International Trade Committee on May 11th, 2022

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My question is for the representatives from FCCQ.

As we know, Asia is currently very competitive in a number of sectors. I'd like to know which sectors in Quebec would suffer the most negative consequences if a free trade agreement with ASEAN were concluded.

[Philippe Noël]

We haven't given a lot of thought to the negative impacts on certain sectors. We see international agreements as opportunities, and that has always been our position. We see the advantages rather than disadvantages, both for our exporting companies and for supply chains. Trade agreements can facilitate access to products, as well as allow for the exchange of expertise through labour.

[Mathieu Lavigne]

I would like to point out that many of the goods we already import from ASEAN countries cannot be produced in Quebec. For example, one of the main products we import is fruit that grows there, but not here. These are not necessarily products that would be direct substitutes for domestic products. So it would have less impact on our industries, as opposed to free trade agreements with Europe or the United States, for example, where you really have to look at the substitutes. In the case of ASEAN, the effect is somewhat less direct.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

As I understand it, you have no fear that Quebec will lose manufacturing jobs, for example, as a result of a free trade agreement with ASEAN countries.

[Philippe Noël]

We don't look at this free trade agreement from that perspective at all. In fact, we would like to see the least restrictive barriers for our businesses and reciprocal market access, including for the manufacturing sector.

We see that there are many opportunities to showcase Quebec's know‑how, particularly in the green economy, to increase our partnerships with Asian countries and to increase our investment abroad through our companies that have expertise. I'm thinking in particular of the electrification of transportation, which I mentioned earlier, as well as the energy sector. As you know, Asian countries have major challenges when it comes to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. We believe that Quebec companies can make a significant contribution to this effort.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

I would now like to talk about the Canada Border Services Agency.

Do you think the Canada Border Services Agency is doing a pretty good job of enforcing the Special Import Measures Act, which is designed to protect Canadian industry—

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Mr. Martel, my apologies, but I have to interrupt.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Does everybody want to vote from here, or does anybody want time to go over to the House?

Is everybody okay to vote here?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

All right, then. We can continue on for another five minutes or so.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'll repeat my question.

Do you think the Canada Border Services Agency is doing a pretty good job of enforcing the Special Import Measures Act, which is intended to protect Canadian industry from injury caused by imports of dumped or subsidized goods?

[Philippe Noël]

To be honest, we haven't thought about it as far as this legislation.

That said, we often hear that the agency's processes are complex for our companies when it comes to taking advantage of international agreements. We often hear from companies that they would prefer to pay the tariff, because it seems simpler than demonstrating to customs authorities that their products destined for the international market qualify under trade agreements. It is mainly this type of complexity and technical barriers to trade that companies report to us.

We haven't done much work on this. We don't hear much about it from our members, either.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

My next question is for Mr. Mazerolle.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Keep it very short, please.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

I would like to come back to the famous Midwest premium, because it could really be harmful in the future if nothing moves on this side.

Do you have any other solutions? Earlier, you told me about a certain solution, but do you have any other options with regard to this premium?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Please give a brief answer.

[Denis Mazerolle]

One option would be to bring aluminum from the Middle East, for example, and process it here and return it to the markets. That might be a solution, but it wouldn't make much sense. We would have to do this kind of thing to be able to export aluminum to Asia, even though we're in the aluminum valley and we are surrounded by aluminum smelters.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much, sir.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Mr. Sheehan, you have five minutes.

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Climate change has had a very big impact in the Asia-Pacific region. It has had terrible effects. Disasters have been catastrophic and costly in human lives, particularly in the Philippines, Thailand and Myanmar. On the business side, you see places like Singapore very concerned about the rising levels of water as it relates to shipping and the challenges there.

This question is for Jeff.

Canada has become a leader in clean tech and renewable energies. What opportunities would you see in the area as it relates to trade in clean tech and renewable energies?

[Jeff Nankivell]

Well, we could take much more than six minutes on that. As you've identified, it is Asia.

First of all, regions of Asia and countries like the Philippines, Bangladesh and the islands of the South Pacific are the places in the world with the largest populations at risk from the impacts of climate change. If we look at the Bay of Bengal, the people who live in the area of Dhaka, one of the fastest growing cities in Asia and the capital of Bangladesh, are very vulnerable to rising sea levels.

There's a whole host of opportunities. When it comes to climate change mitigation measures, we have world-leading innovation in Canada around carbon capture at a large scale that could be tremendously beneficial.

We could look at things like advanced materials for construction. I talked a bit about the fact that in major cities in Asia, most of the housing that people will live in three decades from now has yet to be built. There's this opportunity to deploy technologies around lower-carbon construction techniques and materials. There are tremendous opportunities in the area of materials, not just the ones that can provide a lower carbon footprint in the creation of the material and in how the building is built, but also materials that can actually help to scrub carbon once they're in place. There are tremendous opportunities in material sciences in these areas. Centres of innovation around Canada are working on these things.

Water management is a secondary problem that comes with climate change, with droughts as well as floods. Canadian technologies are being employed. For example, for flood control, a Canadian company designed a very sophisticated system in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which provides for a quick conversion of underground highway tunnels to become flood spillways through a sophisticated use of sensors and some AI applications. Water management is another huge area. Some leading Canadian companies and investment funds are building portfolios of companies that work in the area of water management.

For agri-food technologies, dry-land agriculture is an area where Canadians have contributed to huge gains. For example, in China in the 1990s and the 2000s, the deployment of Canadian techniques, which had been worked out through hard research in western Canada after the Dust Bowl, is helping farmers get the same yields with much less water in a situation where climate change means they're getting much less water.

These are just a few examples of the areas where some proven technologies are ready for scaling in Asia. You just can't overestimate the appetite for this in these markets across Asia. Governments, including the big ones, like China, India and Indonesia, are very seized with the issue of climate change. The door is open. Canadians are being invited to come and present opportunities. It's a very rich field of potential.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Terry, you have 20 seconds left.

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

I'll just ask for a very quick comment from the human rights people about the recently elected Philippines president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., or “Bongbong”.

Do you have any insights or comments in 10 seconds?

You can put it in writing, too.