Mr. Speaker, it is good to get up and debate this important issue. I will start by going over a little bit of how we got to this point, what this free trade area of the Americas and the summit of the Americas is proposing to do in Quebec City in April. If I have time, I would like to finish off with some of the local issues that I am concerned about that will be coming up, or already have, in this negotiation process.
The idea of a free trade area of the Americas started in 1990 with George Bush, the then president of the United States. At that time it was enterprised from the Americas initiative. It came on the heels of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and in the beginning of the negotiations for what would become the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Subsequently the idea was revived as a free trade of the Americas at the first modern day summit of the Americas held in Miami in 1994. Like the upcoming summit, the heads of state and government of 34 countries of the western hemisphere discussed the advancement of economic prosperity, democracy and security of the Americas.
At the summit in 1994, all countries agreed to conclude an FTAA by 2005. This was a very ambitious schedule but it was one they agreed to try to work toward. Canada and Chile, the most enthusiastic supporters of the FTAA, later proposed that it be moved up to 2003, but there are some concerns that this deadline will not be reached.
I will now speak on the relationship to the summit of the Americas. The FTAA is only one of the items, albeit an important one, that will be on the agenda at the summit of the Americas in Quebec City. The summit is organized through the Organization of American States. It was originally guided by four principles: first, preserve and strengthen the community of democracies of the Americas; second, promote prosperity through economic integration of free trade; third, eradicate poverty and discrimination in our hemisphere; and fourth, guarantee sustainable development and conserve our natural environment for future generations. I would suggest that those are four worthy goals to reach in any agreement.
At the Quebec City summit, issues have been divided into three interconnected baskets. They have described them as strengthening democracy, creating prosperity and realizing human potential. It is the potential of the FTAA that has gained the most attention both from people who support it and those who do not.
I would like to speak about the economic background. How big is the free trade area of the Americas that we are talking about? It would cover 800 million people in the western hemisphere. We have slightly less than 15% of the total world's population, but we produce 35% of the world's measured economic activity.
The combined gross domestic product of all the countries is $11 trillion U.S. The Americas is by far the largest and most productive economic region of the world. It surpasses even the European Union, which is the second leading region, by $3 trillion U.S.
Canada's main trading partner is the United States which takes over 86% of our exports. The countries with which Canada has a free trade agreement, the United States, Mexico and Chile, account for 97% of our hemispheric trade. Even without the FTAA, a full 94% of goods from FTAA countries already enter Canada duty free. It is no big change for Canada because we are almost already there.
What are some of the potential benefits? Canada's economy is highly trade dependent with about one in three jobs depending directly on trade. About 80% of jobs created since 1993 have come from trade. The reasons for all free trade agreements is to increase the size of our economic pie and to improve our prosperity and well-being.
Canadian priorities in the FTAA are threefold: zero tariff rates with our trading partners, the removal of wasteful custom procedures as barriers to trade, and strong investment protection measures through the Americas region. In my riding there is a big port into the U.S. To streamline the procedures to allow the trade to flow back and forth more freely is something the people who use it on a regular basis would really like to see.
A successful FTAA should not have a large structural impact on Canada's economy because we are almost already there. Canada is already a relatively open market. Some 94% of goods from FTAA countries already enter Canada duty free. The big adjustment for Canada came with the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement which currently covers 86% of our exports.
An important benefit of an FTAA for Canada is to open and secure market access for Canadian exporters through the elimination of tariffs. Some sectors face significant tariffs on paper products, technology products, auto parts and potash.
At a recent committee meeting on international trade one witness representing the Alliance of Manufacturers and Exporters of Canada said that 79% of its members favour this issue and only 6% see the FTAA as a threat to their businesses. These are the people who are in business and who are working to improve markets and market share for their products.
The parliamentary secretary earlier this evening indicated that the government would be listening to all the comments brought forward tonight by all parties. He also indicated that the government would be taking heed of some of the issues and would look into them.
One that I want to raise and I have raised before is the issue regarding sugar refining. I am speaking of raw sugar imports, exports and refined sugar. My riding has the only sugar beets grown in Canada. They are refined in the neighbouring constituency in Taber. A deal has been partially struck with Costa Rica and the concern is that the deal will be used as a pattern to extend it to other Latin American countries that have large sugar producing capacity.
The tariff in Costa Rica on refined sugar is 50% whereas Canada's is 8%. The idea is to reduce both those tariffs to zero but over the same period of time. If both tariffs are reduced to zero within a year of each other, it will place our producers and our refiners at a definite disadvantage.
This is something the government needs to be aware of. If it does offer up sugar, the government should deal with it as an individual commodity and not trade it off against other issues as has been done in the past, because there is potential for growth in this industry in Canada. If we handled this trade situation properly, particularly through the FTAA, then we will have potential to solidify the industry and maybe even grow it to some degree.
Some of the issues that have been talked about earlier have to do with the site and what is happening in Quebec City to prepare for the summit. I support the issue that the laws must be obeyed but people's right to be heard or the right to have peaceful demonstrations should not be interfered with. The full force of the law needs to be brought to bear should anybody step over that line and get out of hand because this is an important issue.
There is far more to be gained by being in on the discussions than being outside the room causing a disturbance. If people are serious about wanting change and having input, they should take part in the discussions. I am hopeful it will all go off without too much trouble.
Foreign subsidies which distort production, as we have seen in our grain and oilseed sector, are something that we need to be aware of. Such things do exist. If the trade agreements can reduce those subsidies to get everybody on a level playing field we would be far better off.
Another issue that is very important is water. We want to make sure that Canada retains sovereignty over its water. I want the government to hear that. We have to make sure that absolute control of that precious resource is maintained.
The other day one witness in committee said that a free trade agreement would bring absolute free and fair trade on all commodities. Then we would have 3,000 pages of exemptions. I am hopeful that this agreement will not go that way and that we will be able to come to a solid agreement.
We support free trade and the process that it is going through. However we would like to see any agreement that is reached come back to the House for debate, for Canadians to have a look at and for parliament to ultimately have a say in.