International Trade committee  Can I add something very quickly? Just to answer your question on head office, one thing we didn't really talk about today is the impact of this proposed free trade agreement with EFTA. Also, if we talk about Europe in the broader sense, this could really help attract plants to

International Trade committee  I just want to make a few comments in terms of your question. When you talk about innovation—I know you're familiar with this—it's very complex, right? You have many different parties involved and it's like a fragile ecosystem that you have to let flourish. You are asking what

International Trade committee  I know we sell some boats, but in terms of proportion, they're mostly pleasure boats. I know some are in your colleague's riding, actually. But in terms of the types of ships that we're talking about here, I don't have any specifics.

International Trade committee  I can add a few comments. I think the higher the stakes are going to get, the likelier it is that it will take time for an agreement to be resolved, just because of the nature of what we're talking about. Where I think there is some potential and where I'm optimistic is with

International Trade committee  No, it's okay. I'll just yield my time to my colleagues.

International Trade committee  Absolutely, I believe that your comments accurately summarize my own thoughts. When considering all that can be done outside the context of this agreement, we can look at how public procurement was used in the last 15 years alone... I believe that procurement in Canada is not use

International Trade committee  Okay, I'll just close on that.

International Trade committee  Maybe I need to explain myself more clearly. I'm saying there is a trade agreement on the one hand and there are a number of things being negotiated related to market access and other things; but when you look at our policy in general related to manufacturing, there are a lot thi

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Garneau. Again, I don't want to speak on behalf of the shipbuilding industry specifically. When you look at this trade agreement, it's one element. When you talk about our strategy with the shipbuilding industry, this trade agreement obviously will affect the Can

International Trade committee  Thank you for your question. You asked me what are some of the opportunities for businesses out there, and what can the government do to better help them. I'll give you a story. One of our members is a company that manufactures automotive parts, a sector you would think must be

International Trade committee  I can go first. In terms of reopening the agreement that's already been negotiated with EFTA, I'm concerned that this would just add to the length of time it would take to actually get this trade agreement implemented. That's something we're obviously quite concerned with, give

International Trade committee  First of all, thank you for your comments about our report. I appreciate them. When you look at this issue, I think there's been a lot of politics played over the last few weeks. I would echo the comments my colleague just made in terms of how this fits into the overall or big p

International Trade committee  There are numerous products that are subject to supply management but there are many others that... Some of our members want free trade agreements such as these to open new markets. There is a lot of innovation in the agrifood sector, in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada. Businesses

International Trade committee  That is a good question. I'll give my colleague some time to think. I think we saw it coming. I don't think anybody was expecting it to be.... I don't believe that anyone was able to predict that the crisis which has struck us so quickly would be so severe. Especially if we c

International Trade committee  If I had been here six months ago I would have said the credit market is working fine. When there are some issues that need to be resolved, we can take them to the private sector institutions or to EDC. I don't know if that's the institution you were alluding to, but EDC plays a