Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
We've heard a lot about border issues. We've heard a lot about interprovincial issues. You've mentioned the Pacific Gateway, the railways, the transportation, and the ports.
We were recently in Vancouver and had a presentation from the port authorities. They told us in no uncertain terms that they're definitely not capable of dealing with any more incoming trade unless we fix the infrastructure within Canada.
Can we increase our trade 20%, double-digit, and expect our current infrastructure to manage it? I think the answer is no.
Do we have the labour skills in force that we need, and will we have them in the next ten years? The answer is no.
Can we move our goods to the United States faster, as they're doing in Europe?
Borders are gone. We as Canadians go over there, and we try to drive between one country and another. We slow down at borders, and they flag us to go faster and faster, which means trade is moving faster and faster.
What are we doing here? We're talking about fences with the United States. We're talking about providing guns to border guards. We're talking about passports. Do you not think this is contrary to trade? I would think it is.
On a small scale, if I need to import a bag of beans to Canada and then transport it all across Canada once it gets here, and if I know I can't do that...before we go outside, we'd better look inward and make sure that our own gate is fixed, going out and coming in. We have labour issues. We have paper issues in terms of following all the trade going in and out. We saw that with Bill C-24. There will be more paperwork that needs to be done. How ready are we for that next step? That's one part of the discussion I'd like to pursue.
The other part is, should we be trading with big economies such as China, Brazil, and India, or should we, at the same time, be trading with other economies?
I was in business for twenty years, and my experience has told me that we build trade, commerce, and relationships. Every time there's a new president or prime minister, we look to see who came to see them first, or who he or she went to see first, to build what? To build a relationship. In Canada, we have so many people of so many countries who have relationships with so many countries. Those are the natural resources that Canada has and that we're not taking 5% advantage of.
Trade, for us, is very easy to do around the world because we can speak their language, we understand their culture, and we understand the way they do business. It's very easy for us to do. But can we get our house in order here, build up the capacity in Canada to be able to bring all those goods in and to be able to ship them out? At this time, I can't unequivocally say yes. Rather than pursuing large economies for trade, maybe we can start with smaller economies. You see, small economies of twenty years ago are big economies today.
As Ben mentioned, the long-term plan would be good if we start with the smaller economies. Maybe some of them will become the giant tigers we face today.