Free Trade Area of the Americas: Seeking an Agreement that Serves the Interests of Canadians
Dissenting Report by the Bloc Québécois on the Report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade
October 1999

I. Introduction

It is in a spirit of cooperation and openness that the Bloc Québécois took part in the work of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade concerning the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). This Report, The Free Trade Area of the Americas: Seeking an Agreement that Serves the Interests of Canadians, has been prepared for the meeting that will take place in Toronto on November 3 and 4, where Canada will chair an international ministerial meeting, aimed at establishing a free trade area for the whole of the Americas.

Although we are in favour of establishing a Free Trade Area of the Americas, we regret yet again the lack of time given to Members of Parliament to examine and discuss the 29 recommendations made in the Report.

The Bloc Québécois rightfully expected that the Committee's report would clearly set out the positions and approaches that the federal government should take in anticipation of the FTAA negotiations. Unfortunately, most of the recommendations in the report are too vague. They are simply pious wishes and do not impose obligations other than of a strictly commercial nature on the governments that wish to sign a treaty based on it.

II. Québec's participation in the FTAA negotiations

As in the case of the WTO negotiations, the Bloc Québécois feels that Québec's interests would be better served and defended by a sovereign Québec speaking in its own name at the bargaining table.

In fact, at the present time, only the federal government is able to decide on the agenda and negotiate international agreements. However, the issues that will be discussed there will include subjects which fall directly under Québec's jurisdiction or could seriously affect its government in the exercise of that jurisdiction. Thus, Québec remains unfairly dependent on the federal government and feels that this situation can no longer continue.

To ensure that Québec's interests are adequately represented, we have requested that Québec sit at the bargaining table in its own name. As we noted in our minority report on the WTO, Québec is allowed to do so in the Agence de la Francophonie, where it acts on its own behalf when its interests are at stake. It is therefore possible and desirable for the federal government to accommodate Québec in this way.

Another way of involving the government of Québec, and the governments of the other provinces, is to insure that all governments can participate in the bargaining teams. In the area of international negotiations, we claim at least the same treatment that the member countries of the European Union enjoy. They only have one representative but each government takes part in the bargaining teams. The Bloc Québécois feels that this arrangement would enable the federal government to involve Québec, and the provinces that so desire, in all stages of the negotiations.

III. The cultural exception and the promotion of cultural diversity

We are very pleased to note that the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade has endorsed the recommendations of the Bloc Québécois on issues of cultural diversity.

The Bloc Québécois has always been the defender of the principle of the general, self-defined cultural exception. We see with satisfaction that the government continue to defend the idea of a cultural exception while working towards a new international instrument on culture. It is very important to continue to defend the principle of a cultural exception especially since its project for a new organization is vague: To what authority will this task be given? What will its powers be? To whom will it report? and so on...

IV. Involvement of civil society

We would have liked Recommendation 1 to be more precise, affirming that the consultation process of civil society as a whole would be permanent, transparent and effective. This mechanism would enable all parties in society to express opinions to the government on subjects concerning them.

V. The common currency debate

The fact that Canada will chair the ministerial meeting in Toronto will allow it to include a review of certain challenges that Quebeckers and other Canadians consider important on the agenda. In this situation, the Bloc Québécois regrets the fact that the federal government is not taking this opportunity to examine a crucial issue, namely a monetary union of the Americas. Instead, the federal government stubbornly prefers to do nothing on this issue although it is being discussed in many countries in the FTAA.

Last winter the Bloc Québécois launched a debate on the possibility of adopting a common currency first in North America and later in the other countries of this hemisphere. Through the Joint Economic Committee, the US Senate also examined the monetary future of the Americas. On July 23 and 24 many countries met in Panama, under the auspices of the Inter-American Development Bank, to discuss the future of the currencies in the Americas. In Argentina, former President Carlos Menem spoke out in favour of using the US dollar in his country. In Mexico, two major business organizations asked President Zedillo to adopt the US dollar as Mexico's currency.

Given these opinions, the Bloc Québécois would have liked to see a recommendation on monetary union included in the report so that a Monetary Institute of the Americas could be set up within the FTAA to consider the issue. This institute could look at the advantages and disadvantages of a monetary area corresponding to the economic space of the FTAA and at various possible monetary scenarios such as the status quo, a fixed exchange rate system, the conditions that should govern monetary union and adoption of the US dollar as the common currency.

This non partisan multinational institute could provide decision-makers, in the countries involved, with information so that they can make informed decisions with respect to the future of currencies. This institute could also act as a consultative and coordinating body among the various central banks in order to ensure that the proper information is made available to all those concerned.

VI. The need for an environmental clause

The Bloc Québécois feels that Recommendations 11 to 13, about environment, are much too vague. We propose the inclusion in the FTAA of a clause that would allow states to remove endangered ecosystems from the application of clauses that are strictly commercial.

We also recommend that minimal standards to protect the environment be part of the negotiations. If they are included in the body of the agreement, these rules and clauses would be binding on signatory governments and authorize the imposition of compensatory measures in case of failure to comply with them. They could draw from the resolutions that were adopted at the Rio Summit and from the conventions and protocols related thereto.

VII. Social clauses

The Bloc Québécois does not approve of Recommendation 10 because it feels that it is much too weak and is nothing more than a statement of principle. Like many non-government organizations and labour unions, our party favours the inclusion of a social clause to provide adequate protection for workers throughout the Americas in the FTAA rules. Furthermore, social clauses, based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, must provide a real protection of human rights.

We earlier expressed our concerns on this subject in our dissenting report on the WTO negotiations. In our view, rather than simply stating that it is necessary to ``build up the presence of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in the hemispheric initiative", the social clauses should refer directly to the duty of governments to comply with the rules set out in the seven fundamental ILO labour conventions. They would then have much more weight and impact. As we noted earlier in our dissenting report of last June on the WTO, we are referring to the following conventions: Convention 29 on forced labour, Convention 87 on freedom of organization and collective bargaining, Convention 98 on the right to organize and collective bargaining, Convention 100 on equal pay, Convention 105 on the abolition of forced labour, Convention 111 on discrimination in employment and Convention 138 on the minimum age of eligibility for employment.

In the view of the Bloc Québécois, the inclusion of these conventions in the FTAA would help to prevent the most extreme forms of exploitation as well as the injustices to which many workers in the Americas are subject.

VIII. Approval by the House of Commons and assent of provinces

One of the criticisms most frequently levelled against globalization specifically concerns the lack of transparency of the process and the little information available over the whole phenomenon, which is too often seen as inevitable. We must ensure that both parliamentarians and the public are more involved in the issues raised by globalization.

Moreover, the Bloc Québécois feels that it is important to involve the House of Commons directly in the conclusion process of international agreement. Not only is it essential that the House of Commons be given an opportunity to monitor the FTAA negotiations but it is also important that it gives its consent. Since these are important treaties, it would be appropriate, after the agreements are signed by the government, for them to be tabled and debated in the House of Commons before a resolution approving them is adopted.

Also, the Bloc Québécois is of the opinion that the provinces must be directly involved in the negotiation process. However, the federal government stubbornly refuses to recognize what seems to be obvious for many Quebeckers.

As many of the issues raised in the negotiation process of the FTAA are of provincial jurisdiction, it is imperative that the consent of the provinces be obtained prior to any treaty ratification by the federal government.

IX. Conclusion

The Bloc Québécois has played an active role in the process of consulting the public in this country about the imminent creation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas, which we support.

In that exercise, however, the Liberal majority has again displayed its intransigence in the face of Québec's legitimate aspirations. Its right to participate in the negotiations and the right to speak on questions within its jurisdiction are not acknowledged. Furthermore, the limited amount of time given to the Committee members to examine these issues, which are fundamental after all, shows the government's lack of interest in listening to and acting on the opinions of interested parties.

The Bloc Québécois has fought this battle in the past when the Committee prepared its report on the WTO and the Millennium Round of negotiations. We shall continue to defend the true interests of Québec and to be watchful at all times over the question of the FTAA.