Canadian Heritage committee  As the minister indicated, Canada has always felt strongly about transparency in this kind of a process. We were subject to the consensus of the negotiating parties, and for some time this meant that there was no consensus to release negotiating texts until ideas had crystallized a little bit.

Canadian Heritage committee  It's essentially an international...it's a problem that arises in other countries, and we tend to be recipients of a great deal of counterfeit product. Whether it's 100% would be impossible to say, but the vast majority of it comes from elsewhere into Canada.

Canadian Heritage committee  As I indicated in an earlier answer, the countries that came together in the ACTA process were typically those that were interested in enhanced intellectual property enforcement. There are probably some countries we would want to see inside the agreement at some stage that are probably more the source of this kind of product.

Canadian Heritage committee  I can put a dollar value on the global estimate that the OECD calculated: $250 billion a year in 2007. I'm not aware of a similar analysis in a Canadian context, but it's the--

Canadian Heritage committee  It's the global flow that is the problem, frankly.

Canadian Heritage committee  I apologize. I'm not in a position to say with any clarity or certainty that there's a number in Canada.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Chairman. To reiterate, the government held consultations in an on-line capacity with respect to the ACTA. The government held a number of round tables with interested parties, including probably some of the groups you have in mind. The ACTA was the subject of a briefing in the C-Trade committee, which is a grouping of federal-provincial officials that my department uses for consultation with provincial officials.

Canadian Heritage committee  There were two round tables. I believe the names of the participants on those round tables are available on the website, in addition to their inputs. The provinces would have been briefed on a scheduled basis through this mechanism called C-Trade.

Canadian Heritage committee  From my perspective, it was real consultation, in the sense that information was provided and federal officials were there to receive feedback.

Canadian Heritage committee  The department hasn't done a specific study on that question related to the ACTA. I would go back to the earlier information we provided. A number of international organizations, the OECD, and Canadian organizations have presented before other committees of Parliament information related to the scope and scale of illicit activity and some of the impacts that counterfeit drugs, counterfeit machinery, and so on, can have on Canadians.

Canadian Heritage committee  There are no data that I'm aware of with respect to that particular question, although clearly if there are violations of copyright protection around the world, that has an impact on the producers of those materials.

Canadian Heritage committee  I think the minister answered that question at a certain level of detail. I could return to something that I mentioned in my introductory commentary. We believe that the framework created in the ACTA is sufficiently broad to provide for the proposals that are currently in the legislative committee on Bill C-32, and sufficiently broad to address the different ways in which the various member countries of the ACTA grouping deal with some of these issues, which aren't the same across the membership.

Canadian Heritage committee  I agree with my minister.

Canadian Heritage committee  There are elements in Bill C-32 that relate to Canada's ability to comply with terms of WIPO agreements, and that, as they're carried over into the provisions of the ACTA, wouldn't be sufficient if the legislation wasn't passed.

Canadian Heritage committee  Chairman, with your permission I'll ask Edith St-Hilaire, who is our negotiator of the ACTA, to give some examples of counterfeit activity that would relate to this file.