Evidence of meeting #41 for International Trade in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was japanese.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Owner, Boulanger Bassin Bed and Breakfast
Yes.
I think in the food business a lot of these questions could be asked of the brokers who actually negotiate the deals with customs. In my experience, at least, the importer lets the broker do all the negotiating. They're Japanese; they like to keep it—
Owner, Boulanger Bassin Bed and Breakfast
They like the familiarity.
Another thing I learned quite quickly was that they don't like to deal with lawyers. I've never had any legal agreement. I've never signed anything. It's always been done on word of mouth. I've been paid on time.
It's a whole different approach to doing business. A lot of it is done on a handshake and on your word.
Liberal
Mark Eyking Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
My next question is on something that I think Mr. Keddy kind of alluded to. We are fortunate, with a northern climate, to have a lot of healthy berries with good antioxidants—blueberries and various berries. Japanese is a senior population and very health conscious. It just seems like a fit there, with our fish products and our berries.
Are we getting enough education to our food producers here? We've so relied upon the Americans over the years. Is there an attitude shift we should be making, whether our sizes should be smaller, or different ingredients? You have a substantial business, but I mean, all these products we sell to the States....
Should we be looking at those niche markets and training our food producers to be looking at these markets in a different way, to be looking at value-added?
Owner, Boulanger Bassin Bed and Breakfast
It's beginning, actually. In Saskatchewan, for example, there is a berry that has been grown, the haskap berry, which initially came from Hokkaido. This summer will be the first mechanical cultivation of this berry. I hope to acquire 50 pounds of it once dried, and incorporate that into a new cake.
The Japanese have been eating this berry for maybe 100 years. They use it mostly for toppings, and they attribute it to longevity. In terms of antioxidants, it's like way above—
Owner, Boulanger Bassin Bed and Breakfast
It's beginning in Nova Scotia as well, but they're about five years behind the people in Saskatchewan.
Liberal
Owner, Boulanger Bassin Bed and Breakfast
Yes, absolutely, as opposed to....
I believe the Japanese are involved in the research in Saskatoon.
Liberal
Mark Eyking Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
My last question is to both of you, I guess. Recently, in The Economist, they stated that economic growth is not necessarily going to be in Europe and North America over the next 10 to 20 years. It's going to be in the emerging economies—the BRIC countries—and Asia, to a certain extent. That being said, if we're going to expand our economy, we have to go into those areas.
We can get into whether we should have more embassies or not more embassies. I think that's important. You mentioned your agent. It's key to have not just lawyers and embassies on the ground, but people who know the business.
We've had horror stories out of Canada of people who have done business in Russia and have been ripped off, or even in China. Sometimes that's part of doing business, but in certain areas, it's the whole culture and knowing how to get in there for the long haul.
What should we be doing more? Sometimes our embassy is too closed-door. We're just sitting in these embassies. Should we be educating our young people in our universities on how to deal with these emerging economies? Should we be starting in Carleton and these places, getting young people engaged and knowing that this is the opportunity and that you have to learn the culture and get in there?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
It's a very long, broad question, and I want to leave a little time for the answer.
Owner, Boulanger Bassin Bed and Breakfast
In my experience, the people I've dealt with have mostly been with the Quebec delegation. The people who work there are Japanese. They are provincial employees. They work for the Government of Quebec. They speak French. They speak English. They speak Japanese.
The service I received I could not, as a small businessman, afford to pay for. I have nothing negative to say and actually no recommendations to make on how they could improve it. I find that the service is A1.
Vice-President, International Business, Factors Group of Nutritional Companies Inc.
Your comments are very insightful. You see a lot of young Canadians going over to Japan or Korea. They'll get a job teaching English, and they'll be learning the language. Then they come back, and they want to get a job, and nobody wants to hire them. They want to know whether you are marketer, a seller, or an accountant.
A message needs to get out, through the university process, that when they're studying these languages, they need to learn the language but also get a skill that goes with it. When they go over to that country to learn that language, they should affiliate themselves with a company or an internship program or something, because Canadian employers go blank when you come back. They want to know what your skills are. You can say that you speak Japanese. That's not doing something; that's just speaking.
That would be my point.
Conservative
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Thank you.
I appreciate your both being here. I have a couple of questions for Mr. Ilasz, and then for Mr. Tak on the trade side.
I'll give you all my questions, Mr. Ilasz, and then maybe you can answer them as we go.
I'm curious, first of all, about how you got on the trade mission. It sounds as if that was a pivotal point in terms of your getting into this country.
Second of all, I want to ask about the duty. You said that it's 17%. It depends on whether it's maple sugar versus maple syrup. Is that 17% on the $27 cake?
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Okay.
Also, your importer had to change locations to get a better duty. It moved from 30% to 17%, depending on where they imported the product from. That concerns me.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
I want to know that our CBSA officers have the same information and the same education and that they would treat things equally. I would love you to elaborate on how that could happen, when you had obviously provided a product list of ingredients.
Owner, Boulanger Bassin Bed and Breakfast
It actually didn't happen to me. I was quoting from the commercial attaché who gave me this example of things that need to be improved in a future free trade agreement.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Let's just launch off on that one then. What you're telling us is that the importer was bringing this product in.