Thank you for inviting me to be here today.
First, I agree with Pierre Marc's comments wholeheartedly. We collaborated and worked closely with him and his government. Quebec was central for CETA in getting the negotiations going and ensuring that they ran smoothly.
I think it's fair to say that the Canada Europe Round Table, the group that I represent, has been the most active business group, and we've been the earliest mover on this agreement. We've been pushing for some form of liberalized trade between Canada and the EU since 1999. We've lived through various iterations of this. We pushed for the TIEA agreement, the Canada-European Union Trade and Investment Enhancement Agreement, which was a precursor to CETA. We're very pleased that the EU and Canada came together and were able to sign CETA recently.
I'm not going to get so much into the specifics. We can do that during questions. I'm just going to talk about why it's in the strategic interest of Canada to conclude this agreement.
First, one of the reasons we were always an advocate for this agreement was that we thought the architecture that governed the relations between Canada and Europe was underdeveloped and that there was further potential that could be tapped, but it was also for a measure of trade diversification. I think that view was prescient in light of developments with the U.S. presidency and the comments on NAFTA. We'll see what that amounts to, but it does show that it pays to have diversification and other options.
The other reason, to use a formula in international trade, is that if we take a wheel where you have a hub and the spokes, what you don't want to be is just a spoke. You want to be the hub. You want to be the middle of that wheel where all the different spokes, or all the different countries, come through you and funnel their trade and investment through you. You want to be a participant in global supply chains. CETA really does this for Canada.
It will mean that Canada, in addition to its NAFTA agreement, will be the only advanced country to have a free trade investment agreement with the EU, and it will be the most comprehensive and advanced agreement that has ever been signed on a bilateral level.
I think this will have some unintended as well as intended consequences. Essentially, it will place Canada as a liberalized trade investment zone that stretches from the tip of Mexico all the way to the eastern border of Poland. It's an area that encompasses one billion people. This will be attractive to both European investors and Canadian exporters to Europe.
Also, as I said, there is the unintended consequence, I believe, of drawing American investments into the Canadian marketplace. As I'm sure you're aware on the committee, the negotiations between the Americans and the Europeans have essentially come to a halt, and there is no indication that they're going to make progress any time soon. This leaves Canada with a hugely lucrative advantage with the EU. It won't be lost on American competitors that it might be in their interest to relocate activities into the Canadian marketplace so that they can have that duty-free access into the massive European market, so it positions Canada beautifully between these two massive marketplaces. It says to the world that we're really open for business, that we're an open, inclusive, welcoming society, and that we're free-traders at heart.
I will say one thing with regard to the specifics of the agreement. When Canada made its commitments to this agreement, you were opening certain chapters or acts to conform to the treaty. I understand that there can be a tendency sometimes to take it even a little bit further and make further reforms. I would just say that we should exercise caution in that regard, because while it may seem like it's a good opportunity to make some further changes to regulatory structures—for instance, with regard to the Patent Act—that can have the effect of reducing some of the gains that have been accrued by the parties in the negotiations, and that can be reciprocated by the Europeans as well. Therefore, when Canada goes down the path of implementation of this agreement, I encourage really sticking to complying with the treaty and its obligations and leaving it at that.
Overall, I think it's a fine agreement. It's not a perfect agreement; no agreement is. As they say with trade negotiators, if everybody is unhappy at the end of the day, they've done their job. I don't think that's necessarily the case with this agreement, although there are of course some people who are not pleased, but I think that overall it's a very good agreement for Canadian business and Canadian citizens.
Thank you.