Hon. James Downey (Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism): Madam Speaker, I have a statement to make and copies for distribution.
I appreciate members bearing with me. The statement may be a little long, but I think it is an important subject.
Madam Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to inform the House of the important developments regarding the efforts to further liberalize world trade this past week at the meeting of the world's Trade ministers under the World Trade Organization.
At the personal invitation of Canada's federal Trade minister, the Honourable Sergio Marchi, I was able to participate as a member of the Canadian delegation to these meetings. These meetings provided an important opportunity for Trade ministers to reflect upon the implementation of the results of the Uruguay round of multilateral trade negotiations and to discuss plans for future trade negotiations under the WTO.
I took the opportunity at these meetings to put forward Manitoba's desire for continued opening of world markets and in particular the further opening of important export markets in Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. I would also underline the particular importance of Manitoba places on continuing the process of integrating agriculture into the world trading system by further opening markets and disciplining harmful subsidy practices. Manitoba's views were faithfully reflected in the interventions by Canada, and I would like to table in the House a copy of remarks by federal Minister Marchi, as well as remarks tabled by Prime Minister Chretien to this World Trade conference.
The conference culminated very successfully from Manitoba's and Canada's perspective. I would like to table a copy of the Ministerial Declaration approved at this conference. This declaration calls for a work program to make the necessary preparations for ministers to re-engage in the multilateral trade negotiations meeting in the United States in late 1999.
The built-in work program under the WTO calls for negotiations on agriculture and services to restart prior to the year 2000. World Trade ministers exchanged views on what other issues should be added to these negotiations to achieve a balanced package reflecting the interests of all countries and promising a substantive and expeditious outcome.
While views differed on the best manner in which to achieve this balanced package, my discussions with members of other delegations and the successful declaration confirm that all countries remain committed to the WTO and the process of further opening world markets. The conference also witnessed a celebration of 50 years that have elapsed since the establishment of the multilateral trading system. Distinguished world leaders included the United States President, Bill Clinton, Prime Minister Tony Blair--you would have been proud of his speech, I am sure, to the member opposite; not very much along the lines--of the United Kingdom, and President Nelson Mandela of South Africa spoke with eloquence and conviction of the need for renewed commitments to the multilateral trade system and to engage all segments of society in our efforts to further advance toward open markets and liberalized trade.
I would like to table copies of the remarks from these world leaders for the information of fellow members of this House. Madam Speaker, I will table these following my remarks. These remarks also reflect the importance of consulting with all interested Manitobans from the critical issues under discussion at the WTO. My colleague the honourable Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Enns) and his staff have already begun a process of consulting with interested groups in Manitoba's agriculture community. It is my intention to directly engage other interested Manitobans in discussions through the course of 1998 and early 1999 and our interest in further multilateral trade negotiations. In that context, I also took the occasion to meet with the Honourable Bob Speller, chairman of the House of Commons Standing Subcommittee on Trade, Trade Disputes and Investment of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade and to urge him to conduct hearings in all regions of Canada to directly gather the views of Canadians on this issue, and I am sure the member for Crescentwood (Mr. Sale) will be pleased with that commitment.
* (1340)
Madam Speaker, I would like to extend my thanks to federal Minister Marchi for extending the invitation to provincial trade ministers to participate in this event as a member of the Canadian delegation. As trade negotiations evolve, they are impacting more and more on areas under provincial jurisdiction, and provinces must be able to directly participate in these discussions. Minister Marchi has made every effort to allow such participation. I commend him for recognizing the need for full provincial participation.
I apologize for the length of the statement, Madam Speaker, but I also have the speeches which were given out at the WTO. I will withhold the desire to read them, but I will table them for members.
Mr. Tim Sale (Crescentwood): We on this side of the House are pleased that the minister has discovered the WTO and took the opportunity to attend the meetings last week which we extended and facilitated on our part by allowing the Estimates debate to be moved and made more flexible so he could attend.
Madam Speaker, it is a remarkable transition that we have seen. Only a year ago this same government was denying that there was such a thing as the multilateral agreement on investment. They did not appear to know that it was under negotiation. Only a year ago the secrecy surrounding these negotiations was so dense and dark that very few members on either side of the House even knew what the initials stood for. So I am glad to see that the government not only supported our motion to defeat and defer any discussion on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, but that in fact the government, through the Minister of Trade, supported the taking of those discussions back to the WTO where they will receive much more open and, I think, testing scrutiny than they would have in the closed and cozy atmosphere of the OECD nations. I am also pleased to hear that the government has urged the Government of Canada, through Mr. Speller, to hold hearings on multilateral investment and trade issues across the country. That was, of course, the commitment they made in supporting our motion on the MAI, and I am grateful to see that the minister has followed through on that commitment.
The interests of our province can only be further supported and be improved by the citizenry, particularly the union and business, management and labour, academic and nongovernmental sectors becoming fully and completely informed about trade and trade issues, and how they both positively and negatively impact not only on our country but on many other countries in the world. It is not unusual to pull off the web, on any given day, a number of very, very troubling statements about the impact of some trade measures on Central and South American countries. It is not at all unusual to hear of very unfair trade practices being engaged in which have the effect of seriously undermining the health and welfare of the peoples of many nations of our world. So I welcome the new openness that this statement appears to portend for us in the future.
We welcome any hearings that will be held in Manitoba and will do our part to facilitate members of our community, labour, business, the nongovernmental sector, the cultural sector to make full and informed presentations to those hearings when they occur, and I thank the minister for his statement.