Evidence of meeting #36 for International Trade in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was negotiations.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Doug Forsyth  Director General, Market Access, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Aaron Fowler  Chief Agriculture Negotiator and Director General, Trade Agreements and Negotiations, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Clerk of the Committee  Ms. Christine Lafrance

2:55 p.m.

Bloc

Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC

Thank you, Mr. Fowler.

You are telling me that Canadian beef can access the European market, but that is not what we are being told by the beef producers. They say that that market is closed to them, that there are other non-tariff barriers. You talked about the requirements for cleaning carcasses, for example. So I wonder whether it is really worth it to penalize and make cuts to sensitive sectors of our economy when the gains on the other hand are not necessarily guaranteed.

Personally, I think that the past is an indication of what the future holds. Should we not learn from it?

2:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

Give a brief answer, Mr. Fowler.

2:55 p.m.

Chief Agriculture Negotiator and Director General, Trade Agreements and Negotiations, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food

Aaron Fowler

Absolutely, yes. We do learn from our experiences. We seek to improve the rules that we negotiate with our trading partners to ensure that the market access opportunities our exporters are afforded are real opportunities that they can take advantage of and not merely tariff reductions that don't address underlying non-tariff or technical barriers to trade.

It's a long road and there's always scope to improve that outcome, but in every trade agreement that we negotiate, we strive to ensure that export-oriented industries—agricultural and otherwise—have opportunities that they can pursue as a result of it.

2:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

Thank you.

Thank you very much to all our witnesses for the very valuable information.

I'm going to adjourn the meeting, with your permission, and wish you all a very nice relaxing weekend. We will see each other at Monday's meeting. Thank you all very much.

The meeting is adjourned.