Evidence of meeting #7 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 lobster.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Claire Citeau  Executive Director, Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance
Kim Campbell  Chair of the Board of Directors, Canadian Association of Importers and Exporters Inc.
Robert Closner  Senior Vice-President and General Counsel, Livingston International
Candace Sider  Vice-President of Government Relations, Livingston International
Geoff Irvine  Executive Director, Lobster Council of Canada
Clerk of the Committee  Ms. Christine Lafrance
Bashar Abu Taleb  Committee Researcher

12:35 p.m.

Conservative

Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK

You know, CPTPP—

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

I'm sorry, Mr. Hoback, but you have run out of time.

Mr. Sheehan.

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Terry Sheehan Liberal Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and to our presenters too.

I want to echo my congratulations to the parliamentary secretary and the minister for international trade on the announcement this past week.

As we know, 2020 has been a very unprecedented year, with not only the pandemic but a number of events that have been happening around the world. The United Kingdom left the EU on January 31, 2020, just prior to the pandemic.

12:35 p.m.

NDP

Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB

Madam Chair, may I interrupt on a quick point of order?

Am I the only one who is not getting Mr. Sheehan's video coming through?

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

No, what I'm seeing is a picture—

Mr. Sheehan, can you turn your camera on?

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Terry Sheehan Liberal Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Yes, I'm sorry about that.

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

Thank you, Mr. Blaikie.

Go ahead.

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Terry Sheehan Liberal Sault Ste. Marie, ON

I want to point out that just prior to the pandemic, with the United Kingdom leaving it was really important for us to continue to negotiate, with all that was going on. Again, therefore, I emphasize my congratulations to all involved in getting us to this point, because 2020 has been a very challenging time. Within that context, we have to recognize that we were able to get to this point.

My understanding is that 98% of products that are being protected tariff-free between Canada and the United States, until such time as we get to the point of the long-term deal, which is going to be debated in the House of Commons.... This committee has always been proactive, and we've undertaken this really important work.

I have a few questions about this really important subject matter, because we know we are no longer going to be covered as of January 21, 2021.

One question I wanted to ask in particular was this. We had an earlier presentation from Gerry Fowler, from Manna International Inc. He deals in organic soybeans. I wanted to ask whether any of the committee presenters had any idea about how these particular soybeans would be treated under the current situation.

Gerry Fowler is from Sault Ste. Marie, but he trades substantially and has been doing so for 20 years with the United Kingdom and Europe, in particular in organic-certified soybeans that are non-genetically modified. It's quite a niche market. He represents a number of farmers across Canada who are exporting into the United Kingdom.

Through you, Madam Chair, to our presenter perhaps from the agricultural group, I'll ask if they have any information on this. If they don't, they can provide it to me later.

12:40 p.m.

Executive Director, Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance

Claire Citeau

We'll need to go to our member specifically for that very specific question.

12:40 p.m.

Liberal

Terry Sheehan Liberal Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Okay, thank you very much. I just wanted to ask, because it's very important. Obviously it's a great market.

Overall, with 98% of the products being protected that are tariff-free, we've talked about a lot of things, such as that the devil will be in the details and that an agreement will be introduced and debated in Parliament. I would like to talk, however, about what tools your clients are using right now, in particular small business and women entrepreneurs. What kinds of tools are at their disposal in expanding their exports and imports, or also as well in taking a look at opportunities for what I'll call new folks?

I think one thing this pandemic has done is cause a lot of people to start to think like Gerry Fowler and say, “I am in Sault Ste. Marie”, or “I'm out in western Canada”, or “I'm out in eastern Canada, but I know that I can virtually get through to some market”.

Do you have you any comments about what your small businesses are doing? In particular, there was a recent announcement about virtual trade missions. Are any of your clients interested, or are they aware?

Thank you, Madam Chair.

12:40 p.m.

Executive Director, Lobster Council of Canada

Geoff Irvine

I can pick up on that one, if you want.

12:40 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

Go ahead, please, Mr. Irvine.

12:40 p.m.

Executive Director, Lobster Council of Canada

Geoff Irvine

Absolutely.

We were just a proponent for a project that did virtual trade missions to Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China, and we had 18 Atlantic Canadian exporters spend 21 days doing those B2B meetings. There was lots of interest in that, given that most people would be going to trade shows or going to visit their customers. Now we do it virtually.

12:40 p.m.

Liberal

Terry Sheehan Liberal Sault Ste. Marie, ON

That's amazing. You feel it's successful, and there's probably going to be some follow-up. I don't know if you surveyed them or had comments from the participants. How do they find it?

12:40 p.m.

Executive Director, Lobster Council of Canada

Geoff Irvine

We always do a survey afterwards. We did the Hong Kong one with a platform from Montreal called B2B/2GO, and we did two of them using traditional methods with consultants and trade commissioners. There were good comments on all. They're generally very successful and very cost-efficient, versus going to the market in person. It went really well.

12:40 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

Thank you very much.

To our witnesses, I'm afraid our time is up for today, but I want to thank you all for your very valuable—

12:40 p.m.

Bloc

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

Madam Chair, I have a point of order.

12:40 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

Go ahead, Mr. Savard-Tremblay.

12:40 p.m.

Bloc

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

Before we give the floor to our witnesses, I want to verify something.

Ms. Citeau, when answering one of my questions earlier, you said that you were asked to respond in English, even if you wanted to respond in French. Of course, I want to make sure that the witnesses can always speak in French before this committee.

Could you tell me the nature of the request?

November 23rd, 2020 / 12:40 p.m.

Executive Director, Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance

Claire Citeau

I was asked to speak in French?

12:40 p.m.

Bloc

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

You said that you were asked to speak in English.

12:40 p.m.

Executive Director, Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance

Claire Citeau

No. Last week, the technician told me, while checking to see whether my system was working, that if I didn't update the system, I may need to respond only in English if I started my comments in that language. I was confused and I was unable to update my system. I was under the impression that, if I started my remarks in English, I would also need to do everything else in English.

I just received a note from the clerk, whom I want to thank. She explained that I could speak in French if I wished to do so. I think that there was a small communication issue with the technician concerning the update of my system.

I'm pleased to be able to speak in French when I have the opportunity to do so.

12:45 p.m.

Bloc

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

All's well that ends well. Rest assured that, like all the other witnesses, you're free to speak in French, that this matter is important and that the committee will make sure that you can do so.

12:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

Absolutely.

Thank you for raising the point, Mr. Savard-Tremblay.

The witnesses are free to exit. The committee has to take a few minutes for some committee business.

I will suspend just for one minute so that the witnesses can leave.

12:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

I wanted to get some discussion from the committee on the following. We were supposed to do an interim report, but if the analysts feel they have insufficient information at this time, would we want to defer any issue of a report until such time as we have had a chance to actually see the legislation we're talking about and, possibly in the new year, spend some time with other stakeholders getting some additional comments?

What are the thoughts of the committee? Does anybody have any thoughts on whether or not we need to...?

Yes, please, Mr. Savard-Tremblay.

I'm sorry. I can't hear. Who is going to be on the speakers list here?