CIIT Committee Report

SUPPLEMENTARY OPINION OF THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF CANADA

The Conservative Party of Canada is grateful for the work of the staff of the International Trade committee, including its clerk and analysts, in helping prepare this report on trade between Canada and the United Kingdom. The Conservative Party would you also like to thank the witnesses who appeared during this study, as well as the study on Bill C-18, An Act to implement the Agreement on Trade Continuity between Canada and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to share their thoughts and views on this important trading relationship and what a successor trade agreement with the United Kingdom should look like.

As stated in our supplementary opinion on the interim report of this study, Conservatives had been pushing the Government of Canada to get to work on a Canada-UK trade agreement for years. While we are pleased to see the Canada-UK Trade Continuity Agreement come into effect on April 1, 2021, we are disappointed the government was not able to meet the initial deadline of December 31, 2020 – when the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA)’s application to the United Kingdom ended. The government left this critical trade agreement to the final sitting week of the final month of the final year before the CETA’s terms no longer applied to the UK. Instead, just a few days before said deadline, the government had to sign a temporary Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the United Kingdom for three months to ensure trade could still flow and our Canadian exporters would not be affected – due to being unable to meet legislative ratification deadlines. With the MOU set to expire at the end of March 2021, Canada’s Conservatives showed leadership and sought unanimous consent, which we received, in order to move the enacting legislation for this trade agreement along in the House of Commons so that our Canadian businesses and workers were not again left with uncertainty.

Now, with the Canada-United Kingdom Trade Continuity Agreement in place, Conservatives emphasize the need for the Canadian government to work with its counterparts in the United Kingdom to meet the timelines in the agreement to begin negotiations, and then conclude, a successor comprehensive agreement between Canada and the United Kingdom which addresses needed improvements we heard about at the Standing Committee on International Trade. We cannot forget that the Canada-United Kingdom Trade Continuity Agreement is primarily a rollover of the terms in CETA, bringing an agreement which was negotiated in the context of Canada and the European Union, into the context of Canada and the United Kingdom. A successor agreement brings opportunities to negotiate a new agreement which better reflects the Canada-UK relationship. We are pleased to see that the committee recommends to the government that they meet the set deadlines, and to have the International Trade Minister and relevant officials appear at the committee to answer questions if the deadlines are not met.

We are also pleased to see the committee agree to recommendations to help a successor Canada-United Kingdom trade agreement be better utilized and maximized by Canadian businesses, especially our small businesses and those in the agriculture and agri-food sectors.

•   We hope to see the Government of Canada follow the committee’s recommendation to “launch comprehensive and dedicated consultations on the topic of non-tariff barriers affecting Canadian businesses, particularly those in the agriculture and agri-food sector.” We heard from those in the agriculture and agri-food sectors both during this study and the study on Bill C-18 on the need to address these barriers, so that our producers can use our trade agreements to their full potential. 
•   The recommendation that the “Government of Canada consult [small and medium-sized] businesses about the potential addition of a ‘small business’ chapter to a subsequent Canada–United Kingdom trade agreement” is also an important one. Trade agreements must work for our small and medium sized enterprises, and the government should have comprehensive consultations with SMEs to see how our trade agreements can be improved and negotiated to better help them scale up and expand to new markets.

In conclusion, the Conservative Party of Canada supports the recommendations made in the report, and we look forward to the Government’s response. The Conservative Party is also mindful of the extensive witness testimony the committee heard from stakeholders during the committee’s study on Bill C-18. While testimony from that study is not included in the scope of this report, we hope to see the Government of Canada work with their counterparts to address issues which were raised, including the issue of the United Kingdom’s (UK) non-indexation policy on pensions.