International Trade committee  It's common that both parties will have some sensitivities. But you need to look at it not necessarily as trading off one to the other. This is a complex negotiation and it involves a lot of different issues. In agriculture alone, you're talking about a breadth of issues that is

International Trade committee  Agriculture, generally speaking, is a sensitive area for Europe. Traditionally they have always taken a fairly defensive position, whether it is in this negotiation with Canada or in other negotiations at the WTO or with other trading partners. I think we need to be creative in

International Trade committee  Thank you for your question. At the time the negotiations were launched, there was an agreement that there was to be a no-exclusion a priori... That essentially left it open to each side to make proposals on anything of interest to them. So that's the operating modality we agree

International Trade committee  As I said, it's up to the European Union to make proposals that may relate to products under supply management. Our response remains the same, which is that the government strongly supports supply management. We have defended supply management in all our trade negotiations, and w

International Trade committee  In terms of developing countries, we have accepted the principle in the negotiations that developing countries should be entitled to certain protections for their agricultural sector. That recognition is certainly very much in line with what you're suggesting. It will be availabl

International Trade committee  Mr. Chairman, as I said earlier, the issues of interest connected to food sovereignty are certainly present in the negotiations around the position put forward by countries in order to protect their agricultural sectors. Our very firm position on supply management reflects how

International Trade committee  Mr. Chairman, let me take the second question first. In terms of a negative stance, the chair is producing these papers on his own authority, as chair of the negotiating group. It's not an agreed text nor a consensus text. It is what the chair believes is a possible landing zone

International Trade committee  It's always a bit difficult to have a precise assessment of the benefits. There's one thing that could be done. If we look back at the Uruguay Round, which was the last of the WTO rounds in the 1990s, the department has done a study trying to assess what has been the impact of th

International Trade committee  Absolutely. The WTO Agreement on Agriculture contains specific rules for agriculture in several areas, whether it concerns subsidies, food aid, export subsidies or export credits in particular. The WTO Agreement on Agriculture and the proposals put forward in the framework of the

International Trade committee  No more so than within the general membership of the WTO.

International Trade committee  You have to realize that at the WTO, there are a great many such coalitions that are formed around common interests. The Cairns Group is but one. There is also the G20, which unites the developing countries. There are all kinds of other coalitions, like the G10, that brings toget

International Trade committee  The issue of agricultural subsidies is one of the three pillars of the agriculture negotiations. There are proposals on the table that quite directly target a substantial reduction in subsidies, because they create trade distortions. For example, these proposals are aimed at an 8

International Trade committee  Agriculture is often seen as one of the most important components, for the simple and very good reason that a great majority of countries see it as a way to promote their development. For these developing countries—and there are at least 70—an improvement in agricultural trade ru

International Trade committee  Mr. Chairman, Canada has been part of the Cairns Group for many years because we have many interests in common with the members of this group, however, the other members of the Cairns Group are entirely aware of the Canadian position on supply management and have accepted that Ca

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think you've certainly raised a very good question. Our challenge is to make sure that the position we've taken on supply management prevails. As I said, this is a pretty challenging negotiating position, since essentially, as you said, we are not prep