Madam Chair and members of Parliament, thank you for this invitation.
The ongoing Ukrainian war is certainly a watershed moment in the history of our modern world. The outcomes of this war will define how societies will transcend and how humanity will evolve from here on. We are certainly witnessing the global and the local impacts of this Russian invasion of Ukraine on our economy, as well.
With regard to the modernization of the CUFTA, which is in front of this committee today, I would like to bring forward three important aspects. I do not want to divert into the aspects that are already very much in front of us, but I want to talk about solutions.
First and foremost, I would like to highlight the incremental risk of European dependence on Russian oil and gas, which is the primary reason Europe has been considering an energy transition in the first place. Even though this is the right thing to do, it's not the easiest. I believe that Canada, therefore, has a very strong role to play in the world and, in particular, on the European stage today. While we in Canada do not face an immediate threat to our energy security like Europe does, we are certainly likely to face the pressure to expand our role as a safe and secure source of fossil fuels, coupled with a very strong and stable economy.
Canada, therefore, has a very unique challenge to fulfill in routing some of the oil and natural gas to Europe through channels that are actually non-existent today. Therefore, it's imperative for Canada to rethink the export infrastructure and our role as a supplier to Europe, as well as our role in rebuilding Ukraine. Additionally, this could present a very significant challenge for Canada's efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions by 2050. This presents an opportunity for us to consider additional ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and also to formulate policies that will allow us to meet our global targets by 2050.
This brings me to the second point, which is really Canada's role in supporting Ukraine when this war is over. I'm hoping this will be ending soon. Historically, Canadian companies have recognized the strengths of Ukraine in IT and white-collar jobs. The Canadian-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement has a pivotal role to play in rebuilding Ukraine post the Russian invasion by bringing jobs to Ukraine.
As we modernize CUFTA, large-scale Canadian companies like Fairfax have definitely invested strongly in Ukrainian companies. There is an opportunity for us to have additional provisions in this free trade agreement that would enable more Canadian companies to invest in Ukraine and human capital to move freely between the two trade partners. This is also one of the recommendations of the global task force on refugee labour mobility, which I was a part of, earlier today. These measures will concretely support rebuilding and the thriving of the European economy in the free world.
Lastly, I would like to bring to your attention to CUFTA and the parallels that I can draw to the ratification of CETA in France, which, as we all know, is the Canada-European trade agreement, in which France is a big stakeholder. Sitting where I sit, as the managing director of the chamber of commerce and managing $10.8 billion of bilateral trade between France and Canada, I can assure you that ratification of CETA was not an easy task. My colleague, Delphine, from the European Union chamber, would agree with this as well.
We can learn from CETA and translate what we learn into CUFTA to ensure that we are able to effectively leverage the steps we need to take that will play an important role in rebuilding Ukraine and modernizing CUFTA. In particular, I would like to draw attention to the lack of information for Canadian corporations about this free trade agreement that also exists between France's and the European Union's companies and Canada. There is a constant, ongoing effort between the French chamber of commerce and the European chamber of commerce to educate investors and large corporations in Canada on what the free trade agreement between the largest European nations and Canada may mean for businesses and the Canadian economy. It seems to be a never-ending process for us.
Therefore, I urge this committee to put the right set of resources to ensure that the right information and education sessions are available for companies in Canada, as well as Ukrainian companies, for the free trade agreement or the modernization thereof, so that there is clarity on how to proceed and how to get the maximum benefit out of CUFTA for both Ukrainian and Canadian organizations.