Mr. Speaker, as the member of Parliament for Vancouver South, I am honoured to represent my constituents who pride themselves in being the gateway to the Asia-Pacific. It is very timely indeed for me to be speaking to the Canada-Korea free trade agreement today.
As we know, the Canada-Korea free trade agreement is a historic initiative for Canada. It is an agreement that would strengthen our trade and investments ties across the Pacific and increase the prosperity of both our countries. It would result in job creation and enhanced opportunities for Canadian businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as investors, workers and consumers.
Canada is a trading nation. Trade has long been a powerful engine for Canada's economy, even more so now in what remains challenging times for the global economy.
Our government understands the importance of trade to our economy. It represents one in five jobs, contributes 60% of Canada's GDP, and over 40,700 Canadian companies are exporters.
Currently, Canada's trade is heavily weighted to traditional partners such as the United States. The North American Free Trade Agreement has benefited Canadian and American businesses through increased export opportunities resulting from lower tariffs, predictable rules and reductions in technical barriers to trade.
In 20 years, merchandise traded within the North American region has grown from $372 billion to over $1.1 trillion in 2013. There can be no doubt that NAFTA played a critical role in this dramatic increase.
Nevertheless, Canada's traditional partners are not growing at the rate they once did, and neither has our trade with them. At the same time, Asia's transformation is reshaping the global economy. Driven by the rise of China, this transformation has also been influenced by the growth of India, the continued strength of South Korea and Japan and the expanding potential of Southeast Asia.
Asia today is not only a source of a growing proportion of economic activity, including exports, services and capital, but also increasingly a centre of innovation. This is why Canada has prioritized trade with the Asia-Pacific in recent years. We recognize that Asia is one of the world's fastest growing economic regions and that it will be an engine of growth for the global economy.
It is important to acknowledge that while trade with our mature partners remains important, it is no longer enough to secure Canadian prosperity into the future. Canadian companies need improved access to markets both new and old. Canada's prosperity requires expansion beyond our borders into new markets for economic opportunities to serve and grow Canada's exports and investments.
The reality we face today is one where our international competitors are giving their companies an advantage through new trade deals. This trend is both eroding Canada's preferential access to the United States and threatening our competitive position in other markets, including high-growth emerging economies in Asia.
Canada must respond to maintain Canadian access to existing markets and to open new ones. This means taking our guidance from our government's global markets action plan to conclude bilateral deals with important Asian markets.
Let me take this opportunity to highlight some of Canada's ongoing trade initiatives in the dynamic Asian region, beginning with the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is an ambitious, next generation initiative that has the potential to be a leading mechanism for regional economic integration. It covers Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam, and represents a market of close to 800 million people and a combined GDP of $28.6 trillion.
Concluding a high calibre Trans-Pacific Partnership will achieve several goals. It will deepen our trade ties in dynamic Asian markets, set strong rules for the region and strengthen our traditional partnerships in the Americas.
Canada remains as committed as ever to playing a constructive role in advancing the TPP initiative and bringing an agreement to conclusion as soon as possible. We continue to engage at all levels with our TPP partners with the resolute goal of achieving a high standard agreement that brings benefits to every region of our country.
India is another priority market for Canada, and the comprehensive economic partnership agreement negotiations with India are an important part of the government's pro-trade plan. We view the CEPA as a building block in expanding our long-term commercial relationship with India. A trade agreement holds the potential for creating jobs and economic growth for both Canada and India.
Canada is committed to negotiating a high-quality trade agreement with India. We are looking to sign an ambitious agreement, which would improve market access for goods and services, eliminate tariffs and reduce non-tariff barriers to trade.
Canada is also engaged in ongoing economic partnership agreement negotiations with Japan. Launched on March 25, 2012, by the Prime Minister, negotiations are proceeding well, with six rounds held to date.
The sixth round of the Canada-Japan economic partnership agreement negotiations took place in July, in Ottawa, where progress was made in a number of areas. We are looking forward to a productive round seven this fall, in Tokyo.
Given Japan's commercial significance, Canada is fortunate to have two ambitious, high-standard initiatives within which to pursue greater trade and investment ties with Japan. Canada and Japan view working together on the TPP to enhance greater co-operation in the Asia-Pacific region and working together bilaterally on our EPA as mutually supportive efforts.
With all this progress, we cannot ignore China, Canada's second largest single-nation trading partner.
In 2013, our bilateral merchandise trade relationship reached more than $73 billion. Building upon the positive momentum of the Prime Minister's visit to China in early 2012, bilateral commercial ties have been strengthened through the August 2012 release of the joint economic complementarities study, the July 2013 expansion of the Canada-China air transport agreement and, most recent, the ratification of the Canada-China foreign investment protection and promotion agreement.
Canada and China have a long-standing and comprehensive relationship, which operates on many levels. We are committed to deepening trade and economic relations with this large and fast-growing market.
As Asian countries are deepening their economic integration, Canada is also actively contributing to an important regional fora, such as ASEAN and APEC.
It was to the detriment of our reputation as a trading nation that during the 13 long years in government the Liberals completely neglected trade, completing only three free trade agreements. In fact, the Liberals took Canada virtually out of the game, putting Canadian workers and businesses at severe risk of falling behind in this era of global markets.
It is important to point out that the last time the Liberals tried to talk seriously about trade, they campaigned to rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement. This is absolutely shameful.
Thanks to our Conservative government, however, we now have the Canada-Korea free trade agreement, our first free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific region, and it is projected to increase Canada's gross domestic product by $1.7 billion and boost our exports to South Korea by more than 30%.
Moreover, South Korea offers strategic access to regional and global value chains for Canadian companies, and the Canada-Korea free trade agreement would increase their competitiveness in the Asia-Pacific region.
The signing of the Canada-Korea free trade agreement by the Minister of International Trade, on September 22, was a momentous occasion that not only solidified Canada's bilateral relationship with South Korea, but also highlighted Canada's intensified focus on Asian markets.
The Canada-Korea free trade agreement is a significant step in Canada's orientation toward Asia, a shift that is integral to continued Canadian economic prosperity.
We must pass the bill quickly to ensure Canadians can start taking advantage of the benefits of the Canada-Korea free trade agreement and what it will bring to us.