International Trade committee  We are more niche. Many of our members are members of both, however we represent farm equipment manufacturers, and so in Canada all of the manufacturing of farm equipment—except for one facility in Saskatoon, which is a CNH facility—is what we call short-line farm equipment, and so with MacDon, for example, they specialize in harvesting equipment.

International Trade committee  Most of our members would be in the 50 to 100—

International Trade committee  Yes, and that is where our industry is quite different. In Ontario for example, in 2017, Ontario-based agricultural equipment manufacturers broke the record, with $773 million worth of implements being exported. That's the largest coming out of any province, so there's a very big group, specifically in southwestern Ontario, that does exceptional manufacturing and they have from 20 up to 100 employees.

International Trade committee  Unless it's a MacDon.

International Trade committee  Can I just add to that? From the perspective of the financing and the credit availability, I'd like to just share with—

International Trade committee  Yes. We have a small member who says one of their fears, given the current volatility in leadership in Brazil, is that EDC may not be consistently available. Our organization took great advantage of EDC availability in Russia and Ukraine. When EDC's policy on this area changed, we were left sitting on several container loads of product specific for the area that we could not ship.

International Trade committee  There are some of our members who are involved in that element of harvesting, yes.

International Trade committee  At this time, Canada's comparative advantage is in the harvesting equipment, some of the dryland equipment, and there's also a substantial amount of beef and livestock in Argentina and Brazil. I think the challenges and the market potential there are huge. Relative to China, a lot of our members are looking at the intellectual property standards there.

International Trade committee  Thank you for your question. I must speak to the members of the association about that again. Normally, there are no tariffs. The Canada-Mercosur agreement is truly unique because it includes tariffs. However, let me put the question to our members.

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  I think so.

International Trade committee  The Chinese government is investing heavily into becoming food-independent, and when we look at Canada's comparative advantage in agriculture, it's our farming practices. Because Canadian farmers and ranchers are growing food in some of the harshest conditions in the world, by necessity, the equipment has to be top-notch.

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today as you continue your study on a potential Canada–Mercosur free trade agreement. One of our members, MacDon Industries, is represented today by Gene Fraser, vice-president of global sales and marketing.

Agriculture committee  Thank you for doing a good job on working with the government on that one. I think when it comes time for Canadian-made farm equipment, the farmers are the pullers. When you look at the different countries where a seeder that is made in Saskatchewan will show up, it's typically the farmers who are going to international farm shows such as Agritechnica.