International Trade committee  I'll respond from a canola-specific perspective. We see bilateral opportunities, certainly with the South Korean one, which is in progress. They're all priorities. It's hard to distinguish which one holds the key to better prosperity for us, but China is right up there, then Japan, Pakistan, and of course the European Union.

International Trade committee  On the supply management issue, whatever the rules are that we set up under the WTO to allow sensitive products to happen, those rules are used by other countries that we are trying to access for our export markets, in particular canola, wheat, and other grains. So whatever rules we want here in Canada on sensitive products, those rules will be available to protect other countries' industries, and that's where we have a problem.

International Trade committee  Okay. I'll be very brief. Thank you for the question. Yes, we have not made much progress on trade liberalization. The question comes down to the bilateral opportunities. We have to maintain focus on the WTO. That is the entire answer to the problems we have. Bilateral opportunities are out there, but those negotiations are every bit as tough.

International Trade committee  I don't really have a lot to add to Liam's comments. The Doha Round was meant for and focused on developing countries and helping them get into the game per se. If we ratchet down the trade-distorting support and ratchet down the tariffs, that is not only good for our farmers as exporters, but developing countries are more able to get into the game.

International Trade committee  Thank you for the question. From a canola perspective, I guess it is a commodity, for the base commodity anyway. As such, it should be treated no differently from most other commodities around the world. We're looking for open markets, free markets, non-market-distorting practices on production and prices.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for allowing the Canadian Canola Growers Association to speak to you and your committee today. It's a real privilege for us to be here. International trade is a very important topic to us as well. We've distributed our submission to the committee, and I'll hit the highlights, I guess, in a summary-type fashion and give you an overview of our position.

International Trade committee  Thank you for the questions, Wayne. Liam followed up very nicely on the bilateral focus, and we fully support that. It's not a forum where you can get at the subsidies, but you can maybe do some market access issues. On the market access issues, I want to quickly respond to Mr.

International Trade committee  Yes, just a very quick comment about the motion. We all realize what it says about over-quota tariffs, but there's also a component that talks about ensuring an agreement that strengthens the market access position of Canada's agricultural exporters as well. That tends to get brushed under the carpet at times.

International Trade committee  Yes, I'll keep it short. Thank you, Mr. Menzies, for the question. I think we learned a lot in the Uruguay Round about what happens when Canada is not there when it should be. We particularly experienced that with canola, for example. Soybeans and products have substantial tariff advantages in many of our export markets that we compete head to head with them against, and it's simply because we weren't there in a big way to influence the process.

International Trade committee  Thank you. That's a good question. Thank you for that. The way I look at this is that I'm not here to express who should win or who should lose, or who should give or who should take. Those are all political decisions. I'm here today to express exactly how much is on the table here, according to the association I represent—and Liam has done the same.

International Trade committee  Yes, just quickly. Our views are pretty well known. We have to get these tariffs down, not up. That's the bottom line with us. We can all come to a commonality going down, possibly, if everybody comes down, down, down, as opposed to people coming up to a higher common denominator.

International Trade committee  Thank you for the question. It's a tough one, but it's a good one. It's very important that Canada is at the table on these negotiations, particularly on sensitive products, which is where the problems are. It's not enough to just be at the table. We have to be there as a country, with credible views and ideas on going forward.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will keep my comments quite short. I represent the Canadian Canola Growers Association, and we are members of CAFTA. Liam has given a quick overview of CAFTA's position, and we wholeheartedly support that. The Canadian Canola Growers Association represents about 60,000 growers across Canada from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario, and that covers 95% of the canola growers in Canada.