Thank you.
Good morning. I assume that you do not have a lot of time to enjoy it, but nonetheless, I would like to welcome you to our beautiful city of Quebec.
Québec International is the economic development agency for the greater Quebec City region. We support and stimulate the strong industries in the region. In February, Québec International had the opportunity to lead an information session about the TPP for companies in the region. Last fall, we led a round table in Quebec City that included David Lametti, MP, to help people better understand the issues that companies in the region have to deal with in relation to the TPP. It is this perspective that I want to share with you this morning.
The TPP undeniably presents a good opportunity for companies to expand their markets. The TPP will result in Canada signing free trade agreements with 51 countries, and this will amount to access to 60 per cent of the global economy. For companies located here, that is an opportunity that is not to be missed.
The agreement will also provide suppliers of Canadian services with more predictability by guaranteeing the present levels of access to the markets and future improvement of the existing measures in the various parts of the TPP. That means not only that our manufacturing companies, but also services companies, will be able to profit from it. Those companies supply services for construction, computer services and research and development. They have a reasonable presence in the national capital region. The TPP represents business opportunities for those companies.
Notwithstanding the opportunities presented by the opening of these new markets, nothing is yet certain for our companies. In a competitive situation where their environment is in a state of perpetual change, companies just prepare themselves well. These are words that you must be hearing just about everywhere at present, but it is what is of most concern to our companies.
Apart from the opportunities presented by access to these new markets, our companies are facing greater competition. They must therefore be able to study the new markets and distribution networks. We have to help them clearly understand the rules governing entry into those new markets.
To that end, the government will have to establish a clear strategy and policy to support exports for companies, that goes well beyond promoting the opportunities that the TPP may present. I will come back to this a little later.
Apart from the strategy to support exports, there is support for innovation, which was mentioned earlier. That will also have to be part of the government's thinking, because, faced with this new competition, our companies will have to adapt their products, but will also have to be extremely innovative in the way they do things and try to be a little more competitive. We know that we are behind in this regard. Companies have to improve the quality of their goods and services and develop key competencies.
The TPP presents opportunities in the realm of e-commerce, where we also have catching up to do. If we want to enable our companies to access all of this, we will have to support them in incorporating a significant digital strategy in the region. There needs to be an export strategy and a strategy to support innovation.
We consider the fact that the TPP will result in much greater openness or mobility for both people and capital to be of considerable interest. In terms of innovation, this openness will also enable our companies to better understand how to adapt a product to the culture and language. In the case of video games, for example, it is extremely important to have a good grasp of the impact of these aspects. Mobility on the part of people will probably make it easier to understand these factors, for developing or adapting products.