Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take part in today's debate on the third reading of Bill C-57, an act to implement the agreement establishing the World Trade Organization. The main aim of this legislation is to establish the new World Trade Organization which will administer the recently concluded general agreements on tariffs and trade signed by 123 governments in Morocco in April of this year.
This bill will set the stage for a new era in international trade, making Canada a full participant in the most comprehensive trade agreement in history. Bill C-57, the implementation legislation, will modify existing legislation and contains only those changes required to meet Canada's obligations under the international agreement.
Canada and a host of other nations went through seven and one-half years of difficult, often very frustrating, multilateral negotiations with the Uruguay round of GATT. Throughout the negotiations, Canada aggressively pursued an agreement to pave the way for expanded trade and investment worldwide. We certainly did not get everything we wanted, but that is the nature of most negotiated settlements.
I intend to offer my support to this bill, although I must admit my support is tempered by cautious optimism. There are so many unanswered questions associated with what can or should be achieved in this new era of global trade. Until we become familiar with the ways and means of this new trading framework, uncertainty is bound to linger.
The Uruguay round covered 15 different trade areas including services, government procurement and a new set of trade dispute rules. We all know how close we came to not having an agreement at all. Had Canada and other nations not signed this trade deal it is open to question where we would have stood. It is possible that business would have continued as usual, but very unlikely.
Several very serious trade disputes had been piling up between the United States, the European community and Japan and were put on hold pending the outcome of the Uruguay round. As a middle economic power, Canada often found itself in the crossfire between these formidable trading blocks and our interests suffered as a result. To that end Canada was forced, after standing completely alone, to abandon its primary aim, the strengthening and clarification of article XI, and instead was compelled to protect its supply managed products by an initial level of high tariffication rather than quotas.
I should state that as member for Lambton-Middlesex the primary industry in my riding is agriculture. Statistics show that nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars worth of farm products are produced each year in the counties of Lambton and Middlesex. More than one-half billion dollars worth of farm supplies and equipment are purchased.
To say that my constituents are concerned about what lies ahead of them would be an understatement. Frankly, I do not blame them for being concerned as we embark on a brand new era in global trade, where to a certain extent a large degree of blind faith is required. As parliamentarians I believe our main challenge, given the kind of financial straits in which we find ourselves and given the international obligations under which we are now operating, is to search for a proper balance between the rigours and the power of the marketplace and the establishment of a greater degree of fairness to farmers in the farming community. A farming community is worth preserving and I cannot overstate the need to use and develop our talents in doing so.
It would be a serious mistake for Canada to become complacent now that 10 years of trade negotiations, starting with the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement, have finally ended. The globalization of large corporations means there is a whole host of problems around which we have to get our minds.
International trade is no longer among nations but among highly organized transnational corporations which have operations around the world. That means there must be international rules on such things as government regulations, competition laws, industrial standards and even rules governing labour markets. The World Trade Organization represents just a beginning in this process.
For example, members of the House should know that only a handful of companies control the processing of Canada's agricultural products. If we do not address this reality, then I am truly afraid for the future of Canada's farmers. If there is no incentive to farming then our sons and daughters will choose not to carry on. If a country cannot feed itself then it becomes a beggar in the world economy.
There are things we do right in Canada, that are the envy of the world. Internationally Canada has a reputation as a reliable supplier of some of the safest and highest quality, most diversified and unique agri-food products of any country in the world. Canada's agri-food industry accounts for 8 per cent of the GDP, over $15 billion in annual export sales, 40 per cent of Canada's positive balance of trade, two million jobs or 15 per cent of all jobs and $70 billion worth of goods produced each year.
We are told that the World Trade Organization will remedy such things as export enhancement subsidies and unilateral trade sanctions, that it will command sufficient confidence in its impartiality and efficiency, that it will uphold multilateral rules in the face of powerful protectionist interest groups and national governments.
I am gratified that there is a growing consensus in Canada that we have to develop our own strategies in dealing with the new realities that confront us. For example, I am very impressed with the work being done over the last six months by the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.
Since May the committee has embarked on an ambitious study on the future of agriculture in order to evaluate present agri-food objectives and modify them for the year 2000 and beyond. Using the criteria of fairness, sustainability and efficiency, the committee is examining the agri-food sector role in rural life and in the Canadian economy and is involving producers, processors, consumers and other interested parties in developing a long term national strategy for agriculture.
Taken together, these components will constitute an overall farm policy that will take the Canadian agri-food sector into the
next century. It is precisely grassroot efforts like these that will prepare Canadian agriculture for the challenges before us.
I would like to take this opportunity to salute the agriculture committee and its efforts and I have every confidence that it will be successful in its endeavours. Hopefully, the Uruguay round will be the last marathon bargaining session.
I believe there will be a preference instead for more limited and focused negotiations on a variety of sectors and that is as it should be. Canada has in the past invested significantly in agricultural research and has achieved one of the highest international annual growth rates of agricultural production over the past two decades.
Here is a case in point. Canola, developed in Canada by the federal government researchers, grew from a zero dollar per year industry in 1974 to an estimated $9.35 billion per year industry in 1994.
Tragically Canadian investment in growth enhancing measures such as research and market development in the agri-food sector has steadily declined in recent years. We must reverse this trend precisely because we will find ourselves in an even more competitive marketplace under the auspices of the WTO.
Let me say in conclusion that we must develop a strategy for agriculture between the various levels of government and the private sector, including the various farm organizations. This need is even more acute within the highly competitive global marketplace and it involves three inter-related components.
We must remain committed to agriculture and agri-food and other natural resource sectors which are the cornerstone of Canada's economy.
We must strengthen our investment in agri-food research. We must ensure that the farmers of this country who produce $70 billion worth of goods each year get a fair share of the agricultural dollar.
Using these criteria once we have recommitted ourselves to building a solid domestic foundation in Canada's agricultural sector, I truly believe that we will be able to compete with anyone in the world.