Welcome to the committee, Mr. Crow and Ms. George.
I listened to what you said and found your words full of wisdom and insight. We, members of the Bloc Québécois, agree with you because we think we need more analysis before signing an agreement. This is what our committee is presently doing.
We are concerned about this. Your brief is entitled “A Fair and Equitable Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement” but you know that present day free trade agreements, international relations and trade are not always fair and equitable. We know that some industries in Quebec and Canada -- I will not name them -- suffered many job losses because the terms of trade are not always fair and equitable.
I think we have to be careful. I absolutely agree with you on this.
For 2006, the trade deficit was about $2 billion. This being the case, do you think it would be important that free trade agreements provide for a relatively balanced trade so as to prevent such huge deficits?
You also talked about non-tariff barriers. The auto industry told us that non-tariff barriers prevent the sale of Canadian automobiles on the Korean market. These elements are therefore important.
I would like to hear your comments about this. How can an agreement deal with these situations?