International Trade Committee on Nov. 30th, 2020

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair. Do I have time for a short last question?

I have been receiving very positive feedback and comments from our stakeholders indicating that they very much appreciate that the negotiations have been concluded, and obviously that we have worked in parallel to prepare for all scenarios and mitigate any impacts on their businesses.

I wonder if you have received feedback, as well, from stakeholders and what that feedback has been so far.

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

Absolutely. The feedback has been positive, and the most positive thing and the most important thing for businesses is certainty. This continuity agreement provides that certainty for businesses, in that they understand that the terms of CETA will now apply to the U.K. as the U.K. leaves the EU. That has been positive.

Rachel, thank you so much for your terrific work. We will continue to work with our stakeholders and our businesses to make sure that we are mitigating any disruptions should there be any. Our commitment to our businesses in terms of continuity and predictability is absolutely our top priority.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair. Do I have time for one more question?

I think Madam Chair's on mute. I will go ahead.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Sorry, no.

We move now to Mr. Hoback.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Thank you, Chair.

Good try.

Minister, it's great to see you again here this morning. In your opening comments you talked about having some process in place if Parliament is unable to get this legislation through by December 31. What is that process? What does that look like, and how does it work? Just so that everybody knows what they're doing for paperwork, how is it going to function in regard to that scenario?

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

I think what you're asking about is exactly what businesses are looking for, which is that predictability.

I want to assure you that the work between Canada and the U.K. continues, and we will endeavour to look at a range of options that can help mitigate any disruptions there may be. Know that this is the work that is going on now and it is really important for us to make sure that we are there for our businesses.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

That actually provides us with a lot of opportunity to actually properly reflect on this bill and bring forward witnesses and do the proper scrutiny that's required.

What would be your drop-dead date as far as seeing this through Parliament goes if your interim process is going into effect on December 31? Do you need it done by June, May, April, January? What would that date become?

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

I think businesses are looking for us to do our work expeditiously and quickly. I think businesses are looking for us to bring this continuity agreement—

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Fair enough, and I agree with you, but they also want us to be thorough.

As Mr. Blaikie said, without a sunset or a binding clause in the agreement that actually forces both parties back to the table, we have to assume this agreement's in place for x number of years, because the reality is that governments change and different people come into place and all of a sudden we don't have the same parties at the table who had the agreement in the first place. We need the time. How much time do we have?

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

As I said, I respect the work that you and colleagues must do. I think that you and I and all of us listened to our Canadian producers and businesses. I think they expect us to do the work necessary to bring about that continuity for them. We've committed to try to conclude this new set of trade talks within a three-year period and to begin them within a year—

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

I've heard this. Sorry, I only have five minutes. I don't mean to be rude, Minister, please. I'm not being rude at all when I cut you off. I just need to get more questions in within a short period of time.

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

Yes.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

You basically said that you can assure Canadians and Canadian businesses that on January 1, they won't have to worry about paying a tariff, that nothing unusual will happen to them. It will be just like it was in 2019 and 2020.

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

What I'm saying is that we have a continuity agreement and that's good, and that we are working very hard to—

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

So you can't say that, as I asked?

What are the mitigating measures? You can't have it both ways. As I said, Parliament needs time to go through this legislation and vet it. It probably needs more time than normal because you haven't done consultations, you haven't had ministerial meetings with stakeholders and you don't know what the stakeholders require. In fact, if you talk to stakeholders right now, for example, in the agricultural sector, they're not happy with CETA. They have some disappointments with it and they don't want to see that cut and pasted into the U.K. agreement.

They have all sorts of concerns and if that's exactly what you've done, then they're going to look at it and ask, “What have we dealt with here, what have we got?”

We need, again, to know for sure that you've got a plan in place with the U.K., drawn up so that on January 1, we understand that there's no cause to be concerned, that we can actually see business continuing as you're promising.

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

I can confirm that we are going to work with the U.K. and that we're going to mitigate disruptions to businesses—

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

When you say “mitigate” then, if there are tariffs, are you going to subsidize and pay those tariffs on behalf of Canadian businesses?

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

I think that we just agreed to this continuity agreement and that work is ongoing right now.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

This is where I get frustrated. We were asking you questions on this a year ago. We're highlighting the fact that this is coming due on December 31, that this is something you had to do.

How many people did you consult before you pulled out of your negotiations? Other countries didn't pull out, but we did, which put us at the back of the list. Whom did you consult with who said, yes, we should pull out, that it's in the best interests of Canadians? You haven't even consulted on what should be in the agreement and what those best interests are.

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

I won't take unnecessary time. We did commit to an agreement that would replicate CETA. That's what this continuity agreement is. The CETA agreement had seven years' worth of consultations with stakeholders. We put out in the Gazette in 2018—

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

If you were to listen to stakeholders, they say not to cut and paste.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Sorry, Mr. Hoback, your time is up.

Madam Minister, did you want to complete your answer?

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

This is not a cut and paste.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

We go on to Mr. Sarai for five minutes.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. I know you've had two challenging foreign concerns that caused you to have trade deals, whether it was the U.S. President asking for a revised NAFTA or Brexit happening in Europe. These were things that caught Canada almost off-guard, but you've been successful in reaching CUSMA and now this interim agreement with Great Britain.

For businesses, SMEs particularly, in my riding of Surrey Centre and the region, and for exporters and Canadian industries that we've heard from, by and large most are very happy and confident in the agreement we've reached. There are a few barriers and some challenges, particularly with agriculture— which has always been a challenge in doing international deals—but by and large, they're pretty happy.

So far they want me to thank you for that. However, after asking several questions of many in the industry and industry leaders, I am concerned that some of the Canadian industries have been slow to take up the benefits of some of these international agreements, particularly CETA, the predecessor to this agreement, in regard to the U.K. They're saying that it's a domestic challenge, not an international challenge, to get industry to be aware of it, to revamp it and to focus on it.

What are you and your ministry, which also deals with small business and enterprise in Canada, doing to raise awareness and know-how on how to take benefits from these agreements and how we can increase Canada's net exports abroad.