Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to speak to the Canada-China foreign investment promotion and protection agreement on behalf of my constituents in Surrey North.
As the official opposition, the NDP was very concerned about this agreement, particularly about how it was formed, the silence surrounding the agreement and the potential destruction it could cause to Canadian businesses and Canadians. I support the motion presented in the House by my hon. colleague from Vancouver Kingsway. The government should not ratify the Canada-China FIPA, and it should properly inform the government of the People's Republic of China that it has no intention of doing so.
FIPA is a bilateral agreement with China, a major investor in Canada. It is not a free trade agreement. It was signed on September 9, 2012; however, the deal was kept secret until September 26, when it was tabled in Parliament. The agreement was not debated by Parliament; it was not considered by the committee and the international trade committee, of which I am a member; nor was it voted on in any votes in the House. Although it has been available for ratification since November 1, 2012, the Conservative government has not yet officially committed to this treaty. If the government believes that the agreement is so strong, why is it taking so long to ratify it? Perhaps it is because the Conservative government also knows how damaging it could be for Canadians, Canadian business and the Canadian economy.
As Canadians, we are proud of our country's rich supply of natural resources. The trade of these resources would benefit our economy enormously, and China is an ideal partner for those resources. China has an expanding economy due to its growing middle class. Consequently, it requires increased imports of oil, lumber, food, technology, agricultural goods and other basic necessities. Canada has the means to meet this demand; therefore Canada and China would be complementary trading partners and we would want to pursue a fair deal with China.
However, the Canada-China FIPA deal, in its current state as signed by the government, has not given Canada a fair share. This is not unprecedented, because we are resource-rich and we are in a position to be a major exporting country, yet time and time again, we see trade deals signed by the government that set us up to be exploited.
Foremost, the Canada-China foreign investment promotion and protection agreement is poorly named. It offers neither promotion nor protection of Canadian trade interests in China. It is biased toward China and Chinese companies. It does not present Canadian companies with the same privileges in the Chinese markets as Chinese companies have in China, nor as they have in Canada. We want to see a growth of Canadian companies in China, but we need a level playing field for our businesses as they expand into global markets. Canadian companies deserve the same promotions and protections that Chinese companies receive in Canada. This is not what the current Canada-China FIPA offers.
Not only does this treaty expose Canadian businesses to risk; it plays with the future of Canadian taxpayers. The Canada-China FIPA includes investor state dispute mechanisms designed to allow Chinese companies to literally sue Canada if they do not agree with our federal regulations. These court processes are located completely outside of legal jurisdiction and rely on Canadian taxpayers funding them. This is not a contingency issue. Canada has already experienced similar problems through NAFTA treaty tribunal bodies; we have been sued numerous times by American companies and we have never won a case. Furthermore, Chinese companies already have a track record of using the investor state mechanism to challenge regulations of trading partners.
I do not understand why the Conservative government would expose Canadians to such risk when there is a clear record of arbitration. Perhaps the government is also ignoring its most important resource: its Canadian citizens.
As a government that claims to be fiscally accountable and competent in trade, why are the Conservatives trying to undermine Canada's potential? Perhaps they do not understand the worth of our resources and how valuable we are as a trade partner. Perhaps they do not see the potential in Canadian companies. This ignorance does not prove them fiscally capable, and the enormous trade deficit speaks to the lack of credibility in exchange agreements.
In fact, under the current government, Canadians have seen our trade deficit grow over the last number of years. In 2012 alone, Canada had a current account deficit of $67 billion, which is an $85 billion drop from an $18 billion surplus in 2006, the first year the Conservative government came into power. That is the government's record. It has been reckless. It has shown its incompetence when it comes to negotiating trade agreements, and it has shown its incompetence if we look at our trade deficit over the years. Under the current government, we have had the largest trade deficit ever in Canadian history. Yet, the Conservatives call themselves fiscally competent and want to expand trade.
We need trade, a fair trade, where Canadian interests are also put forward by the government. That has not happened under the Conservatives.
In addition to the growing current account deficit, the manufacturing deficit has nearly quadrupled since 2006, to just over $100 billion. Good paying jobs have disappeared under the current government.
The manufacturing deficit creates a bigger problem because we are importing more finished goods from outside this country, rather than manufacturing those goods in this country; so we can see we are not exporting as many finished goods as we could be, under the Conservative government.
Stacked up against 18 of the most comparable trading nations, including the U.S. and Australia, Canada is at the bottom of the list when it comes to trade performance.
If Canada has resources and ideal trading partners, why is the deficit growing? It is due to mismanagement of trade by the inept government agreeing to deficient treaties such as FIPA with China and Canada.
The government has chosen to undermine democracy through its lack of parliamentary procedures in creating the Canada-China FIPA. It has chosen to benefit Chinese corporations rather than supporting Canadian businesses, and it has chosen to expose Canadian taxpayers to huge liabilities in potential legal arguments through trade tribunals.
The Canada-China trade relationship should be the foundation upon which our future agreements are built. Canada has an opportunity to create a trade deal with China that is mutually beneficial to both nations. We should be establishing an agreement with elements of communication and co-operation between our two countries because trade deals are not just about trade anymore. They present unique opportunities for the collaborative sharing of education and culture, among many other things.
We need to inform China about our intentions because we value that country as a trading partner. We must treat China with courtesy and we must pursue a trade relationship that is respectful both of China and of our own country.
We want bilateral trade agreements like FIPA to be designed to actually serve Canadians and close the embarrassingly large deficit that, under the current government, we have created. We want them to reflect the value we place on Canadian citizens, Canadian businesses and the Canadian economy. FIPA, as it currently stands, is unratifiable, both in spirit and in content.