International Trade committee  We would certainly have to advance the process expeditiously, and that's what we're doing from our end. Once the bill is tabled, it's in your hands, not in ours, but we're working on our part of the bargain, which is to get the bill to you.

International Trade committee  There's nothing specific the provinces and territories need to do to implement their obligations.

International Trade committee  Well, certainly we have faced challenges by Australian wine producers, New Zealand wine producers, and American wine producers wanting better access to certain markets in Quebec and Ontario and British Columbia, and even, in the Australia case presented to us through the World Trade Organization, including Nova Scotia.

International Trade committee  Well, just briefly, we consulted throughout the original TPP process. Then, once the agreement was concluded in 2015, and we were in the position to move the agreement towards ratification, we really intensified our consultative process. When we then entered into a phase where we were getting serious about negotiating an agreement without the United States, we did the usual consultative triggers.

International Trade committee  I think we had three consultations that I recall with indigenous communities. Minister Champagne himself engaged in one such session. I personally was involved in one with indigenous groups at the end of last year, not just on the CPTPP agreement, but also to seek indigenous groups' views on what they thought about a possible free trade negotiation with China, during the exploratory process.

International Trade committee  I don't have the specific answer to that question this morning. I think we would have to make that assessment when we arrive at that point. Concerning patent term adjustment provisions, we've suspended the obligation to enforce delays.

International Trade committee  Sure, absolutely.

International Trade committee  This would be something we would have to take on if the United States were to return to the agreement.

International Trade committee  We're working on the implementing legislation right now. It's a fairly onerous process. Our Department of Justice lawyers take the lead in drafting the legal bill, working in consultation with their counterparts in all relevant government departments. We're making good progress on that work and are hoping to be in a position to table the bill expeditiously.

International Trade committee  I would have to say that's a political decision that will have to be taken. Our job is to prepare the bill so that it's ready to be tabled.

International Trade committee  Absolutely. It's very important to Canada to be among the first six or close to the first six countries that ratify this agreement. We are very closely monitoring what other countries are doing, and it looks at this point as though we could be in a position such that this agreement enters into force by January or February of next year with six parties.

International Trade committee  No.

International Trade committee  Thank you for the question. The cultural sector is obviously very important to this agreement as well. We were restricted under the original TPP agreement. We were unable to implement any policies that would be discriminatory against foreign service providers or investors, in terms of developing Canadian cultural content.

International Trade committee  The concerns of our supply management industries were that they we were opening the market in the original agreement and we opened the market by providing quotas to be filled for various dairy, poultry, and cheese products, which would lead to a further erosion of the supply management system.

International Trade committee  We've had no discussion of financial incentives to the auto sector among officials. Those are consultations, I understand, that are ongoing between the government and our automobile sector.