Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks, Mr. Campbell. Like my colleagues, I appreciate your bringing your experience and insight here.
I guess we've had a couple of ambassadors there since you left, but we had an incredible host with Ambassador Fried. We talked about the timing of the trip, and we were kind of joking in the sense that it was fantastic timing, since I've gone on other trips while negotiations have been taking place, and this was prior. It set the enthusiasm level. Ambassador Fried pulled out all the stops. He had arranged, through DFAIT staff as well, some incredibly high-level meetings. As the Chair alluded to, it was a full meeting and one of the best trips I've been on for contacts. There's enthusiasm, as you mentioned, in relationships and culture.
Japan is still going through some politically uncertain times. There'll probably be another election at the end of the year or early next year. There have been five or six prime ministers in the last six years, I think they view Canada as a valued proposition. For Canada, I think Japan's a great gateway to the Asian market, Japan being the third largest economy in the world and the second largest Asian market, next to China.
We heard loud and clear that there's great support for the EPA generally, right across the board. Even an agricultural co-op was surprisingly much more supported than we anticipated. The fact is, we don't have rights to threaten them with, as you mentioned, some of their iconic staples.
One thing you mentioned in your comments, Mr. Campbell, was the TPP, the trans-Pacific partnership negotiations. What we heard was the EPA is fine, but the trans-Pacific partnership is something that's going to be much more difficult. Do you think we should continue on the bilateral with this EPA and a parallel process with the TPP?