International Trade Committee on March 8th, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you.

To all members who, for whatever reason, were not able to get their questions in to Ms. Whattam or the other witnesses who seemed to have some technical challenges, you can send them to the clerk, and she will forward them to the appropriate witnesses, if that is helpful to the committee members.

I want to thank you, witnesses, for the very valuable information and the work you continue to do to advance the trade issues around Canada.

Our witnesses can disconnect, and I will suspend for half a minute so we can go on to the committee business portion of the meeting.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you all for your attention.

I'll just outline what we have before us.

For upcoming business, we have the estimates, which were referred to the committee by the House on February 25. The ones we have received are on the Invest in Canada hub. I've already asked that an invitation be extended to Minister Ng and her officials to appear so that the committee will be in a position to report on the estimates prior to May 31.

Next, on WTO reform, we've had two meetings up until today, and we are scheduled to have another 60 minutes on Friday. Last October, though, we did talk about having three meetings on the WTO issue, so I would appreciate some direction from the committee members. If we want to have a third meeting, we'll need to make that decision so we can organize the calendar.

We have two draft reports that we're going to have to go over.

The first one is on trade between Canada and the United Kingdom. The potential transitional trade agreement study was distributed last Friday and is ready to be reviewed by the members. Following the vote this afternoon, I will be tabling the Bill C-18 report as well.

The second draft report that's being worked on is “Canada's International Trade after COVID-19: Changes, Federal Supports for Exporters and Trade Agreement Priorities”. It is scheduled to be distributed to members by March 26.

Next, we expect to have Louis Plamondon's private member's bill, Bill C-216. It may come to a vote in the House this week and, if carried, is going to be referred to our committee.

One other thing, as a reminder, is that last October 23, when we had a committee business section, we did adopt a motion to hold a minimum of two meetings on “Investor-State Dispute Settlement Mechanisms: Selected Impacts”.

In addition to that, we have several motions from Mr. Sheehan and Mrs. Gray, which have also been referenced today, and other motions that are already tabled.

The question for us is how we would like to proceed today.

Mr. MacGregor, go ahead.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I've been in contact with Mr. Blaikie. I believe he gave notice of a motion for something that now has been slightly amended. He has been in discussion with some members of this committee already. I'll read it out slowly just for my colleagues' benefit.

It reads as follows:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee undertake a study of Canada's trade policy and trade agreements in respect of how they may help or hinder the production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in Canada and across the world, including, but not limited to,

(i) Canada's position with respect to a proposal at the World Trade Organization to provide “a waiver from certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19”,

(ii) how Canada's trade agreements, like CETA, may be used to ensure Canada's vaccine advance-purchase contracts are respected,

and (iii) whether Canada's current trade position should motivate accelerated capacity in domestic vaccine manufacturing capability;

That the committee dedicate a minimum of four meetings to this study, and,

That the committee report its findings to the House.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

I have a point of order, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much, Mr. MacGregor.

You have a point of order, Ms. Bendayan.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

It's just a point of clarification from my colleague.

I don't seem to have that motion myself. Was that text circulated in both languages, or is this something that will be circulated shortly?

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

My understanding is that Mr. Blaikie put the original motion on notice a while ago, maybe last year. It was dealing, at its centre, with the TRIPS waiver.

This one has been slightly reworded.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

It was tabled quite some time ago, but now that it has these proposed changes, I'm not sure if that requires a time limit or.... It doesn't appear to be exactly the same as the one that Mr. Blaikie tabled previously. We'll have to get some clarification to.... Certainly, we know what the intent was.

Mrs. Gray.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I just want to say that we would be supportive of those amendments as have been read out. We can certainly make amendments to motions as we are here without having to go through another process.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Okay.

Madam Clerk.

[The Clerk]

Do people want a recorded vote on the motion from Mr. MacGregor?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Does the committee—

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Madam Chair, I'm sorry if you don't see it, but I do have my hand raised.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Now I see it, yes. Thank you.

Go on, Ms. Bendayan.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Perhaps I could seek the views of other colleagues, but I would like to review the text of the motion that we would be voting on before doing so. Unless there is some urgency to vote right this moment, I would appreciate receiving the text in both English and French for the benefit of all colleagues.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you.

That certainly makes sense.

Mr. Arya.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

It's the same thing, Madam Chair. I would like to review the text in advance.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

A suggestion might be.... I'm not sure that we're going to get that text that quickly. A decision on that could be held off until Friday's meeting if that is the desire of the committee.

Is everybody okay if we hold down Mr. Blaikie's suggested motion so that everybody will have a chance to get it and review it? We could deal with it on Friday. Are there any objections to that?

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

I just forwarded it to the clerk. I just want to let you know that it's just been sent right now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Okay, thank you.

This coming Friday's meeting is again 60 minutes on the WTO, and 60 minutes on the final draft report on Canada and the U.K. That's going to take us to that meeting.

We then have to look at the meeting of the 18th. We may have Bill C-216 at the same time. If there's any particular direction, ideas or suggestions from the committee as to the direction they would like to go in....

Ms. Bendayan.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'm happy to hear from my colleagues, the co-chairs of the committee, Mrs. Gray and, of course, the representative of the NDP for Mr. Blaikie, and Simon-Pierre. For my part, I think what we heard today from witnesses was helpful and we should perhaps continue hearing from witnesses on Friday on the WTO.

Of course, I understand from you that we might have a private member's bill, Bill C-216, coming to this committee. I would welcome views from the clerk as to whether that would take precedence over the other studies we have before us, but I do note that there was interest from all parties to study investor-state dispute mechanisms and it's something we had voted on quite some time ago. Therefore, I look forward to getting to that study, as I am sure other members do.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you.

Mrs. Gray.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have two things.

First, I want to ask whether we would have officials coming back. I believe officials last spoke on WTO a year ago. Certainly there have been a lot of updates since then, so does the plan also include having officials come before the committee?

Second, I had read in my notice of motion, and I would like to table it. I'm not sure whether you want me to read it again. I've already done so in this meeting. This motion is to look at the effectiveness of the integrity declaration of doing business with Xinjiang entities.

I am moving that, and if you'd like, I can read it. I did read it earlier.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

You read it into the record, and you are moving it now.