International Trade Committee on March 26th, 2026

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Adam Chambers]

You have one minute left.

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

Thank you.

One thing you mentioned was human resources, and you gave examples. Would that be humanitarian support or development assistance? Could it be part of some kind of agreement?

People often think of trade partnerships, but there can be trade partnerships that aren't solely commercial in nature. Humanitarian aid can be exchanged for goods as well. I know this isn't the best example, because these aren't exemplary regimes, but there were agreements with Cuba and Venezuela to supply oil in exchange for medicine.

Is that the kind of thing you have in mind?

[Anthony Salloum]

It's up to the government to decide how to proceed. The only thing we can say is that, at this point, the government isn't focusing on Africa enough.

The type of focus will depend on the government's trade priorities, but we need to start now.

It's important to start right away, but it's up to the government to decide which sectors Canadians can make positive contributions in.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Adam Chambers]

Thank you very much.

Go ahead, Mr. Mantle.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Before I begin my questioning of our witnesses, I want to put a motion on notice orally. It's based on my exchange with Mr. Fowler on Ukraine.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Adam Chambers]

That's just a verbal notice.

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

That's correct. It's a verbal notice.

I provided a text to the clerk, but I will read it out on the record for the benefit of all members. It's with respect to the Ukraine goods remission order.

The motion would read as follows:

That the Standing Committee on International Trade:

1. reaffirms its steadfast support for Ukraine sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity;

2. acknowledges and supports the Government of Canada's assistance provided to Ukraine;

3. requests that the Minister of Finance immediately and unconditionally extend the period for which remission is granted pursuant to the Ukraine goods remission order or any other instrument from goods that are imported during the period beginning June 9, 2022 and ending on June 9, 2026 to goods that are imported during the period beginning June 9, 2022 and ending on June 9, 2031;

4. requests that the Minister of Finance respond in writing to the committee's request within 15 days; and

5. directs the chair to immediately report this to the House.

Just for context for other members of the committee, what this does is extend the timeline under the Ukraine goods remission order, which is the instrument that allows Ukrainian goods to enter Canada duty-free, from a one-year period to a five-year period.

The reason is that I've consistently heard that the one-year period provides too short a time frame for Ukrainian businesses to find customers, solicit sales, enter into agreements and produce goods. As a result, they're not able to take advantage of this and they have requested, in my conversations with them, a longer period. I've suggested a five-year period.

I have put that on notice, and we can discuss it at a later date or off-line as well. We'd be happy to do that as well, so thank you.

Thank you, witnesses. I apologize for taking a bit of my time to deal with a committee matter from our previous panel, but thank you for attending to give us your helpful advice.

Mr. Salloum, in the report you provided, your first action item was to publish an implementation plan with measurable goals.

Could you describe for us what your top five goals would be? If we're here in the committee looking at this next year or in two years, what are the five things that you would want us to be able to look back on and say that we did these top five things with respect to trade in Africa?

[Anthony Salloum]

Honestly, I won't be able to provide that to you here, because what we are literally doing now is consulting with diaspora communities on exactly those kinds of details. We'll share them with the committee later on, because two things are happening.

We're doing consultations. Lots of colleagues are doing consultations with diaspora communities on what they want that implementation plan to look like, and we've committed to sharing that with the government.

The government is also doing its own consultations with the diaspora communities and entrepreneurs across the country. In fact, GAC has had no less than 60 meetings over the last year to work towards it. When we have something really foundational and specific like that, I will definitely share it with you for sure.

That's an excellent question. Thank you.

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

Is there anything you'd like to add on measurable goals that we could discuss so that we have some guideposts for the future?

There's always lots of talk and there's always lots of policy written, but I'm interested in results.

[Mohamad Sawwaf]

Yes, I couldn't agree more, if we could focus on what the lowest denominator is in terms of actionable results or just executing what we can do minimally to get things going.

My colleague here mentioned that we need to start. What does that look like? Is it stronger engagement? Is it a trade mission? That is very actionable. That is one result we would like to see within the next 12 months, some sort of outbound trade mission from Canada into one or many regions of Africa. It's split between north, east and west. We have multiple relationships with North Africa specifically. We've seen that.

We could also focus on what we can do to just expand trade, right? As Peter mentioned, trade has been stagnating. What needs to be done to increase trade? Is it working with EDC to ensure import and export? Is it looking at what Africa has to offer that we're not then bringing in? We're now in a period of a lot of tumultuousness. Food security is back on the table. What is Canada's stance on agri-food and technology? Are we supporting these countries to be....? LNG, oil and natural gas are all things that have now bubbled up again. They're back on the table. They're at the forefront. How do we then strengthen...?

One other thing, which I think is an easy one, is increasing flight routes. For example, we've seen that Air Maroc flies direct to Montreal and now direct to Toronto. Increasing flight routes creates mobility. Being able to come to Canada on a direct basis naturally expands trade and cargo. It also expands the ability of people to visit our country, whether it's in delegations or non-delegations. Then, of course, there's the tourism piece too.

Maybe those are three items you can take away that are quite actionable over the next 12 months and are very measurable.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Adam Chambers]

Thank you very much.

Madam Lapointe is next.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I thank the witnesses for being with us. Your contributions are very interesting.

We received the ONE Campaign brief before the meeting and were able to peruse it. I would like to ask a few questions.

Africa is not homogenous. It's important to keep that in mind when deciding which countries to focus on.

For this study, which I suggested, what concrete and immediate measures should we recommend?

You said immediate action is needed. You talked about direct flights. That being said, what should we do right now to strengthen trade relations with North and West Africa?

You said earlier that there should be more trade missions. You also said Canada should look for inspiration in Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on that.

[Mohamad Sawwaf]

Thank you very much.

To expand on an immediate basis what we already have, I think there has to be visibility. That means visibility on the ground, whether we're expanding our trade offices or expanding trade commissioners, and sending the signal that we have Canadians on the ground engaging at the governmental level.

What we've done as well is to ask how we connect our business council with the local business councils in the region, whether that's the Canada Egypt Business Council, which was recently established on the Canadian side, or moving towards Morocco, Algeria or Tunisia.

To your point, Madam Lapointe, who do we start with? Why don't we start with those who we feel are most advanced in their framework, their governance, their human rights and all of the rules and regulations?

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Which ones would those be, in your opinion?

[Mohamad Sawwaf]

I'm sorry. Could you repeat that?

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

In your opinion, which of the countries that have made the most progress on these fronts, including human rights, would you focus on?

[Mohamad Sawwaf]

Those countries would be Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt, and we could look at Ethiopia and Eritrea as well. South Africa, of course, is another one. These are all countries that are moving along and being more advanced within their governance structures, their governments and their economies, so we want to be able to capture that low-hanging fruit.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

What about countries that are part of the francophonie? Would you add any of them to the list of countries to focus on?

[Mohamad Sawwaf]

Absolutely.

As you already know, Madam Lapointe, strong francophone communities are already present in Morocco, as well as Algeria and Tunisia. Angola would be another one—oh, sorry—that would be Portuguese. Outside of those countries, I'm not quite familiar with who else has French as a second language.

[Anthony Salloum]

I just want to share some examples of opportunities we're not seizing.

Ethiopia is the world's third-largest consumer of peas, and Canada is one of the world's top producers, yet we don't export to them.

If you're looking for specific countries, Ethiopia is a good example. That's not a judgment on my part, but we know that lots of Canadians are looking for suppliers other than the United States for things like orange juice.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

I agree, absolutely.

What about coffee? In addition to orange juice, could it be the same for coffee?

[Anthony Salloum]

Yes.

Morocco and South Africa are two countries that have started growing oranges to increase their orange juice exports. Those are two more examples of countries Canada could initiate talks with. That could enable us to find other suppliers for products we like here in Canada.

Chocolate and cacao would be some other examples.

Despite producing 50% of the world's cocoa, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana capture only a fraction of the global chocolate market.

In fact, we import 56% of our chocolate from the United States. The United States imports cacao and produces chocolate, and we import the finished product. That's why the price of chocolate in Canada is so high now.

Why not set up a value-added process with Ivory Coast or Ghana to directly import chocolate products from those countries? That way, we could diversify our suppliers and support growth and economic stability in that sector.

Those are just two examples. We could provide many more. That's why we wrote our brief. We'll send you documents three or four times a year with lots of examples like that.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you very much.

[Mohamad Sawwaf]

May I add a couple more examples?

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Adam Chambers]

You may, briefly.