International Trade committee  In every trade agreement, both sides have winners and losers, people who gain significantly and those who are hurt, and it's very important that our negotiators work to mitigate any sort of damage, basically allowing for the phasing out of any kind of tariff, if that's needed in the sector.

International Trade committee  No. Not to be confused, there were nine companies that are active players in Colombia, and they're the ones that were signing on. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is making this position on behalf of all our members. Did you want to add anything, Brian?

International Trade committee  Canadian companies are operating in Colombia today.

International Trade committee  Thank you very much, and good afternoon. As introduced, my name is Shirley-Ann George. I'm the vice-president of international policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. With me today is Brian Zeiler-Kligman. We appreciate the invitation to come and discuss with you Canada's free trade negotiations with Colombia.

International Trade committee  I apologize. I was trying to make sure I didn't take more than my ten minutes. I'll slow it down. It is critically important that the protection of investment stability agreements is negotiated into the FTA, including existing agreements being afforded the same protection as new investments.

International Trade committee  Absolutely. The government has reached out by trying to find companies that have concerns and companies that see opportunities. They have consulted very closely with the auto industry. Not always have the results been something the auto industry has stood up and applauded, but it is very fair to say that the auto industry has been consulted.

International Trade committee  I think the first place to look is in the commodities that are truly export oriented, especially agriculture from western Canada. When you look at things like wheat, for example, and other products like that that are grown in western Canada, I think there's some real opportunity.

International Trade committee  Sorry, I'm not sure I understood. How many highly paid versus low-paid jobs?

International Trade committee  I apologize, I don't have the numbers you're looking for. You've already seen the analysis that's been done from DFAIT and from others. I think part of the challenge is the negative impacts tend to bring out people who are very concerned, and the negative impacts are often overdone by some groups, whereas the positive impacts are much, much more difficult to get real, hard numbers on.

International Trade committee  Korean cars are coming into Canada now.

International Trade committee  At this point, I don't know if it would be appropriate to draw lines in the sand. I think at this point what we need to do is encourage our negotiators to do everything they can. The fact that this committee is asking these questions will give some additional incentive to our negotiators and the Koreans to see what else can be done to come together, to see where some of the gaps are.

International Trade committee  So if your question is whether more Korean cars will come into Canada if we don't sign a deal and the U.S. does. I believe the Koreans have some growing market share in any case. The Koreans market a product that many Canadians want to buy, and they're fierce competitors, so I don't think I could agree completely that even if—

International Trade committee  Yes, it is good to diversify our exports and—not to take away from the exports and jobs created by selling to the U.S.—to grow in other markets where opportunities exist. If we had a good agreement with Korea, then, yes, there would be additional opportunities for Canadian companies there, absolutely.

International Trade committee  No, I was saying that it's too early for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce or, I would suggest, this committee to make a determination on whether or not it was a good agreement. Our understanding is that it's relatively close to the end of the negotiations. There will be a determination of what can be in the deal, and the Canadian government and Canadian Parliament will have to make a decision on whether or not that is enough.

International Trade committee  I'm not sure what type of airtight assurances you could get, beyond two governments standing up and signing an agreement. All of these agreements have a dispute-settlement mechanism. So I would suggest that if an agreement comes to this committee for review, you look carefully at the dispute settlement mechanism.