Ron Cannan

[Labour, March 7th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, inmates at the Mountain Institution in Agassiz, British Columbia, have indicated that they are preparing to apply to the Canada Industrial Relations Board to form the first inmate labour union in Canada.

Would the Minister of Labour please inform the House of the government's position on this move by criminals in Canada?

[Wine Industry, February 10th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow our federal Minister of Agriculture will meet with his provincial and territorial counterparts to talk about an important issue, interprovincial trade barriers.

Last November, I placed on the order paper Motion No. 601, which supports direct to consumer purchasing of Canadian wine.

Greater access to Canadian wine is a direct benefit to our agriculture community and to the consumer. Smaller wineries across Canada have limited sales channels and the best opportunity for their growth lies in direct marketing strategies. Just ask the wine makers in my riding of Kelowna--Lake Country in the beautiful Okanagan or grassroots organizations like the Alliance of Canadian Wine Consumers that has created the website freemygrapes.ca.

I call on the respective provincial agriculture ministers to give direct to consumer purchasing their full consideration and support Canadian wine producers.

I thank members from both sides of the House who support this change and the member for Fleetwood—Port Kells, and her staff, who has also tabled a motion on this issue.

By working together, we can break down the barriers and support a vibrant Canadian wine industry.

[Economic Negotiations with the European Union, December 14th, 2010]

Mr. Chair, I will take the second question first.

With regard to any impacts on Canada's aboriginal people, as with all international trade agreements, Canada maintains a number of reservations to preserve the government's ability to regulate in the areas of aboriginal and minority affairs. These reservations allow Canada to reserve the right to deny foreign investor or service providers any rights or preferences provided to aboriginals, as well as socially or economically disadvantaged minorities. Aboriginals are protected.

With regard to telecommunication, Canada currently limits market access to foreign providers of telecommunication. Nothing is going to change there. This chapter contains provisions to ensure the regulatory framework is supportive and there is competitive supply of telecommunications services.

Lastly, whether it is Celine Dion, Bryan Adams or Michael Bublé, we have some great Canadian talent and culture that we want to share around the world.

[Economic Negotiations with the European Union, December 14th, 2010]

Mr. Chair, since my hon. colleague comes from the Prairies, he knows the value of agriculture not only for western Canada, but for all of Canada.

I recently met with the folks in the Canadian agriculture and agrifood industry. They are very excited about this agreement. The next round of talks is in January in Brussels. They will be there, working with the rest of the agriculture community, to ensure this agreement goes through.

The fact is there is the potential of half a billion new individuals. We recently announced hormone-free beef, which is a small segment. There is great potential for the cattle industry to move in that direction. Overall, there are several billions of dollars available with opportunity identified in the economic study that was recently done, for a total of $12 million of potential growth for economic development in gross domestic product with this agreement.

[Economic Negotiations with the European Union, December 14th, 2010]

Mr. Chair, I thank my hon. colleague from British Columbia Southern Interior, my neighbour, for his support, working with numerous colleagues over the years to build a business case for our passport office, which is very welcome for British Columbia Southern Interior.

Also, my colleague from the B.C. Okanagan—Coquihalla area has worked together with the Minister of Agriculture. Just a few weeks ago, we had an agriculture round table with the provincial minister of agriculture, working on ways that we could expand the market. Folks from the cattle producers, the B.C. fruit industry and the wine industry embraced this trade agreement in the sense that we could look at opening markets for our products. The cherries have gone to Asia. They are looking at the possibility of Europe as well.

With the WTO challenge, if there is an anti-dumping situation, there is a mechanism in place. We talked about that. We are working with the industry to help them collect that information. We are always there for Joe Sardinha and BC Fruit Growers. They have worked really hard, and I appreciate their efforts.

Also within the wine industry, this agreement could provide some clarity with regard to the labelling, especially for ice wine, and removing some of the regulations and the red tape so we can increase market opportunities abroad.

I would appreciate the hon. member's support on this committee to get this agreement through for the betterment of our farmers, not only for British Columbia but all across Canada.

[Economic Negotiations with the European Union, December 14th, 2010]

Mr. Chair, as I said, with respect to culture in the Canada-EU free trade negotiations, the government remains committed to defending Canada's cultural interest and will exempt these areas from trade obligation. We are clear about that, respecting the fact that we have two official languages in Canada and the European Union has 27 countries with 23 different languages.

I want to share a brief comment with the members. I had the opportunity to meet with members of the European Union trade committee. One of those gentleman was a great supporter of Quebec, Peter Stastny, from the Quebec Nordiques. He was elected in 2004 and was a great ambassador for Canada at our meetings. He talked about his support for the Canada-EU trade agreement. He was supporting culture. When he was in Quebec, he learned French and English. As a rookie, he was a top scorer in the NHL, actually ahead of Wayne Gretzky, which is a little trivia.

However, we support arts, culture and sports. There are so many ways we could work together and this Canada-EU trade agreement will just enhance that 100%.

[Economic Negotiations with the European Union, December 14th, 2010]

Mr. Chair, it is a pleasure to be a member of the Standing Committee on International Trade. I am pleased to have the opportunity this evening to speak to culture related issues within the context of the Canada-EU comprehensive economic trade agreement negotiations.

Several members of our committee, who are in the House this evening, had an opportunity to travel to the EU just recently to discuss with our colleagues in the European parliament some of the opportunities and challenges from both perspectives. It was a fruitful discussion and I look forward to the discussions moving forward into 2011 and to coming to an agreement, hopefully, by the latter part of 2011 as we move forward with this economic and trade agreement.

The Government of Canada is committed to supporting the vital diversity of Canadian creation. Arts and culture improve our quality of life, strengthen our connections to one another and provide us with valuable and often unique insights into who we are as a nation.

Let us look at Canada's cultural sector and the economy. Arts and culture not only enrich us as people but also contribute directly to our collective prosperity. Each one of us has a special spot for arts and culture. We support the arts and culture in various ways. Canada's economic action plan, which was announced in 2009, is a testament to the important role arts and culture play in our country's economy.

As a trade and economic sector, it also makes important and significant contributions to Canada's gross domestic product. The arts and culture sector had an estimated direct economic impact of $46 billion on Canada's gross domestic product in 2007, or 3.8% of Canada's GDP.

Additionally, its various industries employ more than 630,000 people, with the equivalent of 46,000 full-time jobs accounted for through volunteer labour. Many fledgling part-time musicians and artisans are not included in that but they also help contribute in a variety of ways to the quality of life within a community.

The cultural sector is one of the few industries that is found in all regions of Canada in both cities and rural communities. Talent and investment are drawn to the areas where culture flourishes.

The cultural landscape, however, is changing. With anything in the world now just a mouse click away, competition for audience attention increases exponentially. In Canada, competitive pressures are intensified by the relatively small size of our domestic market, which can make cultural production costly and complex.

Canadians value access to cultural products that reflect their own voices but we are also extremely open to what the world has to offer. For instance, in 2009, foreign productions accounted for 97% of box office revenues, 74% of music albums sold in Canada and 59% of conventional private television programming. Those examples are demonstrative of the sector as a whole and represent an unparalleled openness to foreign content.

We are proud that as a government we can help ensure that Canadians can continue to enjoy these benefits by fostering strong, vibrant and economically sustainable arts and cultural industries throughout this country.

What this means. however. is that we need to work hard to ensure Canadians have access to Canadian culture. Our government has committed more than a billion dollars over five years in new and renewed investments for arts, culture, heritage and tourism.

Culture has been strongly supported under Canada's economic action plan with investments of approximately $335 million in support of arts and culture.

I have the honour of representing the beautiful riding of Kelowna--Lake Country. Our economic action plan invested significantly in the Laurel Packinghouse, which is B.C.s oldest packing house and located in the heart of our cultural district. I know the citizens of Kelowna are very appreciative of the economic action plan and our investment in retaining and enhancing the cultural district of our community.

I would now like to look at Canada's international cultural priorities. Canada is also active internationally in the field of culture through its bilateral and multilateral cultural agreements. A clear indication of this dynamism is reflected in the fact that Canada is signatory to audiovisual co-production treaties with 53 countries and has signed memoranda of understanding that foster cultural exchanges with key trading partners, such as China, India and Colombia.

Canada has been a leader in the development and implementation of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. My hon. Bloc colleague mentioned earlier that Canada became the first country to formally accept the UNESCO convention, which now acts as a benchmark in cultural affairs at the international level.

The preservation of policy flexibility to fulfill cultural policy objectives in the context of progressive liberalization through bilateral, regional and multilateral trade negotiations is an ongoing international challenge.

The UNESCO convention that the EU has also championed calls for countries to respect the need for policy flexibility to promote the cultural objectives. A key goal for Canada in all trade negotiations is to maintain flexibility to pursue our cultural policy objectives. This has been a long-standing and established element of Canada's trade policy.

Canada has traditionally managed requests for freer trade in the cultural sector by not listing any World Trade Organization services commitments under the General Agreement on Trade and Services with respect to Canadian cultural policies or measures. In the case of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement, or any other bilateral free trade agreements, Canada has negotiated proper cultural exemptions.

I would now like to talk specifically about culture, Canada and the European Union.

The European Union, itself a single market with half a billion citizens across 27 countries, speaking 23 languages officially, has been a long-standing partner in recognizing culture's space and special place in the economy and society. A big part of the union is the fact of the dynamic and diverse culture.

We have worked hard together, as early as the Uruguay round of negotiations on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which concluded in 1989, to ensure that countries could maintain the policy space required to address their domestic cultural priorities.

As I have just mentioned, Canada and the European Union have also been leaders and worked closely together in the development and promotion of the UNESCO convention. Canada and the EU both share an ongoing commitment to the principles of the UNESCO convention, such as the need to maintain the policy space necessary to pursue cultural priorities and to foster cultural exchanges that promote the diversity of cultural expressions.

With respect to culture in the free trade negotiations with the European Union, the government remains committed to defending Canada's cultural interest and will exempt these areas from trade obligations. We believe that the EU will understand our need to take this approach as it has demonstrated a long-standing respect for the needs of countries to have the capacity to develop and implement cultural policy policies.

A number of European Union countries themselves have developed their own array of cultural support mechanisms which they value as well. The great part of visiting Europe is the history, the culture and the way of life. Although our respective approaches to culture and trade might differ somewhat, Canada and the EU share their commitment to cultural diversity. Our government remains strongly committed to protecting Canada's cultural policies during our negotiations with the European Union.

A closer economic partnership agreement, such as the prospective free trade agreement with the European Union, would complement the objectives of the UNESCO convention. Canada believes that support for culture is consistent with its ongoing commitment to freer trade. Any trade agreement we conclude with the EU will therefore preserve our respective abilities to pursue domestic cultural policy objectives.

This has not deterred the usual critics of free trade from wrongly suggesting that any agreement would lead to irreparable harm to Canadian culture. That is not true. This never happened under our free trade agreements with the United States, our closest neighbour and trading partner, and it would not happen with the cultural diversity represented by the European Union.

During the course of the negotiations with the European Union, the Government of Canada will continue to work with the provincial and territorial governments toward an outcome that would ensure that Canada's and the European Union's ability to pursue domestic cultural policy objectives related to cultural industries would remain unimpaired.

I urge all members of the House to ignore the false and silly claims about the effect free trade has on Canadian culture. I encourage all members to get behind our Conservative government's ambitious free trade negotiations with the European Union and the jobs and economic benefits which will result for all Canadians.

[Economic Negotiations with the European Union, December 14th, 2010]

Mr. Chair, my hon. colleague from Burnaby—New Westminster and I have served on the international trade committee for approximately five years and have travelled together quite frequently. He is a great orator and looks at life through a different set of lens, even though we are both from British Columbia.

One of the biggest economic benefits is the free trade agreements for our province. The fact is, we have been able to implement eight since our government took office in January 2006, and we continue to look at expanding markets.

The Minister of International Trade alluded to the economic impact of this Canada-EU trade agreement earlier. It is anticipated at $12 billion, and that is b for billion. Jobs, hope and opportunity are definitely something we are looking at.

My hon. colleague stated, “All parties in the House support trade”. For the fives years we have been on the trade committee, I have not seen him support a trade agreement. I would like to clarify which trade agreement he is referring to that his party supports.

[Interprovincial Shipment of Wine, December 7th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, it is time to bring Canada's wine laws into the 21st century. From coast to coast we can boast of award-winning wineries, many of them in the Okanagan Valley of my home province of beautiful British Columbia.

Unfortunately, the current law makes it illegal for Canadian vintners to ship that wine directly to consumers out of province. It is hard to believe. That is why I have tabled Motion No. 601 which supports amending the act. With the help of the Minister of Agriculture, as well as the member for Okanagan—Coquihalla, and our Conservative wine caucus, we are working to find a way to allow for a personal exemption for direct consumer purchasing.

Grassroots support is ramping up with a writing campaign, and a new website called FreeMyGrapes.ca. I encourage everyone to visit FreeMyGrapes.ca.

Let us relax this archaic 1928 interprovincial trade barrier and create a win-win for Canadian wine producers and Canadian consumers.

Cheers.

[Petitions, December 6th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I am tabling a petition with a little more than 1,100 signatures from constituents and Canadians with regard to Bill C-474, the hon. member for British Columbia Southern Interior's motion, which has to do with a bill amending seed regulation, requiring that analysis of potential harm to export markets be conducted before the sale of any new genetically engineered seed is permitted.