Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks very much for being here and for your presentation; I appreciate it.
I had an opportunity to read Minister Emerson's speech. He has laid out a very ambitious agenda for Canadian international trade policy, and I commend him for this. But even he recognized in his speech, and talked about, what we need to do to thrive and prosper down the road. He talked very much about a global commerce agenda where Canada is very aggressive in trying to find our place in the global marketplace and build Canadian competitiveness. As I said, I do commend him for this vision, but he also recognized that Canada in the past really hasn't done enough.
We talked a little bit about agreements--one, I guess, in five and a half years--but it's my understanding that it's been maybe two since NAFTA. Can you confirm that for me?
As well, is it possible for you to give us any indication of why Canada hasn't been keeping pace? Do you have some solid reasons? I'm not looking just for the political rhetoric of the previous government, I'm looking for some real answers as to why we haven't been ambitious on this agenda. And what are we doing to improve this?
China and India have to be factored into any global trade agenda, of course, with over one billion people and their economies growing so rapidly. I hear in my riding, much as my Bloc colleague does, from many industries that have great concern about job losses and such because of China and India. What specific action is Canada taking in order to compete better with the huge Chinese and Indian economies?
Canada, of course, is currently enjoying a commodities boom. As Asian countries' demand for our natural resources increases, should we be concerned? Are we relying too heavily on the boom in commodity exports?
I have a couple more questions, but I will stop there right now.