Finance committee  Sure.

Finance committee  I don't really think it would cost anything more than what is already being made available. What we're suggesting here is that instead of funding directly being provided to colleges or universities for research, at least some of that funding be made available to businesses to the

Finance committee  All this is doing is providing the money to the businesses to make the decisions themselves, and to strengthen the demand for the good research that is happening in our universities and colleges, rather than trying to push the research out into the marketplace.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning. I am pleased to comment today on behalf of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters on the economic they foresee in a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the European Union. I'm really pleased to be able to comment today on the eco

International Trade committee  We have about 10,000 members.

International Trade committee  It's probably about one and a half million.

International Trade committee  I can tell you that, from the point of view of the vehicle assemblers in Canada in the automotive industry, the discussion has been about how soon we can take advantage of the high quota. This is a quota that is 25 times more than we're exporting right now. Most of the problems,

International Trade committee  I think there are two very important reasons to explain why provincial and territorial governments have supported this. One is that they have been part of the negotiations throughout. The impetus behind the whole process was launched by provincial governments; I think Premier Cha

International Trade committee  I think it's benefits for the industries represented in their communities. Europe especially has created a win-win situation for many industry sectors right across the country. I think most provincial and territorial governments would talk about the economic benefits that they wo

International Trade committee  Probably about one and a half million.

International Trade committee  There are about one and a half million people employed in the companies that we represent.

International Trade committee  Well, to the extent that they have jobs, I guess we represent their economic opportunity.

International Trade committee  The opportunity for any Canadian company that is either exporting or doing business in Europe is set by the degree to which they are specialized, have an innovative product or innovative service. I think one of the problems that we've seen over the past decade—this didn't start w

International Trade committee  There's no sure thing in business, and it's going to be the ability of businesses themselves to really take full advantage of the opportunity that lies ahead. What I see is that new customers, new business opportunities are going to drive investment in product innovation, new tec

International Trade committee  It is. I mean, we're exporting cars to China. If we can export cars to China, surely we can export cars into the European Union. It's been difficult because of some of the inspections, the product standards. And the tariff sure doesn't help either. I'm confident that we will be a