropriate deal, are you going to compensate them? Are you going to provide them special assistance to support them while we wait until a new deal is actually signed?

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

We will work with CAFTA—we have been—and we worked with our agriculture producers and stakeholders, who are continuing to pursue market access into CETA. This agreement, of course, replicates CETA. Our trade commissioner team and our missions team, as well as my officials and I, are working very hard with CAFTA and our stakeholders and producers to make sure that this agreement and the market access and the opportunities for growth are there. We're going to continue to do that. That work doesn't stop.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

That's fair, and you say that you're going to continue to fight for the market access, fight for the science-based analogy of the products going into the market there, recognizing science as the actual outcome or determinator of whether there should be a tariff or not, or access or not.

As you do this, you've also said that you're going to protect supply management and the supply sector, and I'm glad to hear that. You've been poor on compensating; you're finally coming to the table on some of the compensation. If you're going to do that, are you going to actually supply a payout to these other sectors that may not get market access because you've now said that you're going to protect supply management? How does that work? How is that going to function?

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

There's no question that what we need to do is keep pursuing the work that we are doing to help our exporters get into those markets that are provided for, the opportunities that are provided for, utilizing the structure that exists in CETA, now bilaterally replicated with Canada-U.K. We are very committed to helping our businesses pursue those areas.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Again, you've heard that in the EU agreement there are problems, and they've identified that those problems still exist in the U.K. agreement and need to be identified in the new agreement, with some sort of solution. Do you commit to those sectors that you'll actually fight for them to solve those problems?

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

We're absolutely going to listen very hard to those sectors, along with all sectors—

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Listening and accomplishing results are two different things, Minister.

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

Accomplishing results by—

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

We have to fight for them.