International Trade committee  The bottom line for us is that we will continue to be vigilant on positions we've taken. The government has been at the table with us and we continue to work with it. We encourage your committee to work with the provinces and others to make sure this arrangement on trade will be

International Trade committee  Thank you very much for your question. With regard to procurement, when they develop a procurement threshold, we've asked that its levels be sufficient so that we will not be burdened with additional costs on items we would get through normal procurement, and without having to g

International Trade committee  Thank you very much, Gerald. I'm here officially as FCM's representative as chair of the finance and intergovernmental arrangements committee, and I can certainly talk on the Canadian perspective. Relative to my personal view, I think you and I have had that conversation at hom

International Trade committee  Thank you, Gerald. The meeting in Nelson was a very positive one. Our members were very happy to see the minister come and present and discuss this issue. We had some very legitimate concerns, and I believe the minister and the trade negotiator were forthright in their position

International Trade committee  Well, Wayne, thank you very much for the question. We have some 3,700 mayors in Canada, so you're going to have a slight variance of opinions on some issues. But what we've been able to do is secure a position on procurement that we've articulated to the federal government and

International Trade committee  What we have done is communicate with our provincial counterparts throughout the country and encourage them to have dialogue with the provinces in any specific area. As well, at the national level, we were bringing those concerns forward. So clearly we are doing all on our end in

International Trade committee  As I mentioned before, through DFAIT we have had meetings that are conference calls, by and large, with previous ministers and the trade negotiators. As well, we had discussions with Mr. Fast, who, by the way, was a councillor in Abbotsford, B.C. I spent a few years of my life

International Trade committee  Thank you very much, Robert. I appreciate the comments and the kind words. I guess I must have got enlightened to get to this level of politics. Maybe if you had any influence on the province to enshrine municipalities with more empowerment, that would be good; we wouldn't have t

International Trade committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. It's a pleasure to be here from High Liner Foods, just outside of Lunenburg in Lunenburg County. I appreciate being able to deal with this through this medium. I have a small presentation on behalf of FCM that I'd like to go through first to brin