Thank you, Mr. Vice-Chair, for the invitation.
Thank you to the committee members for your work on this issue on behalf of Canadians.
My name is René Roy, and I am the chair of the Canadian Pork Council. I am a producer myself.
As the third-largest pork exporter in the world, trade policies are of the utmost importance to the prosperity and vitality of the Canadian pork industry. Indeed, last week we were in the Philippines with Minister MacAulay and members of Parliament Lamoureux and Mendicino to talk with partners in that country about their needs. It was a great visit, one we appreciated the chance to join.
The Ecuador market is currently not a large market for Canada, but the more Canada can expand the concept of science-based regulation in free trade agreements around the world, the better our global position will be. It increases our position as a global leader and increases our market resilience.
As you may know, Canada exports 70% of its pork production to almost 80 countries in the world. We are believers in and supporters of free and fair trade. That is why we are pleased to be consulted on the Canada-Ecuador free trade agreement.
Ecuador is next door to a growing market for Canadian pork, in Colombia, so geographically it's attractive. We understand that our AAFC officials are hard at work on discussions already.
The Canadian government's trade action plan plays a key role in increasing profits for Canadian pork producers. As an industry, we believe in free trade, and we support the Canada‑Ecuador free trade agreement.
Free trade should, in theory, give us an opportunity to eliminate a majority of agricultural tariffs and have an attractive level of duty-free access. For the hog industry, it is essential that our products benefit from a large, annual duty-free quota that exceeds, by a wide margin, Canada's historical exports to Ecuador.
Some agreements, like CETA, do not meet the necessary standards of open trade and undermine the principle of free trade by the inclusion of non-tariff trade barriers. That's why we urge the committee to be vigilant to ensure the science-based principles that govern our trade agreements, and to remain vigilant against non-tariff trade barriers. You will know that we recently argued publicly against the United Kingdom's ascension to the CPTPP for this very reason.
All forecasts for global demand for pork predict growth in the consumption of our products. Canada's ability to supply the rest of the world with our quality products will play a role in our contribution to Canada's economic growth and to global food security.
We want to feed the planet by providing quality and nutritious products that have one of the smallest environmental footprints in the world.
We hope that the committee will continue to ensure food security as a key part of our free trade positioning as it reviews this and all trade agreement files.
Thank you.