International Trade committee  We operate through a mix—of course, quarterbacked by the embassy in Washington. We have a number of consulate generals—larger posts—and then we have a number of smaller offices, in some instances one-person offices. Then we have a number of hybrids where you have a little bit big

International Trade committee  As far as I know, there aren’t any reports on that, but provinces often do publish those types of reports.

International Trade committee  Of course. One of our sectors is in charge of negotiating agreements, be they free trade agreements, air transport agreements or investment protection agreements. That covers all agreements, worldwide. I think that the assistant deputy minister in charge, Mr. Burney, has already

International Trade committee  Since I am not in charge of those negotiations, I cannot say. Negotiations are always very complicated. It would be better if my colleague.... This is someone else’s area of expertise, someone else’s sandbox.

International Trade committee  Yes, we do publish reports on market opportunities.

International Trade committee  As in all free trade agreements, our negotiators have issues at stake. It is always a big challenge, a battle between the two parties. However, we try to create a win-win situation in all our agreements.

International Trade committee  Sure. At the present time, we're in the process of examining whether to reinstitute a concerted business mission approach. Our minister is talking to us about it, but if you look at the example of the provinces and the provincial premiers when they go with large trade missions, t

International Trade committee  It depends on the type of dispute. I can give you a good example of where the government plays a very important role. For instance, there's RIM's situation in India, where it appeared to us that RIM was being singled out unfairly regarding its market presence. There was a war bei

International Trade committee  At this time, part of our mandate is to help Canadian companies with their investments abroad.

International Trade committee  Mr. Chair, to answer the question, there are consultants throughout Canada who offer SMEs services similar to ours. But the difference between our services and theirs is that ours are free of charge. We provide those services to whomever asks for them and is ready to export. Cons

International Trade committee  Informing Canadian clients of any changes in the market is part of every free trade agreement. Often, the clients themselves campaign for free trade agreements. For instance, a company that has had input in Colombia and is already competing with American companies will be at a

International Trade committee  Mr. Chair, as I mentioned before, one of the main challenges we face and the major service that we try to provide SMEs is that if they commit to visiting a market, particularly a distant market like India or China, they have a real focus to their visit. One element of our trade s

International Trade committee  We would certainly like to see the number of firms that we assist rise. It's an interesting statistic. About 2,000 firms do 80% of Canada's exporting. That is the latest statistic we have from StatsCan on this subject. What we want to do in terms of the services we provide—and th

International Trade committee  That is an element of what we want to do. We want to create the next major multinationals. We would like to be able to work with SMEs, or companies that are SMEs today and will turn into RIMs tomorrow. An element of what happens is that—

International Trade committee  Well, yes, in terms of their stock price. But you know what I mean: it's in terms of being a major technology leader. A lot of the bigger firms—which would capture those 2,000—don't really need our help. We'll see them when they have a problem; they'll come in and help us. Bu