Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on third reading debate of Bill C-57, the act that implements the agreement establishing the World Trade Organization and ties Canada conclusively to the GATT agreement.
Canadians know very little about the 26,000 page agreement that their government signed on their behalf at the special GATT meeting in Marrakech on April 15, 1994. The agreement was reached after eight years of negotiations. It is a huge deal that takes Canada even beyond where the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and the North American Free Trade Agreement dared to go.
Now, with very little debate, the federal Liberal government is going to accept the new world economic order dictated by the multinational corporations and reduce Canada's ability to determine its own economic destiny even further.
After yesterday's vote in which the Reform Party and the Bloc Quebecois joined with the Liberals in supporting this bill at report stage, it is easy to see who Canada's real opposition is here in Parliament. Only New Democrats, who have taken the time to examine not only the previous trade deals but this one as well, are standing up for the interests of ordinary Canadians in the face of economic globalization and the dominance-no, Mr. Speaker, the tyranny of the multinational corporations.
Make no mistake, the implementation of the agreement and the establishment of the World Trade Organization is the creation of a new world government which has the power to tell countries what they can or cannot do within their own borders. This will not be a democratic government. This is a new government dominated by the unelected and self-appointed multinationals that replace the possibility of a democratic response to the problems of the world.
This was the deal that was negotiated by the Mulroney team, but it was signed and is now being implemented by the Liberal government without opposition from anyone but the New Democrats. This is quite extraordinary.
The agreement through this legislation sells out farmers and working people alike and jeopardizes the future economic prospects for all of Canada's youth and particularly the youth who live in the regions of this country.
At this time in our history and at this time in our economic development, we should be doing everything in our power to stand up for Canadians in all walks of life.
The World Trade Organization is in effect the new constitution for the globalized economy that is written by and for the multinationals. The Liberal government has rejected a policy of developing a social clause to the WTO that would ensure that multinationals recognize basic labour and environmental standards to prevent the race to the bottom. I made comments about this and about child labour at report stage the other day.
Let me take a moment to try to tie together a couple of what would appear to be unrelated events. Only a short time ago the Prime Minister and all of the provincial and territorial leaders, except the premier from Quebec, toured China on a major business trip. They talked trade and they made a lot of deals. Every one of those deals was paraded in the pages of the newspapers around this country. What the Prime Minister and the premiers were telling us is that the economy in China is booming, or is expected to boom in the very near future, and that Canada must be a part of that.
Meanwhile, back home in response to their interpretation of the GATT agreement clauses, the Ministers of Transport and Agriculture were telling Canadian farmers that our domestic transport support program known as the Crow benefit will have to be changed. It would seem that the net result will over a few years reduce the money available to the Canadian grain to port for export, reduce the dollars available to farmers at the farm gate and likely as a result reduce the grain grown for export across the prairies.
Let us go back and have a look at China again for a minute. I just finished reading an article done for the Worldwatch Institute called "Who will feed China"? I certainly recommend the article by Worldwatch president Lester R. Brown to everyone.
Mr. Brown acknowledges the growing affluence of the Chinese. He acknowledges the growing population, the growing demand for food, the growing demand for meat in particular. More important, he points out China's shrinking capacity to produce food.
We know from circumstances around the world that as incomes rise, one of the first things that low income people do with their money is diversify their diets, shifting primarily to more meat, milk and eggs. In China as in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan before it, this is beginning to happen. Of course with the rising demand for a diversified diet also comes the demand for additional grain.
China has been encouraging the production of laying hens and therefore the production of eggs. The official goal of the country for egg consumption has been set at 200 eggs per person per year by the year 2000, double the quantity consumed in 1990. By the way, that is about the equivalent of what residents of the United States consume in a year.
With the Chinese population expected to reach 1.3 billion people by the year 2000, annual egg consumption would be expected to rise to 26 billion. Interestingly enough, Chinese hens lay about 200 eggs per year each so China will require a flock of about 1.3 billion hens to meet its needs.
The point to be taken here is that to reach this goal China will require at a minimum an additional 24 million tonnes of grain to feed those birds to produce those eggs and 24 million tonnes of grain just happens to be the equivalent of the entire grain export from Canada.
If the per capita grain consumption climbs even modestly in China from under 300 kilograms per person at present to 350 kilograms in the year 2030, demand will also climb to 568 million tonnes of grain. With a total production of only 263 million tonnes by 2030, the deficit will be made up by imports which will have to rise to a staggering 305 million tonnes of grain. We must recognize that in 1993 the entire export of grain from all countries around the world was just 200 million tonnes. In other words, by the year 2030 China could eat up almost two thirds what the world is producing today for export grains.
We know that China is not the only country that is growing and likely to experience a grain deficit. India, Iran, Ethiopia, Nigeria and others fall into this category.
We need our federal government more than ever to stand up for strengthened orderly marketing, single desk selling and internal transportation support so that as the world needs our grain we are not only producing it but we are also able to deliver it quickly and efficiently as required.
I see that my time is running out. Although there are many more things that I would like to say to contribute to this debate, in conclusion let me say to my colleagues in the House that not only am I opposing this legislation in front of us today but I am encouraging all members to oppose it and give Canada and Canadians a fighting chance to make it in the world today.
Trade can spread wealth and knowledge or it can accelerate the destructive trends now under way. Sadly, I see this legislation and through it this government taking us down a very destructive path.