We thought we'd use canola as a bit of a live example of some of the issues that Alanna just talked about, and in particular how Canada's isolation on certain issues in the WTO can have a serious impact on its ability to push for ambition in other areas.
As most of you know, canola is a highly trade-dependent sector. That's not unique in Canada, as we've heard; we're part of that 91%. Seventy-five per cent of our annual production is exported. So what makes canola special? Well, it just so happens that 75% of the world's trade in canola products actually originates from Canada; 80% of the canola seed exports are from Canada. No other country has such a vested interest in canola. So that means that if Canada isn't at the table, pushing hard for ambition in tariff reductions, canola gets left behind.
This isn't just a hypothetical scenario; we have some experience with this. In 1994, the WTO agreement actually left canola behind in a large number of areas, three in particular. We're left with systematic discriminatory tariffs in all of our key markets--Japan, China, India, Pakistan. In every one of those markets we have higher tariffs than all of our competitor products, such as soybean and palm.
The second issue is that we face tariff escalation. In most of the countries around the world, they have higher tariffs on value-added products in comparison to the raw product. That means value-added canola exports simply don't make it into most of those major markets.
Thirdly, we face unbelievably high subsidies that our competitors put on their products. No greater example exists than the soybean industry in the United States.
So by way of example, I thought it would be useful to just give you those figures and tell you that if Canada isn't at the table pushing for ambition, canola will lose, because nobody else is interested in it.
Thank you.