Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in opposition to Motion No. 4.
Why single out milk marketing? Dozens if not hundreds of industry groups would like to have government fund their studies. In fact we are dealing with Motion No. 5 here as well as the two tie together.
Motion No. 5 asks for an annual report from the World Trade Organization. Those reports already exist under GATT. In a moment I want to read an article in today's Globe and Mail that deals specifically with the biannual reports from the GATT.
These reports exist. The minister can be asked to table them in the House. Why cause extra work? It is more bureaucracy. It is something that the NDP sort of like, I understand.
I want to read a quote from today's Globe and Mail regarding Canada's involvement in the GATT. It states: ``Canada's trade policy and practices receive generally high marks from the members at the GATT council during a two day discussion of a biannual report but the council criticized Canada's tariff system and interprovincial trade barriers''.
The party that wants to have a review of the milk marketing board might be quite surprised with the outcome.
Members opposite would be well advised to listen. The people at the GATT meeting today are the people who are making the report reviewing Canada's interprovincial trade barriers and our present milk marketing system. They are saying that the council criticized the complexity of Canada's tariff system and questioned the exceedingly high tariff rate quotas in the agriculture sector-and they are referring specifically to supply management-with an average of 205 per cent which will only go down to 174 per cent in the year 2000.
They are critical of this. I am quite surprised they are asking for a review because a review would not be very kind to the supply management sector. It is an area that Canada is very weak in. Our position is that we have taken a minimum reduction in tariff in the supply management sector of 15 per cent. I think it is recognized worldwide that we have a problem that has to be cleaned up. If we talk about free trade, let us practise it here at home.
In addition, members talk about the need to clean up interprovincial trade barriers. The three provincial governments in the country with NDP governments are the ones that are co-operating the very least in trying to get Canada's house in order in terms of cleaning up our problems at home, the trade barriers.
We have more barriers to trade internally in Canada than in all the European Union. That is a disgrace. How can we compete internationally when we cannot even compete at home? Let them put their money where their mouths are and co-operate to try to get trade barriers reduced internally to give our businesses a chance to compete without one hand being tied behind their backs. Let us put Canada on the same level nationally as we do internationally in these trade agreements.