Industry committee  No.

Industry committee  I would invite parliamentarians to answer that question.

Industry committee  I think my colleague Mr. Facey made an important point, which is that every time you change a piece of framework legislation it attracts international attention. It's one thing for me to sit here today in 2013 and say that my advice would be, in an ideal world, to change the Investment Canada Act rarely and with very careful consideration.

Industry committee  I would just say a few things very briefly. The Canadian economy is, of course, a living and breathing entity, so as I commend, first and foremost, our bank regulators and officials at the Bank of Canada, as well as those in our supervisory organizations that oversee financial institutions—we obviously can be very thankful that we're not here today talking about taxpayer dollars that need to go to recapitalize banks and financial institutions.

Industry committee  Thank you. Mr. Chair, committee members, thank you for the invitation to appear before the committee concerning amendments to the Investment Canada Act in Bill C-60. Before I begin my comments, let me briefly introduce my organization, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives.

International Trade committee  I agree.

International Trade committee  We can do some things at a very high level. Some generally applicable things include the excellent work of Export Development Canada, the export financing component of that being critical; the trade commissioner service; our diplomatic representation; and the ongoing relationship-building that our diplomatic corps provide for us—the high-level visits of the Prime Minister and ministers, and the engagement of provinces with sub-federal entities in India.

International Trade committee  I think that's a great question.

International Trade committee  We view tariffs, if you will, as the issue that we could deal with almost on day one of a trade negotiation, in the sense that we don't think this is the real barrier or focus for a CEPA or any other trade negotiation. We would like to see Canada move to 0% tariffs, because we do not feel that they're a necessary revenue source for our government.

International Trade committee  We represent 135.

International Trade committee  Absolutely. We've partnered with the Richard Ivey School of Business in London, Ontario, and we are producing a report that we hope will come out in the late fall of 2013. I'd certainly be happy to keep this committee posted on that study.

International Trade committee  You'll forgive me for not having provided a better introduction to the CCCE. Our CEO and president is the Honourable John Manley. As I said, we represent approximately 135 of the largest firms in Canada. We are generally large firms, although we do have some entrepreneur members.

International Trade committee  Certainly our members are large firms. Many of them do have global presence. They are teams that have done work entering foreign markets and learn lessons and apply those to India. Let me make it clear, though—and I hope in further appearances before this committee on other topics to bring you a better sense of the supply chains of our firms, which of course include small and medium-sized enterprises—that as a large firm enters the market, it is bringing its business partners and service providers with them.

International Trade committee  Thanks. Again, I would just underscore some of the macro data about Canada's relative successes, of course, coming out of the global recession. As an economist, I would urge the committee to look not so much simply at the trade deficit situation but at our employment numbers, our growth, and the growth potential of our economy.

International Trade committee  It's a very negative situation.