International Trade Committee on June 16th, 2025

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC]

I'm not speaking to the motion. I just wanted you to add my name to the speaking list so that I could also put a motion on notice.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Jacob.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Is it your intention that the review on rules-based trade and the importance of that include a reflection on Canada's actions and whether they are in keeping with rules-based trade as well?

[Yasir Naqvi, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

I think at a foundational level we need to understand from experts why Canada has pursued the strategy it has pursued over several decades around the globalized trading system. We obviously had a free trade agreement with the United States, and then NAFTA, and then CUSMA. That's not to mention our being signatory to various regional and bilateral free trade agreements.

Obviously, there's a reason behind it and around how it has positively impacted the growth of our economy. There are things that work. There are things that could be improved. I think this study will allow us to look at both those possibilities.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Are there any further questions?

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC]

I know that our colleague says that he sent the text, but it seems that we haven't received it. Can it be sent?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

It should be delivered in both French and English.

Mr. Savard-Tremblay, have you circulated your motion as well?

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC]

It has also been sent.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

We'll suspend for a few minutes until we get these motions in front of us to deal with.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

I'm calling the meeting back to order.

Whenever you are introducing motions, please ensure that they are in English and French. I prefer to have a paper copy of the motion, but you can have them on paper or on your iPads or whatever. Just ensure that you read them before we vote on them.

We have a motion from Mr. Naqvi. We also have a motion from Mr. Savard-Tremblay. I think we need to formally go into committee business in order to be able to deal with these motions.

Mr. Naqvi, your motion is on the trade issue.

I think everybody's probably okay with Mr. Naqvi's motion as far as having, when we come back, a session on trade deals, what they are and why they're important for the committee.

(Motion agreed to)

Mr. Savard-Tremblay, you've just introduced this motion now. Do you want to speak to this, or do we want to table it today and deal with it in September when we come back?

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC]

If I may, I will read it first.

Whereas the transitional measure the Canada Border Services Agency's Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) system, which allowed importers to use their customs broker's financial guarantee for the Release Prior to Payment (RPP) Program, expired on May 20, 2025; Whereas this situation has resulted in delays at the border—

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Mr. Savard-Tremblay, hold on a second. The interpreters do not have the correct copy of the motion.

Is it your intention, Mr. Savard-Tremblay, to give notice of it today, and we will deal with this in September?

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC]

The motion I was reading to you is the one that was sent.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

The interpreter now has the copy that you are reading out.

Please continue.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC]

I will continue.

Whereas this situation has resulted in delays at the border, warehouses at full capacity, goods being returned to the shipper and financial burdens for Quebec and Canadian companies; Considering that any commercial shipment over $3,300 not registered on the CARM portal and without a financial guarantee is refused, and that import sites have reached or exceeded their storage capacity; Considering that importers report difficulties with the CARM portal, particularly in accessing it and posting guarantees, in addition to deploring that response times for assistance with the portal are several weeks; That the Committee recommend that the Minister of Public Safety and the Canada Border Services Agency implement the following measures, as requested by several stakeholders: (a) Develop a contingency plan for all commercial shipments held in a warehouse for more than seven days, applicable to all goods; (b) Allow importers and customs brokers to submit payment for Type C entries online via CARM, to speed up the release of goods; (c) Establish an RPP waiver or exemption for companies importing low-value or low-volume shipments, to reduce administrative burdens for SMEs and help facilitate the movement of goods across the border; (d) Ensure transparency so that brokers can check whether an importer has obtained a bond, so that they can contact customers directly to ensure that everything is in place for efficient movement at the border; (e) Create an exemption or other financial guarantee mechanism, for example by allowing companies to use a credit card, to ease the financial pressure on small importers.

That's the text of the motion. Given the level of urgency, if my colleagues were ready to adopt it, I would encourage them to do so. If not, of course, I will put it on notice. That said, it should be noted that the CARM file has been so dysfunctional from the beginning that it was even put on the list of trade barriers by the U.S. trade representative. That's how bad it was.

This request for a transition program and measures has been communicated to us by a number of organizations and bodies that, in the current context, suggest that, given the tariff and other threats and the turmoil we are experiencing in trade, we don't need the additional difficulties of registering imports electronically.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Go ahead, Adam.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

I would be prepared to support the motion as it was presented.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

It builds on some work that the committee was doing previously in identifying areas that were problematic.

Is there any further discussion on it?

[Jason Groleau, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

We concur as well.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

The motion carries unanimously. Thank you all very much.

See, that's the way we need to work together. That doesn't always work all the time, but as much as possible....

Off the record, we've been having some discussions. The trade committee was not able to travel for various reasons over the last two or three years, and there has been some talk about us planning in the fall to possibly do some travel. I think there are some motions that will probably be shared around about where.

If we are going to travel, it has to be important to the country and helpful in moving along the work that we're doing. If there are any ideas about those things, we should start to discuss them—not necessarily today—and have that in our minds as we move into the fall and see if we can get support for that in the fall.

Does anybody have any ideas they want to talk about while we're here? We can talk about them informally after the close of the meeting.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Madam Chair, I agree that any travel would have to be important to the country and advancing our shared objectives. I think some further discussions could probably identify some opportunities that we feel would be okay on that front.

However, I want to draw your attention to the one additional motion that we had to recognize the great work of this committee in the last Parliament, which completed two reports. One was with respect to supply chains and the other one was on fisheries. They were done and completed, but not reported back to the House.

I have sent some motions to the chair to that effect to resurrect those motions so that work could get the proper recognition in this Parliament and be sent to the government and reported to the House. I think those have all been distributed to the members. I would like to move that motion at this point.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Are we clear on the two studies that Mr. Chambers is referencing?

[The Clerk]

Yes, I am.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Yes, we are. I need to make sure the floor is.

Is everybody in agreement with that?

(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

I will adjourn.