International Trade Committee on Oct. 6th, 2025

[Matt Jeneroux, Conservative, Edmonton Riverbend, AB]

I think it's probably good for the analysts to note as we go forward that things like the Online Streaming Act are things that should also be a fact of this report and we report that to Parliament.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

We'll go to Mr. Naqvi for five minutes, please.

[Yasir Naqvi, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Fonseca has a question and then I'll take over from there.

[Peter Fonseca, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Thank you, PS Naqvi.

I know for sure that Mr. Volpe was around from 2017 to 2020 when we were negotiating the first NAFTA. Now as we go into this CUSMA review.... Earlier, when we did negotiate, we negotiated as team Canada. I know in this place everybody was team Canada. We took that holistic approach to everywhere we went.

We're hearing a lot of rhetoric here in the House of Commons and in politics where we're hearing negativity about our businesses, about our workers, about our labour force, etc. Is that helpful to us delivering a message as a united front when we go down to Washington?

I would ask that of our witnesses.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Mr. Volpe, you can go first since you'll be leaving shortly.

[Flavio Volpe]

I think it's important that we speak with one voice, but we shouldn't stifle criticism. There are things that we could always do better and I think those voices are important.

I do think at a time when we're in the highest stakes on sectoral tariffs and when we're talking about a target on industrial Canada, that it's not helpful when we're debating on the value of regional industrial strengths being weighed against other ones. We need to put it aside and play like the 1994 Montreal Expos, who had the best record in the major leagues and should have won the World Series that year.

[Peter Fonseca, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Thank you.

Ms. Tronnes, when you talk about defence spending, it is this government that upped the ante. We're going to the 2% this year, five years ahead of schedule, long before other parties and others talked about getting to this point. I think that's a positive that we can lead with. What are your thoughts?

[Jamie Tronnes]

I agree 100% . It's music to my ears, and I think it's music to the Americans' ears, but they've been listening to us say those same words for decades. That's the reality of it. We have to continue to put our actual actions where our promises have been for the last 15 years or so and actually get to the defence spending that we have promised. I wholeheartedly agree that the government is trying to do that, from what I see. We'll see when the budget comes out this fall whether or not we have what we came for.

[Peter Fonseca, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Thank you.

Thank you, PS Naqvi.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

You have two minutes and 20 seconds remaining.

[Yasir Naqvi, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Thank you very much.

I will start with Mr. Volpe, because I know he has a minute or so left. In fact, I have the same question for all three of you.

In your opening remarks, you all lamented a bit that here we find ourselves in this trade war with our closest neighbour even though we have done so well, I think we all would agree, to each other's mutual benefit. We're doing this study to give recommendations to government for the upcoming CUSMA review. What are the top three things you would recommend that the Government of Canada should be stressing in this particular review that benefits Canada, Canadians and in fact North America wide.

Mr. Volpe will start.

[Flavio Volpe]

Thank you.

Number one, the rules of origin are good, and they worked for American investments as well as Canadian investments. They provide a certainty, and I think the structure of the USMCA is always more helpful for business to map out investments than the bilateral nonsense of national security tariffs.

Number two, capital movement inside North America in automotive looks for 10- and 20-year opportunities and also looks at China as the biggest threat on return. Inasmuch as we can create those rules to help keep the Chinese subsidy and influence out while moving money around the continent, the better.

Number three, one thing that really works in the Canada-U.S. relationship is that we both value human capital the same way. We pay the same, train the same, and we trust each others' brain trust. That's increasingly the same with Mexico. We should consider that as the core resource amongst the three countries, and the fact that there is peace and interchangeability in that is something we should build on.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

I'm sorry, but there is no time left.

We'll move to Mr. Savard-Tremblay for two and a half minutes.

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

Ms. Tronnes, let's pick up where we left off.

In an article published on your website on September 4, Stephen Nagy states that Beijing seeks to portray Canada as the weak link in the North American alliance.

Why?

[Jamie Tronnes]

It's because we have been in many respects the weak link on the North American alliance. Mr. Nagy's words speak for themselves, and you can check it out on our website, cnaps.org.

Yes, Canada has been exploited and invaded in some respects particularly even at the political level by agents of the PRC. It's a big problem. I think everyone in this room knows that it's a problem, so I'm not going to pretend that it's not. Is Canada doing something about it? It feels like Canada is starting to do something about it. I'm sure the government can speak for itself about the actions it has taken and will be taking, especially in response to the Marie Hogue commission and other national security endeavours that it's trying to undergo.

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

The same article talks about the risk of a strategic disruption of the coordination between Ottawa and Washington, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.

Do you agree? I imagine you do, since your organization published the article in question.

On a practical level, what impact will that have and why the Indo-Pacific region specifically?

[Jamie Tronnes]

You also have to think about this from the perspective of the Americans. They are very concerned with China. That is the primary lens from which they view a lot of what they're looking at. There is a very strong concern about an upcoming confrontation in Taiwan, but there's also a strong idea of competition throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Canada could be doing more in that region. We have lots of strengths over there. We are a power not just on the east but on the west. It is important for us to really be able to again make sure that we're able to intervene not just militarily, but in terms of having intelligence, in terms of being able to prove that we're an ally, and that we'll be there if America asks us to be there.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Go ahead, Mr. McKenzie, please, for five minutes.

[David McKenzie, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Bellisle, I would like to ask you about your experience, if any, with respect to energy shipments. In terms of your experience in steel and in shipping, have you had any exposure to energy shipments such as crude oil, natural gas or liquefied natural gas?

[Robert Bellisle]

I don't on the shipment itself, but I'll back up a step in my career.

I was a CEO in Trinidad and Tobago. Basically the entire country is dependent on the exploitation of natural gas, and I think those infrastructures are critical. In Canada, we need to look at setting up those infrastructures and getting our natural gas out of the ground and into our manufacturing, our industrialization and into foreign trade. We have countries such as Germany wanting to work with our Canadian companies to develop green energy, hydrogen, etc. The Port of Belledune, for example, with its strategy of green energy, is uniquely positioned to do that.

I think that those are areas of focus that we have to look at on infrastructure.

[David McKenzie, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

Sir, would you have any interest in liquefied natural gas? There's certainly been some discussion about prospects for that in Quebec, whether the gas is produced in Quebec or whether it might be produced in other parts of Canada.

I'm from the riding of Calgary Signal Hill, where we produce a great deal of conventional energy. Would you be interested in opportunities like that if they were to be advanced in Quebec?

[Robert Bellisle]

Absolutely. There are two things here. One, your premier is in Quebec as we speak, and she spoke at the Montreal Chamber of Commerce. I applaud that our provincial links seem to be strengthening overall, and I applaud her being there to speak to the business community there. Two, we are working with the Port of Belledune and the Port of Baie-Comeau to look at opportunities for transiting green energy.

[David McKenzie, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

Would you be interested in conventional energy as well?

[Robert Bellisle]

There are two parts to that. One, as I mentioned, get it back to the industrial and manufacturing side. We need to understand that Canada rates 17th in the world right now on the manufacturing index. In 15th position is Ireland. I have nothing against the Irish whatsoever, but they're a country with five million people with essentially no natural resources, and they rank better than us in manufacturing.

Two, natural gas and critical materials have to get transformed to create richness, so we need to open that up. That means working between our provinces to make sure that we can manufacture here, export our product and monetize our natural resources.

Yes, we would look at being a part of that. Our customers, of course, are also in those segments.

[David McKenzie, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

I presume that any increased manufacturing capacity and shipment is exactly where you would come into that equation.