International Trade committee  Good afternoon. I would like to specify that I am no longer with the Government of Quebec. I was Minister of Industry and Minister of Finance for Quebec for eight years. I work in the same building as before, but in a legal firm, at Norton Rose Fulbright, where I am a strategic

International Trade committee  It's certainly a good question. Economists can argue about that. It's one of the bars, but it's not the only bar. If that's your only bar, you're really short-sighted in a sense, because the economic flows.... For example, trade surpluses and deficits are one thing, but there's $

International Trade committee  I have two comments. I wouldn't compare the heavily subsidized—by some $20 billion—Boeing and how it built its strength through military contracts and then transfer that to anything else in the world.... I would contest that Bombardier was subsidized. I don't think that an equity

International Trade committee  Earlier I spoke about our provincial objectives, but since we are not at the negotiating tables, I cannot imagine a more important topic of co-operation than this between the Government of Canada, the provinces, and the experienced negotiators. Mr. Johnson can draw a comparison w

International Trade committee  Indeed I would say that that is all the more important in such negotiations. Of course the Americans may be frustrated. In certain cases, they can try to find divisions among the provinces. For the moment, however, nothing is filtering out regarding the positions of the provinces

International Trade committee  You are correct to say that electronic trade did not exist 23 years ago. The iPhone was created 10 years ago. I once was Minister of Finance and I am now president of the Institut du Québec, which has just produced a report on e-trade. I think that for Quebec and all of the coun

International Trade committee  In my opinion, there are some controversial topics that we have to put in the centre of the table. Chapter 19 of NAFTA is one, and the cultural exception is another. I was in the company of Mr. Brian Mulroney last week, as our offices are in the same hall in the legal firm I wor

International Trade committee  The prices were up.

International Trade committee  That's a good question. No, I think it's going both ways. The Governments of Canada, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, and Saskatchewan have all been going to the States. Our corporations also have been doing it. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is their big ally. At the end of the day, it

International Trade committee  We have to go sur le terrain in the United States. In each little locality where we as Canadians have a business, we have to make sure, maybe through social media, that the workers in that business understand the relationship. The truck that leaves is Federal Express or it's Bach

International Trade committee  The short answer is yes. I'm out of politics today, but you aren't. I think the lesson from Maxime Bernier is that if you don't support supply management, your seat is at risk, whatever party you're from, and there are provincial elections in Ontario and Quebec this year and in C

International Trade committee  This is major.

International Trade committee  I won't answer on what's being discussed, but what I expect.... You know, with Europe, the provinces opened up on subnational procurement, including on Hydro-Québec, a sacred cow for Quebec. The quid pro quo, though, was access to a market of 500 million people. That's a market t

International Trade committee  Maybe I'm naive—Pierre Marc has much more experience than I do in trade issues—but I think health and education are not on the table, and they never have been. For Canadians—and in other countries also—these basic services to citizens are important. Maybe they'll ask me, because

International Trade committee  That's a good question. I don't have the numbers with me today. If you look at the growth of the Canadian-Mexican-American economy and the millions of jobs created over that period of time, and especially in the first years when Asia was not as competitive, there are huge numbers