Scott Brison

[International Trade, May 11th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the government is standing by while more U.S. legislation shuts Canada out.

The fact is that state level and local government contracts are not covered by our Canadian trade agreements. The U.S. has asked Canada to change this but that would actually require the Prime Minister to work with the provinces.

When will the Prime Minister show some leadership and work with the provinces to change our trade agreements? When will the Conservatives actually take action to protect Canadians jobs against American protectionism?

[International Trade, May 11th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters has identified seven American bills with buy American clauses. Canadian companies have to relocate to the United States to gain access to the American market. American protectionism is killing Canadian jobs.

Why is this government doing nothing to stem the flow of jobs to the United States?

[Acadia University, May 8th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia will be marking the 125th anniversary of its first female graduate during convocation ceremonies on May 10 and 11.

In 1884, Clara Bell Marshall became Acadia's first female graduate and only the second woman in the entire British Commonwealth to be granted a degree. In honour of that occasion, all of the honorary degree recipients at spring convocation this year at Acadia will be women.

The Toronto Acadia Alumni Women's Committee recently held a networking and fundraising event with proceeds going to the Clara Marshall Raymond Scholarship Fund, to which donations are most welcomed, I will remind my colleagues.

Women of Nova Scotia have made an important contribution in the founding and building of Acadia. In fact in the early 1800s, it was local women who knit great quantities of mittens to sell and raise funds to buy materials and supplies to aid in the construction of the college.

Congratulations, Acadia, on your contribution to equality for women.

Please join with me in congratulating Acadia's 800 new graduates and congratulating the new president, Ray Ivany, and the chancellor, Arthur Irving, and the entire Acadia community.

[International Trade, May 7th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, in the United States, a significant portion of the stimulus money will be spent by individual states, but local government contracts are not protected by trade agreements. The U.S. has asked Canada to change that, but in order to do so, the Prime Minister has to work with the provinces.

When will he show some leadership by working with the provinces to protect Canadian jobs?

[International Trade, May 7th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, thousands of Canadian jobs are at risk because of U.S. protectionism.

Yesterday the industry minister was absolutely wrong when he said that the government only needs to make sure the Americans live up to their trade obligations. What the minister did not know was that NAFTA and WTO trade rules do not protect Canada against U.S. state and local government protectionism.

Why does the Conservative government not understand its own free trade agreements, and when will it start fighting for and protecting Canadian jobs?

[Renewable Energy, May 6th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his private member's motion. It is important that we realize the importance of greening the Canadian economy, as we see other countries move forward.

It was not that long ago that Americans used to look north to Canada and were inspired by the fact that the government was pursuing its international responsibilities around the environment and climate change, and they were embarrassed of their government. Now Canadians are looking south to the Obama administration and seeing a budget and a stimulus package that is extraordinarily green, that is investing in renewable energy, in clean energy, in smart grid and all the infrastructure we need to move forward.

My question for the hon. member is around the role of government and government procurement, particularly. Government represents a big part of the Canadian economy. How can governments help lead by example in terms of what we buy, how we heat and renovate our buildings and how we consume goods and services?

[Seal Hunt, May 5th, 2009]

Madam Chair, I hope the government uses these FTA discussions with the EU to strengthen the defence of the seal hunt. I share with the hon. member a belief that this can be done.

I do not know whether the Conservatives would do that. As the official opposition, we certainly hope, expect and will demand, as the official opposition, that the Conservatives use every opportunity during these negotiations with the EU. The EUFTA is currently in its scoping stages. This is a very important time to raise these issues and to vigorously defend Canadian interests around the seal hunt.

[Seal Hunt, May 5th, 2009]

Madam Chair, I think one can pursue trade discussions and at the same time leverage on those trade discussion to increase pressure on Canada's position on the seal hunt, which is also the position of Norway and other countries.

I do not think it is an either/or. The fact is the more deeply integrated we are in the trading relationships with the EU, the better able we are to defend our interests on a sector like the seal hunt. In fact, if we have deep relations on sectors that are particularly important to the EU, we are able to leverage on those relations to defend what is important to us. I would argue that an EUFTA and those discussions can augment and fortify our capacity to defend the seal hunt.

[Seal Hunt, May 5th, 2009]

Madam Chair, the hon. member raises a very good point. Other countries use ecological culls to manage the seal population, with no economic benefit whatsoever. If they want to pursue that as their policy, that is fine. We think it is bad public policy.

We do not want the European parliament to impose, effectively through this resolution, what is questionable public policy on Canada. We do not want it to damage the economy of regions like Newfoundland and Labrador and other coastal regions, including Canada's North, for no good reason whatsoever, destroying and attacking a tradition of coastal communities.

It is absolutely clear, from an ecological perspective, that there has to be some sort of hunt or cull. To deny the commercial viability of that is nonsensical. The government needs to take every action to make that case vigorously.

[Seal Hunt, May 5th, 2009]

Madam Chair, as we have heard in the House, the European parliament earlier today passed a bill banning the import of seal products by a vote of 550 to 49. Let me state unequivocally that the EU legislative resolution in question is based on misconceptions, bias and prejudice, not fact.

By moving forward on an import ban, the EU is preparing to take what is in fact an illegal trade action. The EU is being driven to shut out a foreign market of seal products by little more than the aesthetics and cultural misunderstandings of its members.

I will be splitting time, Madam Chair, with the member for Bourassa tonight.

This is blatant trade protectionism. The Government of Canada has a responsibility to launch a trade challenge to defend Canadian interests. There is no science, ecological or otherwise, to ban Canadian seal products.

The reality is the seal hunt is sustainable, it is humane and it is economically crucial for thousands of Canadian families in Newfoundland and Labrador, in Quebec and Canada's north. Canada has acted responsibly in managing the seal hunt in a long term and sustainable way.

Annual seal quotas are developed on a basis of a ecosystem approach, which considers a wide range of factors, including ice conditions, climate, and the abundance of seal herds. The fact is the seal hunt is an important part of the ecological balance of these regions. Over the last 30 years, the seal population in Canada has grown from 2 million seals to over 5.5 million seals.

One of the reasons we have had a depletion of cod stocks in Atlantic Canada is the growth of the seal population, which has been astounding. If this EU ban is enacted, it may perversely result in the need to cull the seal herd in order to manage the over population. This result benefits no one, economically or otherwise. It would be the product of short-sighted bad public policy, which fails to recognize the sustainability and balance of Canada's seal hunt.

However, the members of the European parliament, who voted in favour of this resolution to ban seal products, have chosen to ignore the evidence. They have chosen to ignore the science. Instead they have acted in response to public pressure and special interest. They have based their decisions on falsehoods and misinformation.

Canada is a trading nation. We depend on trade for our standard of living. It is ominous that this year, for the first time in 30 years, Canada has entered a trade deficit.

A fundamental responsibility of the Government of Canada is to secure access to international markets for Canadian exporters, including our seal hunters. We know the government has been failing in this regard, with again the first trade deficit in 30 years. Our small open economy needs external trade for prosperity. With a trade deficit, that means Canadians are actually buying more than we are selling now, which is ominous in terms of our long-term prosperity and productivity.

Canadian exports to our largest trading partner, the U.S., have fallen over 20% last year alone. We need to diversify our trading relationships. The fact is the Canadian seal products industry have seen a tremendous downward trend under the Conservative government.

It is crucial to understand just how important the seal hunt is to thousands of Canadian families. Seals have been harvested for food, fuel, shelter and other products for hundreds of years. In Newfoundland and Labrador many remote coastal communities depend on sealing for as much as 35% of their total earned income. Furthermore, all seal pelts undergo processing within Canada, creating employment opportunities at plants across Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec. The seal hunt has traditionally brought in tens of millions of dollars annually to Canada. It has been a crucial source of income for many Canadians.

Here is where a big part of the problem lies. The seal industry was worth roughly $32 million under the previous Liberal government. Under the Conservative government, we saw it reduced to $4 million last year.

The Conservatives have failed to take effective action to defend this industry against those who would repeat falsehoods and wild accusations to attack it. The Conservative government must defend the interests of the Canadian seal hunt community. It must defend the interests of northern Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador. The government has a responsibility to take the appropriate action right now to ensure that those interests are defended.

This is not against free trade and engagement. In fact, sometimes when we have rules-based free trade agreements, they can help defend the interests in industries like the seal hunt because we have other sectors upon which to leverage to defend the interests of important sectors like the seal hunt. The fact is we can proceed with discussions around an FTA with EU, but at the same time we cannot subordinate the interests of the seal hunt in our efforts to do so.