Agriculture committee  I cannot speak on the details outside of the agriculture and agrifood sectors. That being said, the statement made by premiers at the Council of the Federation is one that talks about the modernization and review of the Agreement on Internal Trade as a whole. We hear from some s

Agriculture committee  You're absolutely right. It's outside of my area of responsibility, but I'm aware of that challenge from a previous responsibility I had when I was working on Canada-U.S. regulatory issues.

Agriculture committee  In the case of the container size, this is something that falls under the Agriculture and Agri-Food portfolio, especially the agency. In terms of the requirements, I'm sure that colleagues from Transport Canada, or from Industry Canada, as the lead department for matters falling

Agriculture committee  You're absolutely correct. This is why the initiative that was launched—the indication of the federal government to take leadership in conducting a review of the Agreement on Internal Trade—required the full participation of the provinces. This is an agreement between the federal

Agriculture committee  Taking the example of the New West Partnership—and I'm not fully familiar with the specific provisions—it is based on horizontal commitments and the principle of non-discrimination. I described earlier that the Agreement on Internal Trade is based on a positive list approach. Yo

Agriculture committee  Similar to the answer I gave to Madame Raynault earlier, it is difficult to pinpoint specific costs, but one element of hope is that this committee in its study could further examine the fact that the provincial premiers at the Council of the Federation meeting last summer embrac

Agriculture committee  No, I don't have a general number—

Agriculture committee  —other than the estimate from, perhaps, some of these studies. In terms of what it represents as an impediment on small and medium-sized enterprises—the heavy burden of some of these regulations that are not always clear about how they should be implemented—we have anecdotal inf

Agriculture committee  I'm not aware that the statistics can be divided easily, because of the way the business operates. You know, often when we talk, we think about the North American context, and I spend a lot of my time thinking about that, given the dispute we have with our U.S. colleagues on mand

Agriculture committee  All the amendments made to the AIT show that the original agreement implemented in 1995 followed an incomplete sector-by-sector approach. It contained broad principles, but their application was limited. As I mentioned earlier, a chapter on agriculture was added only in 2010 to

Agriculture committee  I am not aware of any studies that have provided such estimates, but the situation is definitely evolving rapidly. As has been mentioned, since the Agreement on Internal Trade was implemented in 1995, interprovincial barriers have been trending downward. When we consult stakehold

Agriculture committee  I can tell you about what we are doing at the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food. My colleague from the agency could add some concrete examples. Since agricultural matters are under shared jurisdiction, we have established an entire system of close cooperation and coordinati

Agriculture committee  First of all, I would like to perhaps mention that since the entry into force of the Agreement on Internal Trade in 1995, a number of initiatives among subgroups of provinces took place and really created, in sub-regions of Canada, a momentum and greater integration. The first on

Agriculture committee  The problem that you raise is one that's actually being discussed among the provincial authorities, especially between Quebec and New Brunswick, where the situation is quite acute. In that area and that field, the basis of the issue is aligning the production with the processing

Agriculture committee  I would complement the points made by my two colleagues. Given the responsibility of the federal government on interprovincial and international trade, taking into account the recent progress we've made in terms of improving the set of rules governing international trade as the