Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Chair. I spent most of my professional career working on Canada-U.S. relations for 33 years as a foreign service officer, with postings in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, and as a member of the teams that negotiated the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and then

International Trade committee  I was just going to say that we have to do much more in trade adjustment. In Canada we have a very good safety net with medicare, universal care, and with job training administered by provinces. It is vastly different from what you have in the United States.

International Trade committee  The situations are different, and sometimes we think our system is bad, but in comparison to the U.S., ours is really pretty good. But we do have to pay attention to—and this next accord will have to take this into account—trade adjustment. That will apply probably mostly to the

International Trade committee  I would say trade, but I think the bigger issue is the whole rules-based, liberal international system, the architecture, whether we're talking about the World Trade Organization, the United Nations.... This stuff is all now under a bit of siege. Countries like Canada and Mexico

International Trade committee  The initial Mexican tourism statistics indicate that travel to Canada is up about 60% to 80% from what it was. It's still not exactly where it was before the visa was imposed, but there is a significant number of people now coming to Canada as students and visitors. That's all en

International Trade committee  Yes, ma'am. I think that's exactly what we need to do. Canada's tourism agency, as well as the provincial governments, could be going down and pointing out that it's a wonderful time to visit Canada, as the chair pointed out when he made his introductory remarks. We know Mexicans

International Trade committee  I am.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. My remarks will cover the upcoming trade negotiations, the Canada-Mexico relationship, and the need for middle powers like Canada and Mexico to stand up in support of the rules-based, liberal international system. With regard to the North American accord,

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm just going to underline something that Mike Wilson underlined, which I also mentioned in my remarks, and that is the importance of contact, peer-to-peer relations between members of Parliament, members of Congress, and members of the Mexican Congress, the work that you can do

Foreign Affairs committee  Sir, I'll give you a good example. In terms of autos, the Americans and the Japanese are negotiating auto standards. As Michael Wilson has stated, and as Carlo Dade states, autos are a North American product. There's no such thing as a U.S.-made car or a Canada-made car or a Mex

Foreign Affairs committee  Just to say that, as you're aware, as Mr. Dade described, there are issues with the Mexican police that the Mexican authorities are well aware of about the cooperation that we would have between, say, the RCMP, the FBI, CSIS, the CIA, and other intelligence agencies in Canada and

Foreign Affairs committee  I would just say that I think that the current government shift with the integration of CIDA into the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade was a very sound one. As we link our development objectives to our business objectives, keep in mind that Mexico is the thir

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll just briefly say that I think the work that the three ministers are doing and the fact that, coming out of yesterday's meeting in Mexico, they've agreed to create a kind of climate change group are very positive things. With regard to setting standards in North America on f

Foreign Affairs committee  In my view, the impact was minor because we decided to hold a conference this winter. It is preferable to hold a conference. As you know, a few years ago, we cancelled the conference and that did have an impact. At the end of February, given the visa controversy and the Keystone

Foreign Affairs committee  Sir, I think it is absolutely vital. Really, the tone at the top sets the stage for so much that follows. I think former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said it best when he said that of the relationships that matter for every prime minister, the one that is the most important, t