44th Parl. 1st Sess.

May 19, 2022 10:00AM

Mr. Randy Hoback (Prince Albert, CPC)

May/19/22 2:43:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada is the fifth-largest agri-food exporter in the world. In fact, we ship healthy food all over the globe. However, increasingly in Europe non-tariff trade barriers are restricting our access. Can the minister assure the producers in the agri-food industry that these tariffs will be eliminated or will not be applicable in the upcoming Canada-U.K. agreement?

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Context: House Hansard - 75 - May/19/22

Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (Senate), Lib.)

May/19/22 9:53:33 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I appreciate the opportunity to address committee on an extremely important and long-standing issue. Our government is committed to eradicating forced labour from our supply chains. As we all know, these horrendous practices are as prevalent today as they have ever been. We have all heard the numbers. The International Labour Organization estimates that some 25 million people are subject to forced labour around the world every day. That is every single day that the most vulnerable citizens of the world, young and old, are subject to what amounts to modern-day slavery, and we have all heard the reasons. Forced labour spreads in countries where institutions are corrupt, where governments do not provide oversight, where workers lack the protection of labour laws, and where journalists are persecuted for reporting on it. We should be nothing less than completely outraged by this, and I know that we all agree that there is no place in the world for these human rights abuses. However, the fact is that these practices are inextricably linked to global supply chains. We cannot participate in these supply chains without doing our part to ensure their integrity. We have a duty to act with a whole-of-government approach and in collaboration with our international partners to truly make an impact. Of course, the pandemic has made us all too aware of hyper-competitive markets, and a stretched global supply chain can foster forced labour. At the beginning of the pandemic, we knew that we had to act quickly in a highly competitive global market to literally save lives, and we did just that, but we must acknowledge that a strained global supply chain increases the risk of goods having been produced using forced labour. We all know that this is completely unacceptable, and there is no doubt that the pandemic has had a devastating, disproportionate impact on the world's most vulnerable citizens. That very much includes those who are already victims of forced labour. If we come up with any solutions, Canada must be part of a concerted global effort, and that is why this government is strongly committed to co-operation at the international level as a means of eliminating forced labour from our supply chains. I will give a few examples of how Canada continues to work diligently with our international partners. We have been working with the United States and Mexico to prohibit the import of goods produced with forced labour. Canada is working with the European Union as well, to combat the forced labour of workers at sea. We have been working with our allies in multilateral institutions to use all means available to protect individuals from forced labour and remove it from supply chains. We are also sharing information and best practices with other countries that are just as committed to this fight against forced labour. The government is taking a whole-of-government approach through the national strategy to combat human trafficking to eliminate this scourge. Additionally, the customs tariff has banned the import of goods that are mined, manufactured or produced by forced labour into Canada since 2020. To enforce that tariff, the Canada Border Service Agency is in charge of intercepting goods suspected of being produced using forced labour. The agency, Employment and Social Development Canada and other departments are working collaboratively to advance the effective operationalization of the ban. Of course, Public Services and Procurement Canada has an important role to play at the forefront of this, as the minister has outlined in her opening remarks today. We know that all of these activities may prevent the products of forced labour from coming into our country, but they cannot stop forced labour from happening in the first place. The workers have already been exploited; the bottom lines of those businesses are not permanently affected, and the cycle of abuse continues. We need to do more, and we know that our actions must be concrete. That is why the government is taking more substantive measures to ensure that we are not doing business with suppliers or subcontractors that use forced labour. To that end, Public Services and Procurement Canada has taken the lead in maintaining the highest ethical standards for government procurement. As part of the national strategy to combat human trafficking, the department updated the code of conduct for procurement to clearly outline Canada's expectations for suppliers when it comes to human rights and labour rights. The department is also working with its network of suppliers to ensure that they comply with international labour and human rights laws. It is doing so by engaging with suppliers of higher-risk goods and encouraging them to take action against companies in their supply chains that break these international laws. As Canada's central purchaser, the department has made information available to government suppliers about the 2020 amendments to the customs tariffs that ban the import of goods that are mined, manufactured or produced by forced labour. In addition, as of November of last year, all goods-related contracts awarded by Public Services and Procurement Canada now contain anti-forced labour clauses. That means that the department can terminate contracts where there is credible information that goods have been produced in whole or in part by forced labour or human trafficking. I will note that, in some cases, companies may not know that there may be forced labour in their supply chains, so before terminating a contract, procurement officers will try to work with a company to correct the situation. This is intended to protect the individuals subject to forced labour, who may become even more vulnerable from these actions. These are concrete actions that will help in the fight against forced labour around the world, but the issue is a complex one, and the injustices and horrors of forced labour are not always immediately seen, often being well hidden by design and actively overlooked. The fact is it is still extremely difficult to prove that forced labour or child labour were used in the production of products, particularly because they tend to occur in parts of the supply chains that are not always open to scrutiny. That is why the government is implementing a number of additional measures to improve the integrity of our procurement system. We want to shine the light on forced labour and its many victims so that it cannot be ignored. As part of this sustained effort, we have conducted a risk assessment of forced labour in goods procured by the government. This risk assessment is an important step to help determine where supply chains may be vulnerable to forced labour, and the results are providing us with the evidence we need to adjust our approach to tackle the problem into the future. This includes the work to explore and map human rights due diligence obligations and compliance monitoring used internationally. This will inform us as we develop policies in the future to safeguard federal procurement supply chains. We are taking action, but we know there is so much more to do. The mandate letters to the Minister of Labour, the Minister of Public Safety, the Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development and the Minister of Public Services and Procurement demonstrate that combatting forced labour is a major priority for our government. I am certain that my colleagues agree that we cannot stand on the sidelines, nor can we tolerate forced labour in any form, anywhere in the world. We must act, and I know that Canadians expect no less from us. Our government is wholeheartedly committed to upholding human rights and international labour standards. We will continue to make sure that goods produced by forced labour do not enter Canada, bring integrity to our supply chains, and maintain the highest ethical standards for government procurement. For all of the victims and survivors of forced labour around the world, Canada is working to be a leader in efforts to eradicate labour exploitation. I can assure the committee that our government will continue to work with partners across the globe to rid our supply chains of the tragedy and anguish caused by forced labour. If it is permissible, I will now move into asking questions of the minister. Child labour, forced labour, and even slavery, as hard as it is to believe, are scourges that still exist in today's world. While Canada and the Canadian government do not condone or support the use of these in any way, products made under these conditions are sold on the international market, and it is not always clear or easy to distinguish which ones are made using ethical procurement and which ones are not. While the government does look to Canadian suppliers and manufacturers first when procuring necessary products on behalf of the Canadian people, there are some products that are available only from overseas suppliers. Canada believes in open markets and trades with countries across the globe for an assortment of goods. Although not all labour standards are equal to those in Canada, and not all workers' rights are the same as those in Canada, that will not stop the Canadian government from doing its utmost to avoid supporting in any way the overseas suppliers and manufacturers that exploit workers and children in order to produce their products. I would like to emphasize again that this government realizes that in order to have ethical procurement, it needs to be proactive in determining whether the suppliers it enters into contracts with are abiding by the codes of conduct set out not only by this government, but by a number of international human rights and labour organizations. Price and quality control cannot and will not be the only determinant by which this government does business with overseas suppliers. We respect human rights and labour rights at home and will do our best to support them abroad also in our procurement practices. Can the minister please detail the measures that this government has taken with regard to the issues of labour exploitation and forced labour when dealing with procurement of goods, especially from overseas suppliers and manufacturers?

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House Hansard - 75