International Trade committee  If I could, I'd like to just make final comments in response to the question. First, quickly picking up on the study that the CAW put out, I'm not as convinced that's a good study. There are all kinds of problems with it, which we don't really have time to go into. First of all, it assumes that deficits are bad, that trade deficits necessarily are a negative thing for Canada.

International Trade committee  Thank you for your question. Let me stress first that I think this deal is good for all of Canada. There are special benefits to B.C. and the west, because of the potential advantages for the resource sector. You've already mentioned forestry. Wheat, certainly, and seafood products would be another area where Korean tariffs are very high, and the elimination of those tariffs will give greater access for Canadian companies.

International Trade committee  There are a couple of calculations here. The first I think has to do with who the demander is, who has the stronger hand in the negotiations, and who is lining up to negotiate with whom. My own sense is that Korea has a long list of suitors at its door wanting to negotiate agreements.

International Trade committee  I have just two quick points on the issue of NTBs, or non-tariff barriers. My view on NTBs is that this is a tremendous opportunity for negotiators to shine a light on these NTBs and to include them in the negotiations, and hopefully to address them through successful conclusion of a deal.

International Trade committee  I think it might be on my end, in Vancouver. I'm in some kind of a shared office space where they have video-conferencing facilities, and apparently there's a Christmas party next door. The door is shut. I've done everything I can. Presumably the party will start winding down soon.

International Trade committee  Thank you very much. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Let me first of all apologize for not submitting a written statement. I only received notification about the call late on Monday, and I wasn't able to put together a submission. Also, I do have to leave after an hour. I hope the message, through the clerk, made its way to the members.

International Trade committee  I agree 100%. The Pacific gateway is extremely important, and not just for British Columbia because of the infrastructure investments. We think “gateway” is a metaphor for how Canada as a whole needs to think about the Pacific as part of our economic future. If we can help Canadians in Ontario, Nova Scotia, Quebec, and throughout the prairie provinces and the Maritimes understand that they also have a stake in the gateway, we'll be able to make this a viable and long-term project.

International Trade committee  No.

International Trade committee  I want to add just one thing. If we believe that two-way investment is a very important part of our economic relations with Southeast Asia, I think we need to do a bit more research into the extent to which we have investments in Southeast Asia, the kinds of benefits that we generate for the Canadian economy, and the opportunity for those investments to expand.

International Trade committee  I would just add that business bilaterals are very important. What we've done at the foundation is to prepare a development database of all the so-called Asian ethnic business associations across the country, including Ms. Tapia's organization. We were so surprised to find that there are over 140 of them, typically organized by recent immigrants with an explicit focus on how to expand trade and investment between Canada and their so-called native countries.

International Trade committee  There are two things. I fully agree with the point about agricultural products. The beauty of promoting agrifood two-way trade is that Canada has something that is of genuine world-class calibre to offer to ASEAN to improve the quality of their food products, which we can then take in for the benefit of our consumers.

International Trade committee  I have that data. I don't have it here, but we collect that data. My sense is that in terms of students from Asia, counting not just post-secondary but also high school and ESL students, the most important market for us is Korea because of the ESL market. It's probably followed by China, which is more of a post-secondary market.

International Trade committee  All of this is anecdotal. All we can say is that people will come to us—this is on the business side—and they will complain that they weren't given a visa. On the face of it, we know these people are bona fide business people, and it's inexplicable. I'm not saying the immigration officer didn't have a valid reason, but we don't know what it is.

International Trade committee  No, actually, I haven't. We heard about this problem vis-à-vis the United States, and as a result we thought we might get a diversion of students who were turned off going to the U.S. to come to Canada, but in fact we haven't seen those so-called “benefits”. It has happened for some other markets, like Australia and the U.K., but we haven't seen any correlation between visa applications and the approval process post-9/11.

International Trade committee  Starting with health, I'm not a WTO expert. Mr. Clark may be able to address the broader implications for global trade rules. But what I've discussed concerning the opportunities for the export of health services has no impact, I believe, on the public health care system in Canada.