Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Just for those watching to understand, I will say that Mr. Fast was international trade minister and was the minister who negotiated the European free trade deal, so he understands these deals inside and out.
Mr. Schaan, I appreciate what you're saying—that the government thinks that the current provisions are fine then. We're not going to spend this much time on every one of the amendments. However, there's sort of the issue of what a state-owned enterprise is. This is fundamental, in terms of the minister's power—to me—in a couple of the other amendments that we put forward, including the threshold and changing the wording from “may” to “shall”. Mr. Fast indicated that. I just want to ask you because you referenced the trade agreements.
The National People's Congress of China passed a national intelligence law in 2017—which I'm sure you're aware of—to compel all Chinese nationals, at home and abroad, to collaborate with agents of the Chinese state, on request, to further Chinese state interests by purloining and obtaining confidential data and engaging in the compromising of infrastructure around the world. That is a fundamental element that compels you, whether you're a technically state-owned enterprise or a company that's operating in China, that's China headquartered, to do the things that have led to the charges that we've seen around the world.
Has any other country in the trade agreements that Canada has signed through the various governments—because that's one of the things where you say we're in compliance of those agreements—passed a law compelling their corporations, whether they're state-owned or privately-owned, to spy on and steal technology in the countries in which they operate outside of their home country?