International Trade committee  Thank you for the question, Madam Chair. If I understood that question correctly, I think one of the keys for any good negotiator is to make sure that you're in close contact with the key stakeholders to ensure you understand exactly what their issues are and to make sure they

International Trade committee  Thank you for the question and the clarification. I appreciate that. Madam Chair, I think when we enter into negotiations with anybody, whether it's the United States or anybody else, we always try to find ways to bring issues to the table. I do have a little bit of history on t

International Trade committee  It's certainly an area of interest, as you well note, especially when it comes to dealing with our negotiating partner to the south. Has it prevented agreements? Clearly, it hasn't. We had the FTA with the United States first; then we had NAFTA, and now we have the CUSMA, so no,

International Trade committee  Maybe I'll start, and my colleague from agriculture might have something to add. I'm happy to start. As I said, I think that during a negotiation we would like to start with a full basket of issues on the table. Would taking them off the table right up front impact our negotiati

International Trade committee  Yes, I think that's fair to say.

International Trade committee  Do we have anything in legislation that prevents it, or...? I think, as I said, that governments for many years have been very clear about their defence of supply management and their protection of supply management. Is there anything in legislation like this that prevents it? No

International Trade committee  I mean.... Listen, we do have defensive interests. As I mentioned a couple of times, when we go into a trade negotiation, we have defensive interests that are top of mind, and supply management certainly is on that list. Our cultural exemptions are another thing that is top of mi

International Trade committee  I would say that it very much depends. The Canadian market is very lucrative, so many of our export partners want to ensure that they get access to the Canadian market. Top of mind, of course, is the United States, due to their proximity and due to our trading relationship. We

International Trade committee  I'll highlight a few of the issues. It very much starts with our looking at the world for our offensive and defensive interests in any negotiation. We look at where we are, what sectors we'd like to protect, what sectors we have to protect. Those are the issues that would go in

International Trade committee  I think we have not yet launched the bilateral negotiations between Canada and the U.K. We finished our consultations earlier in May. My understanding is that the U.K. is currently undergoing their consultations. We anticipate that they will be finished early in the summer. We w

International Trade committee  I have not been advised of that. We will see. We will put forward a mandate to government late in the summer or early in the fall, and then we will follow the tabling of treaty process as we move forward and provide the—

International Trade committee  Thank you for the question. I don't think it will make any difference in the sense of prioritizing it. It may make it more difficult once the U.K. government sees that [Technical difficulty—Editor] issues are and they would [Technical difficulty—Editor]

International Trade committee  Okay. The question was around whether there would be any constraints.... I'm sorry. Could you repeat the question, please?

International Trade committee  In terms of protecting supply management, I don't think it would make any difference. The mandate would not be developed yet, but I think the words from the Prime Minister, the Minister of International Trade and the Minister of Agriculture are clear that there will be no new con

International Trade committee  Maybe I will ask my colleague from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to elaborate on that.