International Trade committee  Yes, we have a mentor program for university students. We take them to work here at the chamber. We also line them up with companies they're interested in. We have certain sectors that we have a specific person responsible for, so we can guide them to that person, and that person will help them by mentoring their work with specific companies within the area.

International Trade committee  Basically, we're doing all of this on our own. As Mr. Waschuk mentioned, we were involved in CUTIS, the Canada-Ukraine trade and investment support project, which was sponsored by the Canadian government. But this mentoring program and the things we do here in Canada are all from the membership fees that we collect.

International Trade committee  First of all, it's nice that you mentioned that territory, because I know that, in that territory of northern Ontario, Thunder Bay and Parry Sound, they are getting some Ukrainian investors opening plants and [Technical difficulty—Editor] in Ontario in that region. There was a person who came from Ukraine here many years ago who lived in Alberta and then moved to Thunder Bay and Parry Sound.

International Trade committee  Thank you. One of the areas in which we have tried working very hard with Alberta energy regulators is to help Ukrainians modify some of the issues of licensing, of auctions of the properties. We have done a lot of work. Mr. Waschuk knows of some of that work. The energy sector has changed quite a bit in Ukraine, and Ukraine has a lot of possibilities.

International Trade committee  Certainly on the EDC side it has not improved. That's why I keep on saying that we have to do something with EDC so that this does improve. On the transfer of funds from Ukraine to Canada, absolutely there is no problem. There are no issues. Everything is done properly. Dividends are paid out to Canada.

International Trade committee  Some of the points that I presented were the points that our members and our partners have talked about, but there are a couple of things I didn't have a chance to throw in. One of them is immigration regulation for Canadian citizens. I don't know if you know, but if you are travelling to Ukraine, the maximum time you can stay is 90 days out of 180.

International Trade committee  If I can maybe jump for a second, cybersecurity in Ukraine is a great business, a great talent, but I think we, as Canadians, have to be a little more aggressive and co-operate with them more closely. We at the chamber of commerce try to do that. We bring them into the trade missions for these cybersecurity conferences, and I see how Americans quickly take them away.

International Trade committee  Ukraine is one of the major producers of agricultural products in the world, and if you look at the different products, they're top three in the world in many cases. Ukraine is a major exporter to the world. Between Canada and Ukraine, I don't think there's a huge agricultural trade, but there is quite a bit of fruit traded.

International Trade committee  If we're looking at certification in Ukraine of Canadian equipment, I know myself, because I'm also in the energy and oil and gas business in Ukraine, when we tried to bring a Canadian-made rig into Ukraine, the process of getting it certified and approved was just incredible. It was impossible.

International Trade committee  —really moved a lot into the area of definitely changing and improving the certification process. It still has some issues here and there, but it's definitely different from what it used to be in moving a lot of this bureaucratic paperwork to digital form, where you don't have bureaucrats along the way trying to make some money and take some bribes.

International Trade committee  All right. I would just like to say that much lower cost charges are being applied to EU tariffs because of the provisions of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. It's also the same with Canada-U.S.-Mexico, where they are much lower. Therefore, we're asking to please ensure that similar provisions are included in the text of the expanded and modernized CUFTA.

International Trade committee  On the immigration—

International Trade committee  Thank you very much. In these very difficult days for Ukraine with the massive Russian army on the Ukrainian borders, we stand together with Ukraine and must say no to Putin. I'm sorry, Mr. Roche, I don't quite agree with some of the things you mentioned, but we're not going to get into the politics today.

International Trade committee  As I mentioned before, Ukraine is basically changing everything: transportation, infrastructure, renewable energy, and even in agro-industry, which is a huge and important sector for Ukraine. They do well in the world in agro, but they also need new technology, new equipment. Canada has huge potential, actually, in supplying that new technology, new know-how, new equipment in both the agro and the energy sector.

International Trade committee  Yes. I think that absolutely Ukraine is basically rebuilding everything, from transportation to infrastructure to buildings and everything. Obviously, Canada is a huge engineering and service and manufacturing power in the world, so in that area, absolutely, there's huge potential for Canadian businesses.