Madam Speaker, I am pleased this evening to have the opportunity to call on the Minister for International Trade to take action on the market access to Canadian wines.
Canada has been proactive on export issues. We work one on one with Canadian businesses through team Canada trade missions. We actively participate in world trade issues and we provide financial and other support for businesses. The results have been positive with a record $410 billion trade surplus last year. Not only was that a record but it was an 11.3% increase over the year before.
While we have had overall success with exports we have not experienced the same success with wine exports. We have serious market access problems with trade imbalances. At a time when Canadian wines are winning international awards and being enjoyed by wine lovers the world over, we have some serious export shortfalls. Let me be more specific.
In 1999 Canada imported more than $565 million worth of wine from Europe. At the same time Canada's exports to the European market were just over $400,000.
We are allowing a huge amount of EU wines into Canada. In fact the LCBO in Ontario is the world's largest export market for French wines. Unfortunately we are not getting equal access to their markets. We have a huge trade imbalance of over one million to one. That is unacceptable.
Let us look at another example. In 1992 the GATT panel ruled against the United States on its anti-importation barriers for wine. The panel said that the U.S. discriminated against imports at both the federal and state levels.
Today most of these barriers still exist. A recent report from foreign affairs and international trade says that there are new trade distorting measures affecting Canadian exports that have been added by American states since the GATT panel ruling of eight years ago, all of this while Canada remains the largest export market for American wine. This is not a record we can take pride in.
At a time when exports are high, our trade surplus is larger than ever. Canadian wineries are making excellent products. We have been unable to break into two of the most important markets, the United States and the EU.
This debate is about helping businesses to succeed. It is about providing Canadian entrepreneurs, farmers and business people with the best possible chance for success, and that means access to markets, increased exports and jobs.
Canada's wine industry is a growing, thriving success. Canadian wineries have outdone themselves in creating excellent products in a very short amount of time. Our industry is new but it is excelling. This growth has happened without the huge subsidization which occurs in Europe and even in the United States. Now we need to give our wine industry the chance to grow and export around the world.
Earlier this year a vintner's enterprise study was completed on the wine industry in Niagara called “Jazzin' in the Vineyard”. I would like to summarize my remarks with a quote from that study. It says:
If the wine industry is to become internationally competitive, it needs a level playing field in which to participate.
I think that sums it up nicely. I urge the Minister for International Trade to give this issue his full attention and make it a number one priority.