Yes. In any case, for some it was very difficult, or some entered or were here on the Canadian market with a name that was protected with the European Union. I think there we struck a very, very good deal. I can assure you that it's not only the European Union that has delicious food, but also Canada. Definitely, CETA will help to promote Canadian products.
Regarding the provinces, it's part of my objective here in Canada to visit all the provinces—not only myself, but all the ambassadors who are here in Canada. I think for the first time in history here, we will make a joint visit. We will start with Toronto on February 12. I hope that by the end of my mandate here we will have visited, with all the ambassadors, all the provinces and the territories.
We're extremely pleased with the involvement of the provinces. It was absolutely key. They have played a very, very constructive role. The European set-up is completely different. Trade is an exclusive competence of the European Union. It means concretely that to have a mandate for an agreement, it's worked out by the European Commission. The European Commission then obtains a mandate to, for example, conclude CETA with the member states. The moment that the European Commission has the mandate...and that's Commissioner De Gucht, he does the negotiations alone, on behalf of all the member states.
During the whole process our member states are constantly kept informed—in a confidential way, because you cannot have international negotiations in a public place, particularly one such as CETA. It's kept in a confidential way, not always excluded. There have been leakages, which were also not very helpful. But members have been kept informed all the time, as well as our European Parliament. It's also important, because, when you are negotiating, you will always have at the end maybe some elements which were not foreseen in the mandate, and you have to go back to the stakeholders.