Baird offers help to improve factories
OTTAWA— The Conservative government has offered to help Bangladesh improve working conditions after more than 300 people were killed when a garment factory collapsed this week.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird spoke to Dr. Dipu Moni, his Bangladeshi counterpart, in person Friday while they were both attending the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group meeting in London, England.
“The minister said that Canada is willing to work with Bangladesh to improve working conditions for their people,” Baird’s spokesman, Rick Roth, said in an emailed statement Friday.
During the brief conversation, in which Baird offered his condolences, the two ministers discussed building regulations and permits and the idea that while Canadian rules are strict, they are intended to keep people safe.
A government source also said Canada could share its experiences and practices when it comes to labour standards, but provided no further details of what the federal government has in mind.
The conversation came as others suggest Canada should be using the preferential tariff status it grants Bangladesh, intended to promote economic growth and export diversification in the developing world, as leverage to push for safer work places.
The Least Developed Country Tariff that applies to Bangladesh allows Canadian clothing companies to import about $1.2 billion annually in garments, duty free and without any quotas.
Unlike what can be negotiated into free-trade agreements, there is nothing in the regulations around this preferential tariff about labour standards, but NDP international trade critic Don Davies said that does not mean Canada cannot do anything about it.
“These goods are coming into Canada. We can’t turn a blind eye. We can’t pretend that we’re not affected by it,” Davies said Friday. “If we are allowing the goods to come into our country at preferential rates, then we have a right and an obligation to be concerned about the conditions in which those goods are produced.”
Bob Kirke, executive director of the Canadian Apparel Federation, said there are ways to do this without threatening to remove Bangladesh from the list.
“The government can work on a number of levels, setting aside an absolute tying of the tariff concession to labour or some other standards. There can be a lot of positive contributions without doing that,” said Kirke.