International Trade committee  No. China is quite a case to deal with, even though it's in the WTO. Certainly we don't favour any trade agreement whether it's in our favour or not--I think we look at each one on a case-by-case basis--but certainly we would look at this one as being one of those that would be favourable to Canada's economic interest.

International Trade committee  We've seen some decrease in our Canadian pig production due to the economic circumstances we have had, but we still look at ourselves as having some major advantages. Rick has already mentioned quality standards. Those have also been in place for Canada. We have a very competitive feed grain production sector.

International Trade committee  The price band is another aspect of the Colombian import system that operates not all the time but at certain times when prices go below a certain threshold or above a certain level. For one, if we assume that cereal prices will be higher in the foreseeable future than what they were in, say, the 1980s and 1990s, as I think most people would agree because of the biofuel reality, then we'll see less likelihood of the lower level of the price band being triggered, which is what has limited imports at certain times into Colombia.

International Trade committee  I see it as being an important bridge to when we get the WTO agreement back on the rails. I mean, even if Doha falls through, I think there will be enough determination to get a multilateral process going again. But it could easily be ten years before we see the results of that.

International Trade committee  We are seeing quite significant changes in the demographics of some of what have been our major markets. Japan, for example, is a country that has an aging population, a declining population. That has probably been our most important export market, but we have to have other alternatives to adjust to those changing circumstances.

International Trade committee  It would be critical, for us to be a player in the Colombian pork market, to see this agreement passed. I do presume that the U.S. agreement will be implemented certainly within three years, but I wouldn't want to have it understood or thought that our support for the Canada-Colombia deal would be conditional on the U.S. deal eventually being passed.

International Trade committee  Yes. The potential for a U.S. agreement would increase the urgency, from our point of view, for passing it.

International Trade committee  I'll just make a quick comment on the promotional support. We did it as part of our three-pronged proposal to the federal government early this year. To deal with the hog sector crisis, we did ask for a reallocation of some unused funds from a program for export market development.

International Trade committee  Our major competitors in pork would be Brazil, the United States, and Denmark. Our situation would be much more comparable to that of the U.S. I don't know what the situation in Brazil or Denmark is. Denmark operates within the EU, and programs tend to have to be EU-wide rather than state-specific.

International Trade committee  Certainly if you don't include them, I think the U.S. has many more resources in their embassies abroad, and they may have some support through their international aid programs, although our thinking on those is that they are not likely playing very largely in pork exports. They're probably playing a much larger role for grains, oilseeds, and maybe beef.

International Trade committee  It does sound odd that we wouldn't be seeing a more remunerative market for our pork, for example, on the world market right now, given that there is a certain amount of pressure on production in some areas, but we have slipped considerably behind some of our competitors in terms of access, and some of it is through the free trade agreements.

International Trade committee  Yes, I certainly would. I think the Canadian food inspection system has already been engaged in several countries, including China, to help establish a system that is fairly rigorous and fairly predictable in its operations. It will be more than just food inspection. We actually have a fairly good dialogue with our Colombian counterparts, and many years ago we shared with them the Canadian grading system.

International Trade committee  Maybe I'll start on the matter of the multilateral approach versus the bilateral, and I think it ties in with the U.S. attitude as well. There is increasing pessimism over the Doha Round and a lot of speculation that the Doha Round is all but finished, in which case there will be much more attention given in the U.S. to getting their existing trade agreements that have been negotiated into place.

International Trade committee  We look at our industry as accounting for about $10 billion of economic activity, both domestic and export, of which roughly two-thirds, or perhaps a little less, is related to the export business. Conservatively, we're looking at a $6 billion industry. Colombia is our 20th-largest market.

International Trade committee  Thank you very much, and thank you for introducing César. Mr. Edouard Asnong, who is president of CPI, was planning to join us today, but he was not able to get away from his farm. Most of you may be aware of the Canadian Pork Council. We are the national federation of provincial hog producer organizations, and we're also one of the two founding members of Canada Pork International, which is our industry export market development arm.