The Prime Minister and the government are on record as saying that the TPP is significant and that we're interested in it. With the Doha Round stalled, you can see quite clearly that countries, particularly in Asia, are looking either to bilateral arrangements or regional arrangements. I think that's one of the drivers behind the vision of our own minister, in the sense that we're now pursuing expanded trade liberalization with India; we're looking at Japan; we're looking at other areas. We would like very much to ensure that Canadian exporters are never at a disadvantage vis-à-vis the countries their competitors come from. It has to be a level playing field, because even a differential of 4% or 5% in a tariff rate can be a determining factor.
On October 4th, 2011. See this statement in context.