International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  On our Government of Canada website we have a TPP page and we would offer a link on our page to, for example, the Singapore page, notifying Canadian stakeholders that they could sign up.

International Trade committee  Well, it depends on the round. I think the most we had at one point was 15.

International Trade committee  I'm getting a count...I don't have the exact number. There were stakeholder events at a variety of rounds in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei. As for how many Canadians appeared, it depended on the round. In Singapore, we had 13 Canadian stakeholders participating.

International Trade committee  Well, as I said, for a country like Canada, which is highly trade dependent—I don't know if “middle economy” is quite the right term, but that's a term you often hear used to describe Canada—I think the World Trade Organization is crucial, and I think global rule setting is crucial.

International Trade committee  I'm not sure I would put the link that way. I would agree with your comment that through extensive consultations for the European negotiations, through extensive consultations that we have for a bilateral with Japan, and for extensive consultations that we have for putting into place our refreshed global market strategy as a department, there's a huge amount of work that has been done in engaging with Canadian businesses and stakeholders to understand where their market interests lie, where their business interests lie, and what we can do to assist them in terms of trade policy tools, investment agreements, FTAs, and air agreements.

International Trade committee  The consultations that we have are broad-based. They're ongoing. They're not simply in relation to an FTA. They're in relation to the bread and butter of our job, which is to understand Canadian businesses and Canadian stakeholders' trade interests. We take that information in a variety of contexts and use it in a variety of contexts, and then we dig down specifically in respect of this initiative.

International Trade committee  Specific positions within the negotiation in this area or another area are still very much under discussion. I think we are committed to ensuring that we work to protect Canadian interests across all sectors, and that's what we're doing.

International Trade committee  I don't think I fully understand the question.

International Trade committee  Our responsibility in the negotiations is to pursue Canada's interests as vigorously as we can across every sector, and within a sector, across all areas. That's what I'm tasked with doing and that's what I'm doing.

International Trade committee  The area of IP generally, and pharmaceuticals in particular, within that chapter is a very important—and I think “sensitive” is fair—topic for everybody around that table. We are at the table pushing for, and negotiating hard for, an outcome that represents Canadian policy and the balance we have struck.

International Trade committee  The country hosting the event would have a website and registration would be open via the website for any stakeholder from any TPP country.

International Trade committee  Well, I think the answer to that question is that we've entered this negotiation with the sensitivities that we have. Other countries have sensitivities that they have. We—

International Trade committee  We have a lot of bilateral FTAs with countries with which we are also partners in the WTO. There's a principle that we use when we have overlapping commitments. One is that from a goods perspective, from a market access perspective, the most liberalizing regime can prevail. The exporter can take advantage of whichever rule is in place under whichever agreement that is most beneficial to that exporter.