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International Trade committee Well, it's closer to yes, but—
November 27th, 2012Committee meeting
Don Stephenson
International Trade committee Yes, including the opportunity to dispute matters regulatory—
November 27th, 2012Committee meeting
Don Stephenson
International Trade committee No, but perhaps my colleague, Luc Santerre, might be able to.
November 27th, 2012Committee meeting
Don Stephenson
International Trade committee Well, I think there are many obstacles. The first is that it's far away. If you are exporting a hard good, the logistical problem and the cost of getting your good to the Indian market plays a role. There's the consumer in India: very price-conscious; very concerned about certa
November 27th, 2012Committee meeting
Don Stephenson
International Trade committee You hear a lot of different numbers, but in India they're all big numbers—
November 27th, 2012Committee meeting
Don Stephenson
International Trade committee —because if you multiply anything by 1.22 billion people, it's a big number. I've heard that anywhere between 250 million and 300 million people are in what India refers to as the middle class. I'm not entirely sure it's the same definition as ours, but affluent consumers number
November 27th, 2012Committee meeting
Don Stephenson
International Trade committee First, with respect to the Indian diaspora in Canada, it is a tremendous asset, particularly in a market where relationships matter. In India, you have to invest a lot in the relationship before you get the deal, and you need relationships to be able to navigate in that market. I
November 27th, 2012Committee meeting
Don Stephenson
International Trade committee My answer would be, principally outside the CEPA; the government's strategy to build a relationship with India involves using all of the tools in the tool box. CEPA is only one of them. The foreign investment protection agreement is one. The social security agreement is one. The
November 27th, 2012Committee meeting
Don Stephenson
International Trade committee Well, Canada cannot prevent Canadian firms from taking advantage of low-cost services—call centres, or software development, or other kinds of services—in other countries. If it's available to them, that helps them remain globally competitive, because that's what their competitor
November 27th, 2012Committee meeting
Don Stephenson
International Trade committee The provinces are closely consulted on the negotiations with India, first of all through the long-standing permanent mechanism for consultation between the federal government and the provinces and territories. It's called C-Trade. It's the committee on trade. It meets at least qu
November 27th, 2012Committee meeting
Don Stephenson
International Trade committee You make a point that they support the negotiations in general, but the devil is in the details. That's true of all trade negotiations. The fact is that I just came from two hours of sitting around a table like this with all the provinces to debrief them on what happened at the
November 27th, 2012Committee meeting
Don Stephenson
International Trade committee I like to use the McCain plant as the best example I can think of in regard to investing in India, because they took a very patient approach, they took a very local approach, and they are very successful. With respect to the balance in the flow of investment, it's a little bit d
November 27th, 2012Committee meeting
Don Stephenson
International Trade committee Well, the wage cost is the principal—or at least one of the principal—Indian competitive advantages. That is just in the nature of trade. I don't see that as a major vulnerability to Canadian exports in any sector that I can immediately think of.
November 27th, 2012Committee meeting
Don Stephenson
International Trade committee In the course of the most recent discussions with India, the sixth round of negotiations two weeks ago, Canada made proposals with respect to the structure of the services, market access negotiations, and the temporary entry of business persons. I think that is a first step in
November 27th, 2012Committee meeting
Don Stephenson
International Trade committee First of all, with respect to the tariff on lentils, the bound tariff in the WTO, the tariff that India may not exceed, may be 30%, but the applied tariff is often at zero when India needs the imports. The problem with that is the uncertainty with respect to whether the tariff is
November 27th, 2012Committee meeting
Don Stephenson