International Trade Committee on March 8th, 2021

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

Yes, in the past.

[Susan Yurkovich]

On those, when we do get resolution, of course we have greater certainty of what the operating conditions are. It allows companies to choose to make investments and to know what the rules of the game are going to be.

I would say those two decisions were out of the former NAFTA process, but we can't get there until we have these international bodies eventually finding in Canada's favour and putting pressure onto the U.S. system, which is where we ultimately have to get resolution.

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

You say that we have to have a well-functioning WTO and an effective appellate body as well. Now the decision has been appealed by the U.S. Under the circumstances, how long do you think this appeal process will take? Exactly what do you mean by the appellate body, if we have to pin down that time frame?

[Susan Yurkovich]

The situation with the WTO is that we have the decision from the summer, which finds...it's a very strong victory for Canada. Every party always has the right to appeal a decision. The U.S. has the right to appeal, so it has chosen to appeal.

Unfortunately, it has appealed to a body that is not properly constituted. The appellate body doesn't have enough members to hear the appeal because the U.S. won't appoint its members. Basically, that decision is in limbo. I can't really tell you how long it will take, because I can't tell you when the U.S. might choose to appoint its folks to the appellate body.

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

Even if we have a body—if the U.S. appoints those—how long do you think that appeal process would be, if we had all the members in the appellate body?

[Susan Yurkovich]

If we had the appeals process, it would still take us a couple of years, likely, to work through it. You have to remember that with the lumber file we have appeals, and then we have administrative reviews under CUSMA, or the new NAFTA side of things, in addition to the WTO. We use both mechanisms.

Basically, it's ongoing until you can reach resolution, which is what has happened in the past. In the case of 2006, we got to a point where there was enough pressure and we negotiated the deal.

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

You also said that, when it comes to the lumber industry, 30% is new markets. What else can be done, from a government perspective, so we have much bigger shares in other countries and we are not dependent on the U.S.?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Give a brief answer, if possible, Ms. Yurkovich.

[Susan Yurkovich]

We're continuing to diversify markets. We're continuing to work through the Canada Wood Group program that the federal government is a partner in, and has been for many years. We'll look to continue to diversify both products and markets, but that takes time.

The U.S. needs our lumber, and we would still like to be able to sell it to them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

We'll move to Mr. Savard-Tremblay, for two and a half minutes.

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

I will return to Mr. Vaillancourt and pick up the conversation where we left off in the previous round of questioning.

Mr. Vaillancourt, you mentioned intellectual property. Could you expand on that idea further?

[Claude Vaillancourt]

Currently, the WTO rules are really in favour of extending the protection of brand-name drugs as much as possible, which poses a problem of accessibility to generic drugs.

For the countries of the south, we can say that the situation has been really catastrophic. Basic medications are becoming extremely difficult to access, which causes illnesses and leads to real tragedies.

This is currently seen with the COVID-19 situation, where two WTO member countries, India and South Africa, have in fact asked that this protection be suspended, so that they can manufacture vaccines themselves and make them accessible to the greatest number of individuals quickly. They do not want to depend on private companies, which are also making considerable profits in this regard.

This is really about disease and the survival of populations. So it's absolutely important that Canada step in and support these two countries so that this can be done as quickly as possible and so that accessibility to vaccines is as widespread as possible.

So we can see how regulation, that is, everything related to intellectual property, is extremely constraining and at the heart of the WTO, but also in other agreements signed by Canada.

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

So this is not a good idea at all...

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Make it a very short question, please.

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

In the pandemic context, it is not a good idea at all to provide extended brand-name drug protection.

[Claude Vaillancourt]

Absolutely not, and the WTO can really intervene on this. Indeed, it can require that the duration of these protections be reduced in exceptional circumstances.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

We'll move to Mr. MacGregor, for two and a half minutes.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I would be remiss if I didn't ask a question of the Grain Growers of Canada, who are frequent witnesses at the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.

The new director general of the WTO was elected on a promise to update the WTO rule book to take into account 21st century issues like the green and circular economy. She has put the world on notice that the environment and climate change are quite important to her.

You, along with other groups, have joined together to form the agriculture carbon alliance in Canada. In the context of WTO reform, what does your participation in an organization like that do for Canada's efforts in leading this conversation about WTO reform?

[Andre Harpe]

I've been listening during the morning, and the interesting thing is the connection between trade and the environment. As a producer myself.... Basically, the agricultural industry in Canada—

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

I have a point of order, Madam Chair.

There is no interpretation because of the sound quality.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Let's hold for a minute. We have an interpretation problem.

Please hold on, Mr. Harpe. We need to make sure we have interpretation.

[The Clerk]

You just have to raise your mike, Mr. Harpe.

[Andre Harpe]

Is this better?

[The Clerk]

Yes. Please continue.

[Andre Harpe]

Okay, thank you.

As producers, we are so connected to the environment. I believe trade will have to be connected to the environment, as with our connection to the newly formed carbon alliance.

The reason we formed the alliance was to show everybody else, including the world, how effective we are in capturing carbon and how effective Canadian agriculture is in dealing with carbon already. We look forward to being able to do better. We believe we are doing quite well right now, but, as they say, there is always room for improvement.

I look forward to seeing what the new director general will come up with for the World Trade Organization guidelines.