CIIT Committee Report

Supplementary opinion of the New Democratic Party of Canada

The government of the United Kingdom does not currently index the public pensions of British expats living in Canada, despite indexing similar pensions for British expats living in a number of other countries.

This discriminatory policy costs the Canadian economy an estimated half a billion dollars every year. It also results in many British expats in Canada living in poverty.

The committee heard these facts in testimony from Ian Andexser Chairman for the Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners, during its study of Bill C-18, An Act to implement the Agreement on Trade Continuity between Canada and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. New Democrats are disappointed that the committee did not choose to incorporate that testimony into this study, as it could have done with a simple motion.

We believe that negotiations toward a successor agreement to the Canada-UK Trade Continuity Agreement (Canada-UK TCA) affords an excellent opportunity for Canada to seek to right this wrong. New Democrats saw this report as offering a rare cross-partisan occasion for parliamentarians to formally urge the government to adopt this issue as a priority in future negotiations with the United Kingdom. We are disappointed that the committee did not share that view.

We therefore make this recommendation in our supplementary report:

1.      That the Canadian government address the indexing or freezing of British pensions for expats residing in Canada as a key objective in negotiations toward a successor agreement to the Canada-UK TCA.

We have also heard the many warnings against Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clauses in trade agreements in this study and others at the committee in this parliament. We are particularly mindful of the cost to the public purse and the chilling effect these provisions can and do have on public interest regulation. With these warnings in mind, we further recommend:

2.      That any successor deal to the Canada-UK TCA not include ISDS provisions.