Mr. Speaker, I stated in this Chamber on February 12 that I would be glad to debate the government's approach to negotiations toward an MAI agreement with members of the opposition anytime, anywhere. I am pleased that the hon. members opposite have taken up my invitation so quickly. What better venue could there be for this discussion than right here in Parliament.
I must also say that it is a great time to be talking about matters of international trade which are obviously tied to international investment. Canada has never done better than it is doing now under this Liberal administration. Figures released last week by Statics Canada show that Canadian exports last year grew to their highest level ever, $301 billion. They are continuing to grow.
What this means is jobs and economic opportunities for Canadians. This also reflects the high level of confidence and dynamism in the Canadian economy, now that we have managed to bring the deficit under control and set the stage for strong future economic growth, as the Minister of Finance will discuss tomorrow afternoon in his budget.
I am particularly glad to have this opportunity to report to Parliament on the steps I have taken to familiarize Canadians with the issues involved in the MAI negotiations, and will continue to promote a national debate on this subject.
In the first years of the MAI process in 1995 there was not a lot to talk about because the preliminary phases of all such negotiations are quite abstract. There was not very much on the table in the way of substance. However, the talks entered a more important period around the time that I became trade minister last June.
Upon assuming the MAI file, together with the ministers of finance and industry, I approached this MAI process in two phases. The first was the priority of getting more information out to the Canadian public. That is exactly what we have done. Government officials and I have made ourselves available to numerous media interviews. We have provided the media community across the country with background information. We have provided ongoing information packages to all members of Parliament. We have consulted widely with Canadians.
The government has been in regular consultations with provincial governments, through meetings, conference calls and correspondence. We have spoken with some 40 private sector organizations ranging from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce to the Canadian Council for the Arts, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, the Canadian Labour Congress, the Sierra Club, and health groups.
Finally, there was a request made for the House of Commons subcommittee on international trade to hold public hearings on the MAI last year so as to give a broad range of Canadians an opportunity to express their views.
If we look at those views we will find that Elizabeth Smythe, a professor from Concordia University, said: “I want to close by noting that the hearings of this committee itself indicate a shift in the willingness of the Canadian government to seek input from Canadians on this agreement. I also want to note that I think the Canadian negotiators themselves have been very effective and extremely co-operative and forthright, as my own experience attests”.
University of Toronto Professor Robert Howse said: “Finally I would like to note the value of this kind of hearing and the hopefully enlightened focus it can put on the specifics of an issue like the MAI and grassroots attitudes toward it”.
When the committee reported Canadians noted that the Conservative Party, the Bloc Quebecois and the Reform Party all agreed with the government that Canada should participate in these negotiations.
The second phase, which began this year because negotiations were scheduled to intensify, was the right time to further engage Canadians on the remaining outstanding issues, whether through speeches or round tables, through members of Parliament holding their own meetings in their neighbourhoods and communities, or through the provincial governments in mandating their committees to review various aspects of the MAI.
When members of the official opposition accuse the government in the motion today of having failed to encourage public discussion on the MAI or to explain the issues involved, they simply do not know what they are talking about. That is precisely what we have been doing all of these past few months.
In fact, I will be pleased at the end of my comments to table in the House today a 20 page document which summarizes the many different extensive consultations which the government has conducted with diverse groups right across our nation. Any objective person looking at the list will have to come to the conclusion that there has been wide and serious engagement as well as outreach. When taken together these groups represent thousands of Canadian companies and millions of individual Canadians.
In contrast to this, Canadians may be right to ask what about the Reform Party, the official opposition in the House, looking at itself in the mirror. In other words, what have Reformers been doing to increase the understanding of Canadians on the MAI? What contributions have they actually made? Where are the community town hall forums that the official opposition has organized? Where are the lists of the meetings of their NGO communities? Have they outreached with the stakeholders across this country?
The government has done the responsible thing, but it seems that somehow the official opposition can be irresponsible and not do one single thing. Its members sit back and say that it is supposed to be passed on. There was not even a single letter from the official spokesperson on trade for the Reform Party making one positive, constructive suggestion on the MAI. There is further evidence of where Reform Party members are coming from when they reject in the committee report a broad exemption for Canadian culture. In that same report why do they reject the inclusion of labour guidelines for multinationals in the MAI?
Now the Reform Party wants to open up the health care system and the social services—