Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak on Bill C-19, an act to implement the agreement on internal trade.
With all the issues we are faced with today, we may sometimes lose sight of how important trade is to Canada. From its very beginnings Canada has been a trading nation. It is the lifeblood of the country. The well-being of all Canadians depends on our ability to create and profit from competitive trading environments at home and abroad.
In the international arena we have been successful in negotiating and participating in a number of multilateral trading agreements. We are a founding partner in the North American Free Trade Agreement which has opened up our trading with the U.S. and Mexico.
Canada is a member of other trade organizations such as the WTO and GATT. We understand the need for formal agreements to set out rules that ensure fair trade between nations and that allow redress when a country fails to live up to the obligations it has accepted.
While we have long accepted the need to have rules of order and to have mechanisms to settle trade disputes on the international front, until recently we did not come to grips with the need to establish a framework to govern trade between provinces and territories within Canada.
We have that framework now in the agreement on internal trade. This bill, by making necessary and appropriate legislative changes within the federal jurisdiction, will enable the federal government to meet its obligations under the agreement and do its part to ensure the agreement is fully implemented.
The agreement on internal trade was signed by the Prime Minister and all other first ministers in July 1994. The agreement
is a made in Canada agreement to govern trade between provinces and territories and to open the domestic market to the freer flow of goods, services, people and capital.
The agreement provides a comprehensive set of rules that requires the reduction of existing ones and which prohibits the erection of new trade barriers. The agreement also sets out specific obligations in ten economic sectors.
It makes undertakings to streamline and harmonize regulations and standards between provinces and territories and has put in place a formal mechanism to resolve domestic trade disputes.
One of the most important points is that the agreement on internal trade, which Bill C-19 implements at the federal level, contains a formal commitment from all its parties, that is, from all 10 provinces and the territories as well as the federal government.
The commitment is to continue the process of trade liberalization within Canada within the framework of the agreement.
The need for this agreement has been well documented. We are all aware of examples of restricted trade practices or regulations which discriminate against certain businesses and labour groups.
These measures range from outright restrictions to bidding on government contracts to regulations affecting the mobility of labour or professionals between provinces, to differing standards for food or beverage products from one jurisdiction to the other.
We need to reduce these barriers through interprovincial trade in goods and services and to remove restrictions on the movement of people and capital within the domestic marketplace. The problems the agreement on internal trade is designed to address were built up over a long period.
Since Confederation there has developed in Canada a tangle of measures both well intentioned and deliberately protectionist which have prohibited interprovincial trade and restricted the free flow of persons, goods and services and capital between provinces.
Our government and all governments in Canada have come under strong pressures from the business community to change the scenario and to deal with the problems associated with internal barriers to trade and with the conflicting regulations on cross border flows of people and capital.
We have had representations from many leading business groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the Canadian Construction Association and the Canadian Manufacturers' Association, to name a few.
It is important to point out this is not just big business speaking out. Small and medium size enterprises also feel the negative consequences of barriers to trade between provinces and territories. The criticism and pressure is not just that of isolated interest groups; it has come for sound economic reasons.
These barriers put Canadians and Canadian businesses at a comparative disadvantage by restricting the size of the domestic marketplace, the ability to develop competitive skills as well as abilities that allow Canadian businesses to compete globally.
In a time of increasing global competition and more open markets in other parts of the world this can have the additional negative impact of putting Canadian businesses at a disadvantage to international competitors even in our own marketplace. It is no wonder that a recent survey by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce found that 67 per cent of Canadian businesses thought governments were not moving fast enough to eliminate internal trade barriers and impediments.
There is a cost to labour and to consumers. Overall it has been estimated that barriers to trade within Canada cost Canadians in the order of $7 billion annually in direct jobs and income loss. This problem has a direct impact on all parts of Canada and on all elements of society.
Governments have become the subject of pressure from the internal market issue. The reason is that it is quite simply wrong for any Canadian government for whatever local politically expedient reason to discriminate against Canadians because of where they live or work, because of where they learned or developed their skills and first had them recognized, because of where they bank or do business or because of where they sell or manufacture their goods and services.
The economic cost to Canada is high. Internal barriers and impediments tear at our national fabric. It is a cause for which governments must bear responsibility. We in the House can do something to help correct the situation by passing this bill. Internal trade is not just a federal government issue. It ranks high on the agenda of all of the provinces.
When the provincial and territorial leaders met at the annual premiers conference in St. John's, Newfoundland they renewed their commitment to the objective of reducing barriers to the free movement of persons, goods, services and investment in Canada. This agreement belongs to all of its parties. Its implementation is the responsibility of all of its parties, not just that of the federal government.
In order to address some misunderstandings of parts of the bill and to make manifest the intentions of the government, the Minister of Industry introduced amendments that made clear the exact scope for federal action under the agreement's dispute settlement procedures.
The legislation before us now is the result of a long process of negotiation and consultation that has involved Canadians of different political persuasions and with different regional perspectives. Even with these different perspectives and priorities the result has been agreement on the basic rules and framework for ongoing intergovernmental co-operation on domestic trade and other economic issues. The agreement on internal trade has give us that framework. Bill C-19 meets the obligations of the federal government to implement that agreement.
We must turn the page on what divides us and work toward economic solutions for Canadians. Together we can better meet the challenges and bring changes that are necessary. That is why this bill is important to all Canadians. That is why I support passage of this legislation through the House.
