International Trade committee  With apologies, thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to say, on behalf of my wonderful colleagues here at the public service, that we are very happy to provide any support to the committee. We thank you for having us here today, and we wish you well.

International Trade committee  I'm happy to provide one. Thank you. Clause 27 lists the Commercial Arbitration Act, which reflects the international commercial arbitration code and implements it into domestic Canadian legislation. Including arbitration provisions within the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement and listing it in the Commercial Arbitration Act allows for the judicial review and enforcement of arbitral decisions taken underneath the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement.

International Trade committee  I know the time is limited. Again, it's very difficult to answer questions in the abstract without a specific fact pattern. The rule for protecting national security is stipulated in the free trade agreement. It wouldn't be as specific to address the situation that you are referring to, but the provisions are broad enough to allow Canada to protect its essential security interests, so if the fact pattern you are explaining would create that type of situation, Canada would have the policy flexibility to do so.

International Trade committee  Let me caveat by saying that it's hard to answer these things in the abstract without a concrete fact pattern. There are protections within the treaty, though, that do allow for Canada to protect its essential security interests, and there are exceptions to the obligations that Canada has undertaken when it needs to protect its essential security interests.