International Trade Committee on Nov. 24th, 2025

[Steeve Lavoie, Liberal, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Ms. Kwan, do you have anything to add on this subject?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Answer briefly, Ms. Kwan.

[Elizabeth Kwan, Senior Researcher, Canadian Labour Congress]

The one thing that's needed with regard to interprovincial trade and labour is that we need to have a study to actually sort out what that really means. I think that right now the approach has been very patchwork, so the results are going to be very patchwork. We really need to have one big study to ask what, in terms of labour mobility, works or doesn't work.

Instead of the race to the bottom, it would be the race to the top.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Savard-Tremblay, go ahead, please.

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

Thank you.

Good morning, everyone.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for being here today, and for their testimony.

My first questions are for the Canadian Labour Congress.

We've seen a new trend emerge, particularly in relation to the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA, and that trend consists in having just one chapter on labour. This chapter is quite well documented and well supported. There might be a little too much focus on principles and not enough on concrete measures. You're here to discuss that with us, since today's focus is all about the review of CUSMA, or even the renegotiation of the agreement.

First of all, what could we improve in this area, particularly with regard to workers' right to freedom of association?

[Bea Bruske]

It is critically important that the labour chapter in CUSMA upholds the standards set by the International Labour Organization in terms of freedom of association, and the ability to form a union and negotiate collective agreements to ensure that labour standards are lifted, to ensure that workplace safety and health protections are there within those workplaces and sectors, and to ensure that workers can bargain for a better future for themselves and their families.

We know that unionized jobs create a better paycheque, create pathways to retirement and build up communities. That is what we need. We need the CUSMA labour component to very strongly speak to worker rights and worker protections.

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

You're talking about alignment with international agreements, of course.

In concrete terms, what measures could we put in place?

What else could we add to the chapter beyond what's already there?

[Bea Bruske]

Critically, it is the right to organize. Giving people the right to actually form a union is critically important. That is under attack in many countries across the globe. We don't see the United States necessarily being very labour friendly in terms of its legislation, whether it's statewide or at the federal level.

Safeguarding that is critically important because it starts and ends at the bargaining table in terms of what employees are able to negotiate with their employer—to have good jobs, to actually safeguard those jobs and to provide pathways to additional education and training that is required, as our economies shift and change, to be able to be responsive to those shifts and changes.

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

What would be the consequences of guaranteeing the right to freedom of association in such an agreement?

What does that mean in concrete terms?

[Bea Bruske]

That leads to workers having confidence that government understands what is needed in order to actually create good jobs in Canada. Workers are feeling under attack in every single sector of our economy. Certainly, in the trade-affected sectors people are feeling under attack. We see youth unemployment rates getting significantly higher. We see the value of entry-level jobs being pared down time and time again to temporary jobs, term positions and part-time jobs, rather than full-time jobs that lead to being able to actually buy a house, pay a mortgage, rent a place and put food on the table.

Workers are feeling very stressed in every single sector of our economy. Having strong labour protections in CUSMA shows what we actually want for workers. This is good family- and community-sustaining jobs and an actual pathway to achieve that. When we talk about smaller communities that are facing sky-high unemployment already in the Windsor area, in particular, we need to be able to offer those workers a future, a plan and a pathway to good employment. That also means having an industrial strategy that connects all of the different kinds of components that lead to these nation-building projects and being able to source Canadian content that workers work on. That starts with strong bargaining units and strong collective agreements.

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

Beyond the legal and formal status of workers and workers' associations, the issue of unfair competition, also known as dumping, has repercussions on workers in all countries.

Do the rules of origin also need to be changed in that regard?

[Bea Bruske]

Absolutely.

Rules of origin are critically important. First of all, making sure that for Canadian projects we are procuring the manufactured items and the raw materials here in Canada is critically important. It's important that we are sourcing them from good workplaces that are unionized and that pay a prevailing wage, providing that health and safety component that we need. We want to make sure that we are not allowing foreign entities to dump things in Canada, like Chinese steel, Chinese aluminum and Chinese autos. That's critically important.

If we want to actually have good jobs in Canada that are community-sustaining jobs, we need to ensure that those workers are being supported at every single component.

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

Are you concerned that Canada could be a gateway for Chinese vehicles?

[Bea Bruske]

For Chinese vehicles that has not yet been the case because there are tariffs on Chinese vehicles and they need to remain. If we want to continue to have an auto industry in this country we need to support the auto workers and the various different plants in this country. We need to also make sure that when we are providing corporations with government funding in order to stay, or in order to build, this has to come with strings attached to safeguard those jobs to remain in this country and to make sure that our investment is worth what we're getting for it. This means that we need to focus on Canadian procurement and supporting those jobs.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

We go now to Mr. Mantle, please, for five minutes.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to our witnesses for appearing and for their helpful testimony.

Before I begin, I would like to ask the clerk if we have had a response from the Minister of Industry respecting her appearance at this committee.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Grant McLaughlin]

Yes. The department has indicated that the earliest the minister would be able to appear would be January.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Is that the first meeting in January?

[The Clerk]

Yes. The committee schedule might change so we haven't been able to pick a date yet. There's a standing invitation that hasn't been extended because we don't know the exact time that that would be yet. That needs to be determined by the whips first.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

I see. Thank you for that update.

By that time we will have exhausted the meetings with respect to this study. Unfortunately, our view, and my view as the mover of the motion, is that the minister should appear before the winter break. If she is not willing to make herself available then I'm going to move the motion that I put on notice on Monday, November 17, Chair.

As the members know, it's been moved and proper notice has been given since November 17. I wanted to provide sufficient time so that we could hopefully get a response from the minister . I understand that she may make herself available in January but, as this committee is aware, it was a unanimous motion by this committee to undertake this study and to request the Minister of Industry to appear.

The Minister of Canada-U.S. Relations and the Minister of International Trade appeared without issue. It has not been made clear to me why the Minister of Industry has not prioritized this committee with an appearance before this committee. As the Minister of Industry, she is responsible for key sectors that have been a topic of discussion at this committee table, including from some of our witnesses today, namely, our steel, aluminum, forestry, autos, canola, aquaculture, seafood and other sectors.

I think it's incumbent on us to express our view that the minister should prioritize an appearance before this committee, so I move that motion today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much. It's totally in order to do that.

For the information of the committee, I—and I think, others—have been speaking to the minister 's office about the first opportunity. My understanding is that she has not even appeared at her own committee because she has been travelling extensively. Her obligation is also to her own committee, which she hasn't been to.

Her commitment that came back was to make herself available for the first meeting we would have in January, as soon as we come back. I was not able, as your chair, to make it any earlier than that. That's the best I have been able to do.

Do we want to deal with this at the conclusion of the witness testimony?

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

I'd like to deal with it now, Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

All right.

Does everybody have the motion that Mr. Mantle moved? I believe it was September 18.... What was the date?

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

It was November 17.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

The initial one was in September.