International Trade committee  In terms of canola, we often feel like a poor cousin to the United States. They seem to get better tariff treatment in many countries. Our position is very clear here: we want as good as the U.S. got. Under the current situation we wouldn't reach the same level of zero tariff unt

International Trade committee  I wasn't part of that, but my understanding is that was part of preliminary negotiations between the Canadian government and the Korean government. I gather, in the case of refined oil, it was a reduction from a 30% tariff down to a 10% tariff, as indicated, which we've already s

International Trade committee  One of the things is that Korea does not have a canola industry to protect. So from our perspective, it's a fairly easy thing for them to reduce or even eliminate tariffs entirely, because they're not protecting a domestic industry.

International Trade committee  If I could add to that from the canola side, there are a number of other countries in Asia that have prohibitive tariffs or differential tariffs on canola oil. Korea's neighbours across the Yellow Sea, which is one of our largest markets, has a very significant impact on the pric

International Trade committee  Our current market is about $45 million worth of sales of canola oil. We think we can double or triple that with a successful free trade agreement over time.

International Trade committee  The canola industry certainly has been part of the discussions, both through our group and the Canadian Oilseed Processors Association, which is the crusher organization. We both have a common position with respect to parity with soybean oil as per the U.S.–Korea free trade agree

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and my thanks to the committee for the invitation to speak today. The Canola Council of Canada is a national trade association representing all sectors of the industry, including producers, input suppliers, processors and crushers, and marketers of canol