Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Being new to this committee, I'm still trying to understand what my responsibilities are. Some of the other members have talked about needing to understand the free trade agreement enough to be able to decide whether this is one to support or what the concerns are, and how we can make it better.
This is a great introductory context and understanding, but to be able to say “Yes, this is a good agreement, I support it”, or “Here are some specific ways that it could be improved” is very difficult to do on the basis of general background information even though you have some specific figures.
This is what comes to mind for me, having been in negotiations for the Kyoto Protocol in 2001 in Marrakesh. There were also a lot of ways Canada didn't want to tip its hand, and those were also complex negotiations. But the delegation was privy to much more detail than what we're seeing here. So I'm wondering if we're going to get more detail or if it's possible to use a format similar to those negotiations, where there were very specific files that different negotiators were advancing. There was a much clearer idea as to the rationale for the push-back from the other negotiating members.
When there is a high tariff on a particular good, I don't know whether that is because they see that good to be receiving agricultural subsidies here, so they need to protect it there, or what the reasons are for it. The explanation that we don't want higher tariffs than our neighbour is a good one, or that we don't want to have tariffs on our goods when our trading partner doesn't have tariffs sending goods into Canada. I understand those generalities. But I would like to see much more clarity about the measures of success you have as negotiators. So that's my first question.
Do you have some measures of success that can be shared with us as to what you're looking for? What would make this a successful free trade agreement, from your perspective as representatives of Canada at the negotiating table? What would be the measures of success?
And secondly, how would we be able to know, say five years down the road, whether those measures were being met or not?
I'm looking for a better understanding as to what the components of the negotiation are, what we need, from Canada's perspective, for this to be an effective free trade agreement. And this is on the commercial side that I'm directing my questions.