International Trade committee  Foreign investment by Canadian companies in the labour market certainly takes place even among very small companies. If you're providing contract research capability that requires advanced mathematics in the calculus of that work, it's possible that you will seek a sort of higher

International Trade committee  I'm not suggesting that. I'm suggesting that portions of the workforce may be located in various parts of the world, depending on access to expertise and depending on access to specific price points in the service equation.

International Trade committee  I have only the technical overview to fall back on, but I think for us the fact that electronic commerce is mentioned at all is a very strong indication that it's at least in the countenance of the agreement.

International Trade committee  There are obstacles, certainly, that can emerge in terms of electronic commerce being treated in different ways from regular commerce, so recognition that...the technical overview kind of indicates that those distinctions won't prevail.

International Trade committee  The distinctions between electronic commerce and regular commerce.

International Trade committee  No, I think the fact that we have an ICT industry at all is an outcome of our liberalized agreements with the United States and in North America.

International Trade committee  It's just the economic cycle. I think seeing that uptick in European markets, and knowing that there are similar upticks in the Pacific Rim and in Asia—

International Trade committee  Mr. Rice talked about the non-tariff aspects of this in his brief. I mean, this is what's appealing to us as well. I don't spend a lot of time talking to my members about tariffs and tariff implications, but the non-tariff-related barriers to trade are certainly what preoccupy us

International Trade committee  Oh, there are tariffs in IT, but as I said, we're fundamentally dependent on the export market, so they're not obstacles. They don't emerge in discussions about—

International Trade committee  There is emerging interest, as I said, in the Pacific Rim. There's a fairly major initiative going forward now around trade to India and south Asia. Latin America is becoming a very important market, particularly in the wireless sector. They're nascent markets in their evolution

International Trade committee  I'm sorry, I'm not equipped to answer that. We haven't done that study, and we haven't done a canvass on that, but I think it's incumbent on us to do so going forward.

International Trade committee  I'm not aware of what the tariff levels are. I apologize.

International Trade committee  Thank you very much for inviting ITAC to meet with you today to talk about the comprehensive economic trade agreement. I am here this afternoon as a poor substitute for my boss, Karna Gupta. Karna is in Dubai today, leading a trade mission at the Arab health conference. He's wit