Fair game. I think it's early days on this. I know that this document we have to work with is really a narrative. It's descriptive but doesn't have a lot of the details. It's our view that trade agreements—particularly the most complicated and comprehensive agreement in Canada's history, as it's being touted—require us to look at the details.
I want to move to credential recognition. That is a vexing problem in our country. We have tens of thousands of Canadians, if not hundreds of thousands, who are underemployed here because we don't recognize their credentials. It hurts them and it hurts our economy.
I'm looking at the credentials section of this agreement as well. Again, it's a narrative. It says that it's the “[f]irst time that substantive and binding provisions on licensing and qualification, as well as the mutual recognition of professional qualifications, have been included in any of Canada’s free trade agreements”. It states that the “[p]rocess of recognizing foreign qualifications [is] streamlined” and that it “provides a detailed framework so that regulators or professional organizations may negotiate mutual-recognition agreements”. It also says, “Professional associations...have already engaged in discussions on mutual-recognition agreements.” As well, it says, “Other professions...have expressed interest in future engagements.”
What that sounds like to me is a description of a goal that contains an agreement to discuss. That doesn't strike me as a binding agreement that tells me we have achieved credential recognition in specified professions. Do you have any other additional information?