International Trade committee  Yes. I think we could take a look at the aerospace sector, for instance. We have in the Montreal area, for instance, a cluster of suppliers that work with leading manufacturers, companies like Bombardier, like Pratt & Whitney. Because they're co-located, because they use the same business practices, and because they speak the same language, it makes it much easier for those small and medium-sized enterprises to supply that company as that company takes on some of the risks of entering a new market than it is for that SME to split off from that supply chain and try to penetrate a new supply chain in a market like China.

International Trade committee  Certainly. I think we need to make sure we are strengthening across the board in all of those markets, and probably with more of a focus, though, on the emerging markets, where we expect more trade growth in the future and where the business climate is more difficult for business.

International Trade committee  I think that's a good point. Again, I would refer to the New Zealand model, which has been quite successful. Perhaps you call it a trade envoy. We could look into the semantics. I think the suggestion that we're providing in this paper is obviously something we can look at in detail and adjust according to what we feel is most appropriate.

International Trade committee  I think the GMAP does a good job of pointing out priority markets for Canada, so we should probably be looking at enhancing our presence there. Steps have been taken over the past years, though, to shift trade commissioners from perhaps markets that we consider more traditional markets, that perhaps companies don't need as much service in, toward other markets.

International Trade committee  I think there are a few parameters that we could look at. We could look at the increase in service demands. The trade commissioner service, I understand, uses a fairly sophisticated customer relations management system that looks at where the service requests are coming from, looks at other parameters such as satisfaction of the trade commissioner service clients, and areas where perhaps we're not seeing as much satisfaction, or areas where we would need more focus of the trade commissioners.

International Trade committee  That's certainly the case. I would add, though, that if you look at our market share in the United States .... If it is the case that it was just the U.S. slowdown that explains Canada's trade performance, you wouldn't necessarily see a reduction in the share of U.S. imports that are coming from Canada, and you have seen that.

International Trade committee  Mr. Chair, I'll respond to the last part of that question about the trade ambassador. It's not modelled on the USTR. I think the equivalent USTR position in Canada would be Minister Fast, the Minister of International Trade. This would be an additional position, which would largely be focused on basically corralling or “herding the cats”, so to speak, of Canadian business, of different cabinet ministers, maybe provincial-level folks too, to bring a high-level presence to priority Canadian markets.

International Trade committee  Certainly. I've read the C.D. Howe report, and I think it's a fantastic report. My view of the report is that it would support a position such as an additional trade ambassador. We're not talking about either/or here. We need to have the ambassadors on the ground in the markets full-time.

International Trade committee  Mr. Chair, there are certainly things that we can do beyond focusing on economic diplomacy and trade promotion. I think some of that is probably beyond the scope of this committee, but I would point again to transportation infrastructure, as a member of the committee just mentioned.

International Trade committee  I would say the point that large companies can succeed more in emerging markets is probably true. They're able to distribute risk across their larger operations. They can sustain a sort of beachhead in markets for a longer period before they would see revenues being realized. That said, there is also research out there that shows that SMEs in Canada have been fairly successful or increasingly successful in these markets, and are going there.

International Trade committee  The significant slowdown of the European and U.S. economies after the recession certainly hit Canadian companies pretty hard. Part of that is because the Canadian economy is so dependent on those markets and that we had not made inroads into some of the emerging economies earlier.

International Trade committee  Merci beaucoup. To start off, there are lots of different reasons why Canada's trade performance has been below potential, and we don't want to say that trade promotion, economic diplomacy, is a panacea. It is one of the many tools we have available to get our trade back on track.

International Trade committee  Mr. Chair, I would answer that question by pointing to the four general areas that we've suggested, which are to integrate our service offering, connecting it to business—making sure these agencies are working better together and companies are made aware of these services—and that companies don't have to experience hurdles to access these different government programs.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to thank the committee for this opportunity to provide comments on the global markets action plan, or as we've all come to call it, the GMAP. My name is Cam Vidler and I'm the director of international policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, which represents over 200,000 businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions across Canada.

International Trade committee  There are a few things that we can do. I mentioned to another member of the committee earlier that the chamber is working on a report right now with our members and our international affairs committee to develop some specific recommendations in this area. I'll touch briefly on a few things.