International Trade committee  This APHIS fee applies to all imports into the United States, and traditionally Canada has been exempt from that fee because of the special relationship that we have with the United States. When the interim rule was published in the U.S., this was a key concern for many of our members, and not just members who are involved in the food industry and the agricultural food industry.

International Trade committee  I had to write it down.

International Trade committee  It's an inspection.

International Trade committee  Right. It's the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services fee--APHIS.

International Trade committee  Sorry, could you repeat the last part of the question?

International Trade committee  Unfortunately, I can't help with that question.

International Trade committee  I think that was the point I made earlier. In terms of our membership, we have members who are service providers, brokers, and lawyers, and so on. In a recent survey of our membership that we conducted, if you just look at the companies that are importers and exporters, over 60% of them indicated that they are primarily importers and exporters.

International Trade committee  There may well be certain instances, and we certainly have the procedures in place in Canada for companies to bring safeguard actions. You know, in private practice I was involved in dumping investigations and so on. We certainly have those remedies available in Canada. However, those remedies apply in very exceptional circumstances and under very specific conditions.

International Trade committee  Right, and I think it's unfortunate. As I mentioned, I've had some experience travelling in Central America. In fact, I was in El Salvador and Nicaragua just a few weeks ago, and of course those are countries we've been trying to negotiate a free trade agreement with now for a number of years.

International Trade committee  I guess generally our association is in favour of the free movement of goods across borders. If we're looking at safeguard measures, we have to be very careful how we use those measures. Increasingly what we need to do in North America is develop a North American strategy when it comes to addressing competition that comes from China and other countries in Asia.

International Trade committee  I'm not sure I fully understand the question with respect to protecting investment in Canada.

International Trade committee  On the issue of investment, that's not an issue we focus on in our association. Largely we deal with issues related to the trade in goods between Canada and the United States and amongst other countries. So investment and issues related to investment don't really fall within the mandate of the association.

International Trade committee  Okay. I'll start with the second question. I detect a bit of an east coast accent. I'm actually originally from Newfoundland, and I went to school in Halifax.

International Trade committee  I grew up in Port aux Basques.

International Trade committee  It's very close. In fact, I often say Cape Bretoners have a stronger Newfoundland accent than Newfoundlanders do.