The Canadian Council of Chief Executives has always supported the Doha development agenda and multilateral trade liberalization. We have been front and centre in several of the rounds in the 35-year existence of the organization.
Of course, we strongly supported the Canada-U.S. FTA because there were severe competitiveness concerns back in the 1980s.
The hard reality, as you have articulated, is that the Doha Development Agenda is stalled. Our very able team in Geneva is trying very hard to come up with alternatives, such as plural lateral agreements in certain sectors to try to unstick what's going on in Geneva. They're even thinking about making progress in very limited, narrow, specific areas to ensure that we don't fall off the bicycle of the global trade agenda.
In the meantime, as you know, trade agreements have proliferated bilaterally and regionally, but they are of varying quality, especially on the regional front.
Irrespective of what I think previous testimony has suggested, Canada has benefited enormously from some of those bilateral deals we have done over the past several years.
This is my last comment. Japan, after being a staunch defender of the multilateral agenda, along with Canada, has embarked on a series of EPAs and FTAs, especially in the Asia-Pacific theatre. It is currently negotiating with Australia. So we view it as essential to try to advance the trade agenda for small, medium, and large enterprises, and not just for large enterprises, contrary to what my colleague has said.
We want to advance Canadian prosperity. We want to do it in the most effective, efficient way possible. We are—