International Trade committee  Thank you for inviting me to speak on behalf of CAFTA, the voice of Canadian agri-food exporters. CAFTA represents the 90% of farmers who depend on trade, and producers, processors, and agri-food exporters who want to grow the economy through better and competitive access to int

International Trade committee  I'll let you go first.

International Trade committee  This will be handled by our members directly, so I'm happy to pass this on for them to follow up with you and the committee.

International Trade committee  I'd like to answer your question. I think it's important that these free trade agreements actually work, and for that to happen, we need to ensure they are ratified. We understand the CPTPP will be signed next month in Chile, and it's important that it gets ratified for it to be

International Trade committee  For the Pacific Alliance, our exports are just under $3 billion. There are opportunities to reduce tariffs and grow our exports through this. Moreover, regional free trade agreements can help create supply chains, and through our regional agreements we can ensure that all partner

International Trade committee  Very much so. Because we are an export-oriented sector, our growth comes from international markets, so agreements like NAFTA, the CETA, CPTPP, and other agreements with China are key to helping us reach the $75-billion target set in budget 2017. We see opportunities for the comm

International Trade committee  Thank you for having me. I'm pleased to be here today on behalf of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, CAFTA, to speak on the subject of a potential agreement between Canada and the Pacific Alliance. CAFTA, as you know, is the voice of Canadian agrifood exporters, represen

Agriculture committee  That is a broad issue. In my opinion, it would be preferable to put it directly to the members of the various sectors. Many of our members have already appeared before this committee, or will do so. It might be better to ask them if local products should come from the region, th

Agriculture committee  Absolutely. It is in fact thanks to free trade agreements that Canada is negotiating, hopefully, better access to international markets. Traditionally, our biggest export market has been the United States, if you consider all products. Our second largest export market is China,

Agriculture committee  That is a good question. It is true that as soon as a free trade agreement is ratified and implemented, and sometimes even before, we see a decrease in tariff barriers, but an increase in non-tariff barriers. That is the case for Europe as well. Today, our negotiators and the p

Agriculture committee  It will be my pleasure. I'm pleased to be here today on behalf of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, CAFTA, to speak on the subject of a food policy for Canada. CAFTA is a coalition of national organizations that have a major stake in international trade and seek a more op

International Trade committee  We're sending a lot of wheat to the Italians for them to make their pasta.

International Trade committee  Some other key exporting countries are France, the U.K., and the Netherlands. Also, at times, depending on the sector, it's difficult to track where the commodities and the products are going, because there's a lot of intra-EU trade. But Italy certainly is one of the top.

International Trade committee  On the prices, in some cases having more products coming in may increase competition, particularly when products are similar, and at times it may force prices down. That provides a benefit to the consumer as well as providing more choices to the consumer. However, that really dep

International Trade committee  We know that when free trade agreements are implemented, typically tariffs come down or are reduced. Non-tariff barriers come up right after, as a result, for example, of countries not adopting international standards, lack of compliance, or at times blatant and creative ways of