International Trade committee  Unfortunately, I can't speak from direct experience in terms of getting a quick response. I'm not in the business, of course, of trying to sell stuff to markets, so I've never put in requests. What I've done is access the market intelligence reports, the sector reports. I receive

International Trade committee  That's a bit of an existential question. I'm happy to give you my stab at it. I'd be interested to hear from you and your colleagues how you would measure our success, too. Right now we've launched a major campaign across the country. Many of you are aware of it. It's called the

International Trade committee  On the question concerning trade commissioners, I don't have a strong view on whether there should be more, or where they should go. I think the department is in a much better position to assess the emerging needs. I already see they are using various ways of amplifying their pre

International Trade committee  I don't have a comment on location. I haven't studied it carefully enough. It seems to me that everywhere I go, they are there, so I think coverage is strong. But it should not be static. As Canadian companies become more adventurous and successful, as they venture into other pa

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Easter. China is a huge market. It's hard to generalize. When it comes to natural resources and commodities, as you say, really the Chinese will buy as much as we have to supply, to put it very crudely. For us, the concern is the commodity prices rather than the a

International Trade committee  Thank you for your question. It's good to see you again, even if remotely. Asia is vital for Canada's prosperity. We've known that for a long time, but we saw this really come to roost after the great recession of 2008. Many of you will be familiar with what happened right afte

International Trade committee  Yes, I believe they include inward investment, investment into Canada, as part of their broad coverage. But I believe there is a special unit within the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade that puts particular emphasis on investment attraction. Then when it come

International Trade committee  I really can't speak for the trade commissioners, but I'm sure they seek to serve all Canadians including first nations communities. Our work with the first nations suggests to me that they are very keen to develop economic opportunities with Asian countries, and they will spend

International Trade committee  I didn't come fully prepared to discuss a Canada-China free trade agreement, but let me give you a brief response. I've actually been very cautious about advocating free trade with China and have, in the past, promoted more of a sectoral approach that focuses on the specific ar

International Trade committee  Very well, thank you.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Chair. Good afternoon, members of the Commons committee on international trade. It's a pleasure to be invited to give some comments on the Canadian trade commissioner service. Let me start by saying a few words about the Asia-Pacific Foundation and how we interact wi