International Trade Committee on Nov. 30th, 2020

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

I could see her reaching for the mute button.

I'm just wondering what some of those tools are, short of legislation, that would enable.... At the very least if we exclude those other provisions of the agreement that don't have anything to do with tariffs, what non-legislative tools are available to governments on both sides of the Atlantic to maintain the lower, no-tariff trade regime?

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

That's a very good question.

That's exactly the work that is going on right now. I don't want to make policy here on the fly; I really want the officials to do that necessary work and to look at how we might be able to put forward those mitigating measures. Both countries' goal, absolutely, is to ensure that we minimize the disruption to our businesses and that they get the continuity we have agreed to in this agreement for them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you, Madam Minister.

We go now to Mr. Aboultaif for five minutes.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Good morning, Minister, and thanks for appearing today.

You must have read this agreement. Can we assume that you have had a chance to look at it?

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

The officials are going through their review and—

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

But I'm asking you, Minister, in person: have you read the agreement?

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

I have read elements of the agreement, yes.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Would you recall how many pages the agreement is?

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

I think what is really important here is that the officials on both sides do the work they need to do so that we can take a look at the final product. I respect the work they do and I'm looking forward to getting that final agreement.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

On a generic note, do you believe that the CETA agreement was a perfect agreement for Canada?

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

The CETA agreement does a number of things. For one, it provides incredible market access, thus a lot of new customers for Canadian businesses. CETA has eliminated tariffs for 98% of...and provides access to small and medium-sized businesses and women-owned businesses. CETA stands as a high threshold and high mark for labour standards and for environmental standards. It is a positive agreement from which we are seeing benefits for Canadian businesses that are exporting into that market.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Let's call it 98% perfect. Would you agree to that term?

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

I agree that CETA is a good agreement for Canadian businesses and Canadian workers. It seeks to provide opportunities for our businesses to grow into that market. It provides opportunities for our businesses on both sides of the Atlantic to collaborate, and businesses and workers are already benefiting from CETA.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Minister, if I understood correctly from your opening remarks, you have a plan, or you're talking about a plan, in case this agreement is not ratified by December 31 this year. That, to me, sounds like you are not very confident this is going to happen. There's something in your mind, as I'm listening to your speech, that tells me this agreement may not come to Parliament by the end of this year. Can you explain that?

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

I'm very happy to. I am very confident that both countries have reached a continuity agreement, and that we have worked hard to get to this point because of how important it is to provide stability and certainty to our businesses. I'm very proud about that.

I am very proud that our officials in both countries are working very hard to complete the legal text. I am very committed to making sure that we take a planned approach, making sure there is continuity and predictability, and minimization or mitigation of disruptions. You are hearing from me as someone who has planned, and someone who wants, to ensure that there is a method to minimize disruptions to our businesses.

I'm proud that we have this agreement and that we're able to talk about this now, and absolutely we're going to work hard to make sure that we mitigate any disruptions to business.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

I'm not questioning your intention, Minister; I'm questioning your plan. Listening to your remarks, I read that you're not confident that we are going to have an agreement to ensure continuity, stability and predictability for businesses, for our businesses. If the agreement is not ratified by December 31, all of this is just, I'm sorry, fluff. It's just empty words.

I'd like to sense from you that assurance that we will see the agreement before Parliament rises for Christmas break.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Give a short answer, if possible, Minister.

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

Our plan is predictability and stability for our businesses. That is the top priority. We have a deal in place, one that we promised in 2017. We are here. I'm looking forward to our continued work, and I hope that we will all work together to do what is necessary to provide that predictability and that continuity for Canadian businesses.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you, Minister.

Now for five minutes, I call Ms. Bendayan.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

It is my turn to thank the minister for her work on this continuity agreement.

The committee heard from Mr. Gobeil, from Les Producteurs de lait du Québec. Mr. Gobeil was very worried about the fact that we may have made concessions on supply management to allow additional cheese into the country. If I understand correctly, Minister, we have stood our ground, and not an ounce of additional cheese will be coming into the country under this agreement.

Was it important for you and for our negotiating team to protect supply management to the benefit of our dairy producers, in Quebec and across Canada?

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

I thank my respected colleague for her question.

The agricultural sector is essential for Canada's economy. The Prime Minister and I have been clear: there will be no additional concessions. This commitment was made in the continuity trade agreement between Canada and the United Kingdom.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Thank you, Minister.

No, sorry, go ahead.

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

Yes, the supply-managed sector, the dairy sector, is absolutely important and the commitment is clear. We have protected that in this continuity agreement.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Thank you.

Turning now to the negotiations and what we have experienced over the last few years in negotiating with the United Kingdom, there has been some discussion by opposition MPs surrounding the pause in negotiations that occurred. I believe it was in March 2019, but please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. It is my understanding that we paused negotiations at that time strategically in order to get the best deal for our Canadian exporters. Can you elaborate a little bit on that?

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

Let me start with the assurance that all of our negotiations and all of our work will always be guided by what is in the very best interests of Canadians, so you're absolutely right about that.

As I said earlier, there was uncertainty around the U.K. and the EU and whether they would reach an agreement or whether the U.K. Parliament might even reverse its course on Brexit. Given the changing circumstances of the U.K.'s exit from the EU, it was virtually impossible to conclude a deal that was in the best interests of Canadians.

I go back to “in the best interests of Canadians”. Yes, we did pause those negotiations with the U.K. because we wanted to be sure we got an agreement that was always in the best interests of Canadians. In June when the U.K. announced that it would not seek an extension to the Brexit transition period, Secretary Truss and I reopened negotiations and committed to arriving at a continuity agreement that would provide that predictability and that certainty for our businesses, and here we are with that agreement. I'm very much looking forward to working with all of our colleagues so we can bring this agreement into force and provide that continuity and that certainty for our businesses.