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 cover a very important aspect. In other words, an effort was made to ensure that technical measures were not more restrictive than is necessary to reach a legitimate objective.
At the beginning of my presentation, I talked about barriers and impediments. Regulations differ from one province to another. There may be a legitimate explanation for that difference. Some variations are related to risks of outbreaks of disease or the climate, but we must always ensure that those differences correspond only to what is necessary to meet a public policy objective.
Thanks to the various amendments made to the AIT, we are getting closer to establishing consistent rules. Rules that apply to the automobile and agriculture industries are not consistent, but they are consistent in negotiated free trade agreements. That's the case with NAFTA, which was negotiated around the same time as the original AIT. If the best parts were taken from all sectoral chapters and applied to all sectors, we think that the outcome would be extremely worthwhile, especially in an area that tends to be heavily regulated such as the agriculture and agri-food industry.