International Trade committee  On the specific market in Colombia, that would be a question better posed to the Wheat Board. Our position has always been that the volume the Wheat Board can negotiate with around the world very often gives them a leg up in a market because they have the sheer volume, so they ha

International Trade committee  The negotiations on sensitive products at the WTO are difficult. I do know that farmers are looking at those negotiations. They are looking at single-desk selling and they're wondering if there's a link between the two and whether deregulation of single-desk also means that suppl

International Trade committee  No, I don't have the dollar values. All I have is that our major exporters now are the peas, lentils, beans, barley, and wheat. But you know, it's not just about increasing the volume, although one would hope that as we compete against other countries, especially the U.S., we co

International Trade committee  First of all, on your first point, we've always said that if you do a trade negotiation, it has to be good for all of agriculture. To that extent, I'm certainly not here saying let's sign the deal because it might be good for wheat or peas or lentils. We're saying it has to be go

International Trade committee  You're absolutely right. Right now there's a 12.5% applied tariff on wheat. For barley it's 10%. But for wheat and barley they have a bound tariff that floats somewhere between 90% and 248%. So if we suddenly bring wheat into Colombia and they think it is too low a price, they ca

International Trade committee  Our role with the negotiators is simply to get briefings from them and then to provide input. When we do meet with other country delegations, we typically will phone our negotiators and say what is important for the other country to hear from us and what would help us to say if w

International Trade committee  That's right, and I think that's why it's an important point, even on the question you asked Mr. Masswohl. If my recollection is right, Colombia imports somewhere around 80% of their wheat, barley, and pulse crop needs. If we don't have the same deal the U.S. has, then the U.S.

International Trade committee  That's why I made the point that they obviously need 80% of their requirements. This isn't about us trying to compete or out-compete the peasant farmers in Colombia; it's about our ability to fill the same market that the U.S. might be filling. If we're not there, the U.S. will f

International Trade committee  In agriculture, in general, our numbers show that we import about $280 million worth from Colombia. We export about $200 million worth. The imports from Colombia are primarily coffee, bananas, and cut flowers. Our exports are--I'm not sure, if you already export, how much--beef,

International Trade committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the invitation. It certainly is a pleasure to be here, and to be here with my colleagues, Mr. Masswohl and Mr. Webster. I'm going to be very brief. Basically, we applaud the federal government for engaging in bilaterals. We sent

Agriculture committee  It would have to be some sort of auditing or oversight, just as there is in the current labelling of “Product of Canada”. I'm not sure to what level they check that, but in our initiative there would have to be some oversight or auditing to make sure there was credibility in the

Agriculture committee  I certainly agree with you one hundred percent. We haven't done a cost analysis of what this has cost us. We believe that it certainly is a hit on the credibility of our regulatory system. Interestingly enough, we know that consumers have a lot of confidence in a rigorous regulat

Agriculture committee  Do you mean the definition of...?

Agriculture committee  No, I wouldn't have any idea.

Agriculture committee  I think I was buying Canadian oranges when I was there.