International Trade committee  It's quite large. Of course we aren't in the rooms at the negotiations, but we understand there are about 21 different negotiating tables, all overseen by the chief negotiators. And I think the component we haven't talked about is the involvement of the provinces, and about half of those—

International Trade committee  --negotiating tables actually deal with topics that fall under provincial jurisdiction or shared provincial and federal jurisdiction. We've certainly heard stories that the sole European negotiator is sitting across the table from quite a number of competent Canadian negotiators from across the country.

International Trade committee  I don't know if it will be a barrier for our cheese producers. I would in fact suggest that certainly here in Ontario and Quebec we have phenomenal artisanal cheese markets. I think there may in fact be, as Mr. McLaren pointed out, some interesting export opportunities for those sectors.

International Trade committee  They have been, actually. We have been very adamant with our trade negotiators, as well as with Agriculture Canada, that GMOs have to be a critical part of these negotiations. We essentially have market access, for canola for example, into Europe, but it's all for naught essentially because of the non-tariff barriers that exist.

International Trade committee  If I could just add to that, non-tariff barriers are critical in this agreement, so critical that if we can't deal with the major non-tariff barriers we have with the European Union, there really is no viable trade deal here. They really are that critical, and they have to be integral to the package we negotiate.

International Trade committee  We'd have to do more analysis and get back to you on that, but I think one of the interesting points is one Richard raised: you have to take a look at the trade agreements the countries we're dealing with are signing. That's one of the reasons the Canada-EU trade agreement is very exciting to us.

International Trade committee  Thank you for the question. I'll try to take it on to start with. One of the things that we've insisted needs to be addressed in this deal is export subsidies. At this point we're fairly confident that export subsidies are going to be brought up in the context of the negotiations.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Julian. We had a chance to meet with you briefly last week and start this conversation. We have started the analysis to take a look at agriculture and food specifically to see what the trends have been since we signed free trade agreements. Our initial review would suggest that in fact we've fared very well after we've signed trade agreements with other countries.

International Trade committee  Yes. The preliminary analysis certainly shows that we have strong growth in those countries.

International Trade committee  From an agriculture standpoint, non-tariff barriers are critical in our world. The estimates are that half the value of this trade agreement for us will be in addressing those non-tariff barriers. There's a real chance to resolve some issues that have been outstanding. For example, there are very different standards in Canada and Europe when it comes to slaughterhouses, on the meat processing side.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Kathleen Sullivan. I'm executive director of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance. As the chair has pointed out, I'm joined here by Richard Phillips, who sits on our executive. CAFTA is a coalition of national and regional Canadian organizations that support a more open and transparent international trading environment for agriculture and food products.