Thank you for your question.
As I said earlier, Canada joined the negotiations in the 15th round, following long consultations on the agreement and its overall content with all TPP countries.
I can say without hesitation that joining the negotiations when we did has not caused Canada any problems whatsoever for a fairly simple reason. Some of the TPP countries—such as Canada, the United States and Australia—have concluded in recent years rather modern free trade agreements that are largely inspired by one another.
We also have some other countries at the table, including Malaysia and Vietnam, which have less experience in that new type of agreement with chapters on labour, the environment, crown corporations, the protection of small and medium-sized companies and other kinds of more modern obligations or chapters.
Over the first few years of this negotiation—according to my understanding, as we had not yet joined the TPP—countries with greater experience in the negotiation of agreements more in line with the 21st century took the necessary time to teach countries with less experience in chapters on the environment, labour law, and so on. When Canada joined the negotiating table, those countries were still participating in the TPP.