Fisheries committee  I think that's the priority we have to turn to now that most of the issues have been settled: getting Canadian industry ready to compete in the EU market. It's not the same market as the domestic market, not the same as the U.S. market, and I think there's an education process that we 're going to need to undertake to ensure that people are aware of the opportunities that are out there.

Fisheries committee  To start with the live lobster, at the moment we export about $39 million worth of live lobster to the EU. That is something that I think we have the potential to change over time, because we face much higher restrictions on processed lobster in particular. The tariff on live lobster into the EU is 8%; it's 20% on processed lobster.

Fisheries committee  Well, I think there are many and that they coincide nicely with the key products that we have been producing in our fisheries sector over the last while. It's not on the west coast, of course, primarily, but shrimp in particular will be a big success story. We have faced significant obstacles into the EU market on cooked and peeled shrimp, for example.

Fisheries committee  There were a lot of bumps along the road, I can assure you. When the European Union went through those financial difficulties, we got a fair number of questions about whether this was the right trading partner to be launching such an ambitious enterprise with. But at the end of the day, the EU is still the largest, wealthiest market in the world.

Fisheries committee  It's a considerable advantage. It's probably an advantage that the U.S. would have little chance to compete with. If we have faced a 20% tariff on some of our key exports, such as lobster or shrimp, and now have access to the retail market, the U.S. would have neither of those. They would have to pay those tariffs and would not have access to the retail market.

Fisheries committee  No, there won't be specific appendices that would relate to provinces and territories. They are integrated in the various chapters where we could cover issues that fall under provincial and territorial jurisdiction. For example, on services and investment, you will see reservations that are specific to each province and each territory in light of what they're prepared to do in that sector.

Fisheries committee  First of all, with respect to the first question relating to minimum processing requirements, I think it's important to clarify that what we're doing in CETA is not applying minimum processing requirements against exports to the EU. For all other destinations, those requirements remain in place.

Fisheries committee  Certainly, from what we've been told, minimum processing requirements are of most benefit in protecting processing jobs for more local competitors, whether in other provinces or from the U.S. It's not of a great value to the EU, because some of those minimum processing requirements are fairly modest, such as putting elastic bands around the claws of lobsters.

Fisheries committee  I would not anticipate any job losses. I would anticipate quite a bit of job gains. In fact, what we do now, because we have limited access to the EU, we send raw product to countries that have unlimited access. So we sell raw product to Greenland, to Iceland, to Norway, all of whom have access to the EU market.

Fisheries committee  Well, there has been some concern expressed in various places that the removal of minimum processing requirements on exports to the EU might have some impact, and some, I'm convinced, probably believe that. I think that was part of the justification. The other justification is that if we're going to take full advantage of this new access into the EU, we need to be prepared, well positioned, to do that, particularly if we're going to go into the retail market, which we haven't done to a great extent so far.

Fisheries committee  Sure. You mentioned the issue of illegal fishing and the concerns we've had in the past with some EU vessels doing illegal fishing. Absolutely nothing will change on that front. We have the full scope of powers that we've had before and will have them under CETA to address those issues.

Fisheries committee  Yes, if I can briefly respond to that, that's a point we've been making in various places lately. We're on the verge of completing an agreement that will provide us with a lot of opportunity in the EU market. But it's opportunity. It's Canadian business that's going to have to take advantage and be able to hit the ground running to be able to take advantage of those openings, and that's the next step we have to focus on.

Fisheries committee  Yes, I'm happy to. We have agreed that we would not treat EU vessels any less favourably than we would treat vessels from other countries in like circumstances. That's the extent of the commitment that we have made. Essentially, we can't unfairly discriminate against EU vessels compared with other vessels.

Fisheries committee  I see that as one of the main benefits of the outcome we've negotiated; we have removed those restrictions to the retail sector that are in place right now. By doing that I think it does allow or provide us with an incentive to do much more of that processing at home. I think on lobster specifically the prices have been somewhat depressed in large part because of the reliance on the U.S. market.

Fisheries committee  Yes, I think it's probably more important for some species than for others, but if you take some of the main species we have of interest, lobster being one of them, shrimp, crab, and various others, the EU does actively discourage further processing in terms of imports. They have outright prohibitions to get to the EU retail market shelves.