Thank you so much.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good afternoon, everyone, vice-chairs and all the members of the committee.
It's an absolute pleasure to be with you and to assist the committee in its important work. It's an honour to speak to Canadians.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.
Coronavirus, pandemic, shutdown, mask up, test and trace, once-in-a-generation crisis: A year ago, if these words resonated at all with Canadians, it would have been as far-fetched plots from sci-fi films or from books. Today, however, they are words that we would use if we were asked to write the opening chapter of Canada's COVID-19 story. I know that my version of this chapter would acknowledge how extraordinarily difficult these last eight months have been for Canadians. During this time, I have been across the country, mostly virtually, and have spoken to thousands of Canadians, so many of whom are business owners and entrepreneurs, whose lives and livelihoods have been turned upside down by this crisis.
Canadians have shown all of us time and again that they are incredibly resilient, hard-working and innovative, but many worry about what comes next, and that is understandable.
Madam Chair, I'll repeat what our government has been telling Canadians since the start of the pandemic.
We will be with you every step of the way. The best way for us to get through the challenges we face is by facing them together as team Canada. That is what we have done together since day one, and this is what we will continue to do.
From the beginning, we've focused on providing economic support to Canadians, while taking the necessary action to protect their health.
The result is that Canada's COVID-19 economic response plan has helped protect millions of jobs across Canada, provided emergency support to families and kept the lights on for businesses with lending support and the wage subsidy.
Just yesterday, we tabled legislation that will expand and extend the Canada emergency wage subsidy and launch the new Canada emergency rent subsidy. Both programs will support businesses across the country and continue to help Canadians throughout this crisis.
The pandemic also reminded us in stark terms how our world is truly interconnected. It has underscored the absolute importance of international collaboration and co-operation. However, as COVID-19 swept the world, many countries responded by restricting trade, the linchpin of prosperity for so many national economies. As of June, some 97 countries had responded to the pandemic by implementing more than 200 restrictions on cross-border trade. As of last month, 142 of those restrictions remain in place.
This isn't the right path, especially for a nation such as Canada that relies on trade.
Trade accounts for nearly two-thirds of Canada's economy and supports 3.3 million jobs, or one out of every six. COVID-19 should not and cannot be used as an excuse to stop trading or to turn inward with protectionist policies. Instead, we need to focus on the fundamentals: open trade and investment, diversify our trade and develop solutions to supply chain challenges. That is what we have done.
We have worked with Canadian exporters to find innovative solutions.
We worked with our international partners to remove unnecessary trade barriers and to keep the supply chain open and strong for essentials such as food and drugs.
Throughout the pandemic, for example, I've been working closely with my international partners from the G20, the WTO, APEC and others to ensure that our supply chains remain open, our businesses continue their work and crucial goods and services flow. Through Canada's leadership of the Ottawa Group on WTO reform, we're helping shape the future of multilateral rules-based trade, which is really key to global prosperity. It's this type of global co-operation that is going to see us rise to and overcome COVID-19.
Given the importance of international trade to Canada's economy, it's clear that exporting, importing and attracting investment from around the world will be critical to our ongoing recovery. However, it's not quite business as usual. The pandemic has forced us to adapt in innovative ways that are redefining how international trade can be done. Consider the virtual trade mission to South Korea that I am thrilled to be leading this week, in fact, starting tonight. More than 140 Canadian small businesses are signed up to participate in this groundbreaking endeavour. Many more would have joined us in a physical trade mission.
Our government is adapting our services to better serve Canadian businesses. This morning, the Prime Minister and I announced the revamping of the CanExport SME program. It's delivered by the trade commissioner service. This program gives our resilient and innovative small businesses grants of up to $75,000 to grow their businesses in the international market. Now, this funding will help them navigate a COVID-19 landscape, with funding to expand their digital and e-commerce presence and participate in virtual trade missions and virtual trade shows. This new world of digital international trade will continue to allow Canadian businesses to take advantage of Canada's preferential trade agreements. We have 14 of them. It gives us priority access to two-thirds of the global economy and to 1.5 billion customers.
To better leverage agreements such as the CPTPP and CETA, Global Affairs Canada is currently rolling out a concerted promotion strategy, with a sector-focused approach to increase awareness of these ambitious trade agreements.
We're ensuring that our businesses and workers in all parts of the country truly benefit from the opportunities being created in rapidly growing markets around the world.
To do that, we're taking a team Canada approach, an approach under the umbrella of Canada trade. This is what I call our trade tool box, which falls under my mandate. The tools in this tool box include the Canadian trade commissioner service. It includes Export Development Canada, or EDC, Business Development Canada, or BDC, the Canadian Commercial Corporation and Invest in Canada. We're all working together to help our businesses succeed here at home and abroad.
During my recent meeting with my provincial and territorial counterparts, we understood that if Canada is going to get through this difficult period, it will be key for all of us to mobilize small businesses and businesses of all sizes so that we can support their efforts to access the international market. It's equally key that in this mobilization, we include people of all backgrounds and diverse identities, including women, indigenous people, visible minorities, young people and LGBTQ2 entrepreneurs.
Diversifying trade is about more than where we trade and what we trade. It's about who trades. It's about supporting and encouraging new exporters, whether they're just starting out or they've never exported before. It's about being inclusive, because we know that trade works best when it benefits all Canadians, whether it's in traditional sectors such as natural resources and agri-foods or emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence or health technology.
As we move through this pandemic and build a path to a strong economic recovery for Canadians, I know that words such as “inclusive”, “innovative”, “resilient”, “collaborative” and “adaptable” will be among those used to describe how we have performed. These words are at the heart of what team Canada is really about: coming together to build on economic prosperity for our businesses of all sizes and to improve the quality of life for families and all Canadians.
I'd be happy to answer any questions that the committee has for me.
Thank you.
