Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the bill before us to protest the trade practices exhibited by the United States against the Canadian sugar industry and against Canadians.
The U.S. imposed severe new trade restrictions against Canadian sugar and products containing sugar on January 1, 1995, effectively closing its borders to imports of Canadian refined sugar and food products containing sugar. Its actions unfairly penalize the efficiencies of the Canadian sugar industry and unfairly penalize Canadians.
The United States extended the coverage of a tariff rate quota on products containing sugar by including crystal drink mixes, for which Canada is the main supplier. Also, on January 1, 1995, the United States limited Canadian exports of refined sugar to 8,000 tonnes until September 30, 1995, further eroding Canada's access to the U.S. markets.
The unwillingness of the United States government to act fairly in attempts to resolve the dispute and its disregard and violation of general fair trading principles has resulted in undue harm to Canadians, with potential consequences for the sugar beet growers, sugar beet processors and Canadian cane refiners in the long term.
There is a severe reduction in sales of Canadian sugar and products containing sugar in the United States and an increase in American sugar sales in Canada. Canadian producers are paying dearly for this and Canadian jobs are being cut.
Entire communities have suffered, and additional job losses are predicted. According to the Canadian industry, the Americans constitute about one quarter of the Canadian market, while Canadians represent only 3 per cent of the American market. That difference is remarkable. Far worse, while the American share of the Canadian market is on the upswing, the Canadian share of the American market is decreasing. American exports to Canada are four times greater than Canadian exports to the U.S.
Our market is open and barrier free. On the other hand, Canadians are faced with tariffs which discourage free trade between the two countries.
Signatories to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which include both Canada and the United States, agreed that they would reduce barriers to trade and increase market access over time, with the objective of creating a more open and stable trading environment.
I myself have seen the damage to communities and individuals. BC Sugar Refinery Ltd. is located in the Port of Vancouver in my constituency of Vancouver East.
On June first of this year, the company's western Canadian operations were consolidated under the name Rogers Sugar Ltd. Rogers Sugar is the main sugar outlet in the west but it has had to lay off 17 per cent of its employees in the last 16 months. Most of the lost jobs were in Vancouver, the others in Alberta and Manitoba.
Unless the restrictions against Canadian sugar are lifted, Rogers Sugar may be forced to lay off more of its employees. Across Canada the situation is equally as dire, if not more so.
Since 1980 we have seen the closure of four Canadian sugar refineries and job losses in excess of 40 per cent are a direct result of these practices. We risk the closure and the relocation of many Canadian companies to the United States lured by lower prices for sugar.
The U.S. trade restrictions also hurt Canadians as consumers as they result in higher sugar prices and may lead to the decline of high quality domestic sugar.
The sugar industry has enjoyed years of success and has provided meaningful employment for hundreds of Canadians across the country. It has demonstrated it is efficient and cost competitive, but the viability and very existence of our sugar industry is threatened by unfair trade practices. The Canadian government has acted in good faith throughout and has worked diligently to resolve this dispute and is left with this option, the measures contained in the bill.
I would like to conclude by stating how proud I am of the efforts of Canadian parliamentarians to resolve these differences. A parliamentary caucus has been set up by my colleague for Fundy-Royal and I am very proud to have also been a member.
The participating MPs and senators represent all parties in the House. They, along with representatives of the sugar industry, have worked very hard to resolve the matter. I am sure that this co-operation will help Canada persuade the Americans of the importance of reducing tariffs in this area.