International Trade committee  Labour mobility was a big issue. Particularly with the U.S. and NAFTA, we've had a list of professions that are provided with enhanced access into the U.S. It hasn't been updated for some years, so we are hoping that this agreement would update that and facilitate the movement across the Canada-U.S. border.

International Trade committee  That's a good question. I'm not sure what the net figures would look like. We were looking at it more from a temporary service provision aspect, so you could go, for example, to Australia on a contract to provide a professional service for a fixed period of time. I don't know if there would necessarily be a net outflow.

International Trade committee  The main study I have seen on this, which was a broader Canadian economy study and not a particular sector analysis, was released recently by the Peterson Institute in the U.S. It estimated a national income gain of about $37 billion by 2030. That's the main study I've seen. I'm hoping we'll see something here in Canada soon that applies the same type of methodology but from more of a Canadian perspective as opposed to the methodology of the Peterson study.

International Trade committee  We have. We released a study two years ago. I'd be happy to share it with you.

International Trade committee  Absolutely. The only thing I'll note, though, is that in that study we didn't do economic modelling. We did our own analysis, but we didn't actually use a model to look at the sector benefits. I would be happy to share it with you.

International Trade committee  Our whole economy has oriented itself to trade with the U.S. and Mexico, with 70% of our exports going there. By not being part of the TPP, we suddenly erode that special preference that we've had with the U.S. and Mexico, and we enlarge the North American platform, if you will, to this larger TPP group.

International Trade committee  With regard to sectors that would be negatively affected, I can't think of any off the top of my head. Canada has generally low tariff protection as is, so we would be getting rid of those tariffs. I can't see it having a major impact on particular sectors. Every trade agreement is going to have its pros and cons, of course.

International Trade committee  I think what it does in helping our young people.... For example, we've been looking at the Asia-Pacific region for the past five years as an area of aggressive growth. By Canada being a part of this deal, we're giving our companies and our young people access to that market in a way that they've never had before.

International Trade committee  In terms of enforcing rules and so on?

International Trade committee  That can be a huge challenge. I think that's why it's important to have trade agreements in place. It allows companies to use a dispute mechanism, and if there are issues in terms of enforceability or non-tariff barriers, the agreement sets that legal framework so you can try to enforce the rules.

International Trade committee  In terms of export opportunities, there are a couple of things. I'd mentioned agriculture. I think that's an area where there would be an immediate gain, simply because there's traditionally been high tariff protection in a lot of these sectors and for a lot of these products.

International Trade committee  Absolutely.

International Trade committee  Absolutely. The one thing I'll note is that any negotiation has to have a certain level of secrecy because you have to protect your negotiating position. While we knew the broad strokes of what was going on in the negotiations, of course, we had no knowledge of the actual closed door discussions between the countries.

International Trade committee  On TPP...?

International Trade committee  I believe this is our third appearance on TPP, but we've probably mentioned it in multiple other committee appearances.