Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good afternoon, everyone.
Honourable members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear today on behalf of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
Our network represents more than 400 local, provincial and territorial chambers of commerce and boards of trade across the country, and over 120 trade associations in every sector of the economy. Along with our corporate members, this broad network represents over 200,000 businesses of all sizes in Canada.
We strongly support efforts to deepen trade ties with Japan, one of our most important economic partners and a trusted ally in the Indo-Pacific. Japan remains the world's fourth-largest economy and Canada's fourth-largest foreign direct investor, and it accounts for approximately $40 billion in trade.
Those numbers are important, but the strategic case is even stronger. In March, Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Takaichi elevated the relationship with a new comprehensive strategic partnership focused on defence, energy, critical minerals, trade and technology. This reflects a simple reality: In a more uncertain world, Canada and Japan are natural partners.
It's not well known that Canada's relationship with Japan is one of our oldest. Only four years after the last spike completed the transcontinental railway, Japan's first consulate opened in Vancouver in 1889. The official Ottawa embassy followed in 1928, and ours in Tokyo in 1929—only our third in a non-Commonwealth country, after the U.S. and France.
Our business communities are also deeply connected, including through the Japan-Canada Chambers Council, JCCC. That launched in 2014 as a partnership between the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The JCCC serves as an annual exchange to strengthen business ties, share knowledge and advance policies between our two countries. Last February, we hosted a JCCC delegation in Ottawa, and we look forward to returning to Japan this September for the 2026 meeting to continue our business-to-business exchange focused on economic security, resilient supply chains, energy security, advanced technologies, food security and defence. You'll have heard the word “security” a few times there.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce will also be participating in the team Canada trade mission to Japan at the end of June, as we recently did in Korea and Mexico, supporting Minister Sidhu's efforts to diversify and strengthen Canada's trade relationships with reliable partners.
Beyond the bilateral relationship, Japan is a key rule of law ally at important multilateral tables, such as the G7, the G20 and, of course—as we've been discussing this morning—CPTPP. Last year, as Canada's official business engagement group at the G7 and G20 tables, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce hosted the Business 7 Summit, or B7, in Ottawa, which included a delegation from Keidanren, Japan’s business federation. We also held similar side meetings in Johannesburg last fall, on the edge of the B20 meeting.
From these exchanges, business priorities are clear. In the 2025 B7 communiqué, business leaders called for coordinated measures to stabilize critical minerals markets and unlock investment, including strategic reserves, tax incentives and financing tools to expand capacity among trusted partners. On supply chains, we recommended a G7 mechanism to coordinate responses to shocks and choke points, map high-risk dependencies and support the production of strategically critical goods. Unfortunately, one year later, we are living through this risk in real time.
The new comprehensive strategic partnership provides a strong road map for further collaboration, including modernizing the Joint Economic Committee to reflect emerging priorities, such as critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, energy security and new technologies. This also points to concrete industrial opportunities. For example, Canada and Japan have agreed to build on—as you have heard—existing co-operation on battery supply chains and industrial science and technology, while continuing to support Japanese automotive manufacturers investing in Canada as a key entry point to the North American marketplace.
When I had the opportunity to visit the 2025 Osaka world expo last fall, I was reminded that, although the distance between our countries may be great due to the Pacific, we are, in fact, neighbours. As a key entry point for Canada within our broader Indo-Pacific strategy, Japan remains one of our most trusted and strategically important partners in the region and globally.
In closing, it is the Canadian chamber’s view that deeper ties with Japan are firmly in Canada’s national interest and consistent with our goal of trade diversification within a rules-based order.
Thank you, Madam Chair.