QUESTION PERIOD — Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Export Development Review
June 17, 2019
Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate.
Senator Harder, under the Export Development Act, every 10 years the Minister of International Trade “. . . shall cause a review of the provisions and operation of this Act to be undertaken in consultation with the Minister of Finance.” The act also states, “The Minister shall, within one year after causing a review to be undertaken, . . . submit a report on the review to Parliament.” The review was announced on June 28, 2018, one year ago. Can you please tell us when we can expect the report to be tabled in Parliament?
I thank the honourable senator for the question, and I will take note and report back.
Under the act:
Each report submitted to Parliament . . . shall be reviewed by such committee of the Senate and the House of Commons or such joint committee as is designated or established for the purpose of reviewing such report.
For the last review in 2008, the report was tabled in the Senate in February 2009. The Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade held its review in March and subsequently published its committee report in June 2009.
Can senators expect the same committee will undertake a study to review the report, and should we not be able to complete a study before we rise? Can we expect to pursue the study of the report at the beginning of the new upcoming session?
Miracles are always possible, of course, but I would suggest that this is possibly a matter that will be dealt with in the next Parliament.
