International Trade committee  Mr. Chair, and honourable members, good morning, and warmest thanks for giving me the opportunity to speak with you about the positive effects of the global markets action plan. My field of work at the North-South Institute is on international trade and investment, particularly

International Trade committee  No.

International Trade committee  There has been no significant growth, particularly when you take it per capita. The Honduran population has one of the highest rates of growth in the region, and the growth per capita has been minimal, around 1%. That is not really considered growth in a developing country.

International Trade committee  That is the GDP. That is not the GDP per capita.

International Trade committee  Have I supported any in the past? If I had been asked, I think so. Some trade agreements have good potential, for example, the FTA that Canada has signed with Chile or the one it has signed with Costa Rica. In terms of the development of those countries, because the distance in d

International Trade committee  Gildan's already there, therefore it doesn't need the FTA to continue to be there. I have never seen any—

International Trade committee  It certainly had $300 million of profit out of $2 billion of revenues last year. The main reason, as I said before, why Gildan is there is not to have a level playing field with U.S. firms or European firms. By the way, European firms are not on the same track, but Gildan is the

International Trade committee  No. There are two elements. One is that all of those indicators have since deteriorated. The second point is this. Whether there is a causal relationship between one thing and the other, I'd be hesitant. I'm in economics and I work in international trade, but I wouldn't overpla

International Trade committee  The American research that I've seen indicates, no. We should take that literally. It hasn't helped. It hasn't provided them with an additional advantage. The trade preferences that Honduras has now with the FTA they have signed with the U.S. are trade advantages that it already

International Trade committee  It has not increased above the averages for those lines of trade, even if you take U.S. imports, for example, textiles, or you take global exports. In general, textiles tend to be ruled by other global dynamics that are much more important than the level of tariffs in these bilat

International Trade committee  I would say with all respect, but trying to be as precise as possible, that it is useless. It doesn't really help. I don't really see the point in economic terms. It provides increased levels of certainty for investors but the biggest investor from Canada in Honduras is in a free

International Trade committee  Yes. I tend to agree with Jennifer that it could increase the level of certainty for Canadian firms in mining by going there. But I think the Canadian mining industry has already evolved to a point where it's not going to get burned again by going into these kinds of jurisdictio

International Trade committee  I'm sorry I do not know the names of the families involved. I read it the day before yesterday while I was preparing this, but I haven't memorized it and I didn't write them down. Yes, they are related to some of the wealthiest families in Honduras who have significant participat

International Trade committee  It's one of the developing countries with the best market access, and that is very much—

International Trade committee  Honduras is considered a developing country, yes.