OTTAWA - Progress on liberalizing trade should continue separate from concerns over human rights or the environment, Pierre Pettigrew, International Trade Minister, said yesterday.
"We should not link these things together at all costs," Mr. Pettigrew testified to the House of Commons committee on foreign affairs and trade.
"It's important to draw a distinction between our trade progress and labour and the environment."
Many non-governmental organizations say the opposite, that basic labour and environmental standards must be imposed uniformly as trade expands.
In response to a question about labour standards, Mr. Pettigrew said, "We can't step in and tell other countries to give their workers the same standards. One of the advantages of the southern hemisphere countries is their cheap labour."
The minister insisted trade is the first step to improving living conditions and government standards.
"We need to open up their economies first," he told MPs. "Trade should be as free as possible."
Protesters at international meetings in Seattle, Washington, and most recently Windsor, Ont., have lobbied against negotiating trade deals that do not take social concerns into account.
Mr. Pettigrew said the government remains hopeful it will have a completed draft text ready for next April's meeting in Quebec of government leaders from the Americas, who are pursuing a Free Trade Agreement of the Americas.
And he confirmed the government continues to seek clarification of Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which allows companies to sue member states over alleged appropriation of assets. Canada wants the chapter watered down since lawyers for U.S. companies have been successful in extracting payouts from Ottawa by using it. Mr. Pettigrew said there is no way Canada would accept a similar chapter in the FTAA.
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