CIIT meeting 11 · 2025-11-03 — Committee Evidence — LegisWatch

Summary

The House of Commons International Trade Committee met to study the forthcoming review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). Witnesses included Deborah Yedlin from the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Doug Griffiths from the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, Eric Johnson from the Forest Products Association of Canada, Satinder Chera from the Canadian Institute of Plumbing and Heating, Daniel Breton from Electric Mobility Canada, and Lauren Comin from Seeds Canada.

Deborah Yedlin emphasized that CUSMA has provided certainty and duty-free access, but the review must modernize the agreement to address geopolitical shifts. She recommended prioritizing energy security and cross-border investment, integrated supply chains for critical minerals, updating the CUSMA professionals list for emerging occupations like AI specialists, and securing predictability in trade, particularly by protecting low-value shipment thresholds for small businesses.

Doug Griffiths stressed that 90% of Alberta's exports go to the U.S. and that businesses need stability to invest. He called for protecting CUSMA's core provisions, establishing a rapid-response mechanism for tariff escalation requiring minister-level talks within seven days, and piloting a concierge trade service program through Canada's world trade centre network to help small businesses navigate trade rules and diversify markets.

Eric Johnson noted that Canada's forest sector has paid over $10 billion in duties since 2017, with average rates at 35% plus new section 232 tariffs. He urged securing a durable softwood lumber settlement under CUSMA, ending misuse of national security tariffs, and reinforcing dispute settlement with binding timelines. He disagreed with the notion that market diversification alone can solve the sector's challenges, emphasizing that a negotiated settlement is essential.

Satinder Chera highlighted that the plumbing and heating industry contributes $21.5 billion to Canada's GDP and warned that tariff uncertainty has eroded business confidence, raising costs for homebuilding. He recommended maintaining tariff-free trade in essential building products and prioritizing alignment of standards, such as energy efficiency codes, to reduce compliance costs and streamline cross-border trade.

Daniel Breton advocated for protecting zero-tariff classification of electrical energy, preserving regional content rules for EVs and batteries, and establishing a trilateral framework for battery recycling. He warned against regulatory harmonization that could lower Canadian standards and argued that the U.S. administration's unreliability means Canada should prioritize non-offshorable jobs and consider no agreement over a bad one, disagreeing with automakers who oppose EV regulations.

Lauren Comin stated that over $1 billion of seed moves between Canada and the U.S. annually and recommended maintaining tariff-free access for planting seeds and committing to ongoing regulatory co-operation. She criticized the slow and incomplete modernization of Canada's seed registration system as a missed opportunity and urged full adoption of electronic phytosanitary certificates to reduce trade delays.

The committee debated two motions by Jacob Mantle to order Global Affairs Canada to provide lists of submitters, submissions, and briefing memoranda from the 2024 and 2025 CUSMA public consultations, with provisions for redactions and summaries if confidentiality is claimed.

AI-generated summary — may contain errors; verify against the official evidence.

Witnesses · 6

Deborah Yedlin

President and Chief Executive Officer, Calgary Chamber of Commerce

Opening remarks

Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee. My name is Deborah Yedlin, and I am the president and CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, which represents 1,700 members and approximately 400,000 Calgarians. I'm joining you today from Calgary, which is on Treaty 7 territory, comprising the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy, the Tsuut'ina Nation, the Stoney Nakoda and the homeland of the Otipemisiwak Métis Government of Alberta, districts 5 and 6. On behalf of our member businesses, I appreciate the opportunity to speak about Canada's trade relationship with the United States and Mexico as it pertains to the forthcoming CUSMA review, which is a critical moment for North America's economic future. The Calgary Chamber of Commerce represents a diverse cross-section of businesses—from small family enterprises to global energy producers and aviation, agriculture, telecommunications and technology firms. While their sectors differ, the message is consistent: Certainty, stability and access to markets are essential to investment, growth and jobs. CUSMA has delivered significant, measurable benefits since it came into force. It has preserved duty-free market…

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Doug Griffiths

President and Chief Executive Officer, Edmonton Chamber of Commerce

Opening remarks

Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Doug Griffiths, president and CEO of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce. I'm here on behalf of the chamber's 2,000-member organizations and the broader community of 38,000 Edmonton businesses whose success depends on a stable and accessible North American market. Businesses and consumers across Canada are concerned. We commend the efforts the Government of Canada has taken to reassure businesses and safeguard Canada's relationship with the United States even before the CUSMA negotiations commence. Canada's relationship with the United States is the backbone of our economy, as each day Canada-U.S. trade supports about 3.3 million Canadian jobs. In my home province of Alberta, around 90% of the province's exports go to the United States, the highest in the entire country. The integration of the Canadian and U.S. economies has never been more evident. Companies of all sizes now operate across both countries. Products often cross the border multiple times before reaching consumers, while employees travel frequently to collaborate, deliver services and sustain operations. For example, Edmonton's Little Potato Company…

Eric Johnson

Vice-President, Federal Government Relations, Forest Products Association of Canada

Opening remarks

Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee. My name is Eric Johnson. I'm the vice-president of the Forest Products Association of Canada. We represent the companies that manufacture Canada's lumber, pulp and paper, and forest-based bioproducts. Collectively, our sector directly employs over 200,000 people in every region of the country, and we support another 200,000 jobs indirectly. We contribute approximately $22 billion to Canada's GDP, and we export $37 billion in products every year. That makes forestry one of Canada's top four export industries and the economic backbone of more 300 communities across the country. For Canada's forest sector, the forthcoming CUSMA review is not just a procedural exercise; it's a strategic moment to re-establish confidence, fairness and predictability in the North American trading system. For too long, forestry has existed at the margins of our continental trade framework, excluded from the discipline, rules, protection and predictability that apply to other sectors in CUSMA. The result has been damaging and enduring. Since 2017, Canadian exporters have paid over $10 billion in duties, which now sit in the U.S. treasury. Average…

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