Foreign Affairs committee  We have an obligation. I look at it as a short-term and a long-term issue. The short-term one is that we do what we do consistently, and in my career particularly, when I was in China, these were issues that we constantly raised with the Chinese. How it was done depended on whoev

Foreign Affairs committee  I would agree with you in the context of the role of state-owned enterprises. What's also a bit disturbing from the 19th party congress is the fact that there are now party members on boards of private companies as well. These are not the signals that you want to send to the west

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the committee for the opportunity to appear today to discuss the important issue of Canada's engagement with Asia. My name is Stewart Beck. I am president and CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, a not-for-profit organizatio

International Trade committee  On the trade and human rights side, one thing that you have in a trade agreement is a set of codified rules and regulations around which you operate. Once you start building in various elements, that will improve the situation where it's environmental or human rights. Tomorrow,

International Trade committee  If we think where Canada, from a global perspective, has a strategic advantage in the context of Asia, we aren't involved in what I would call traditional security, but we can get involved in non-traditional securities. If you're in a place like Japan, energy is critical and they

International Trade committee  Ultimately, I think we have some time to have the conversations that we're having today, for example. I think that's a healthy thing to do.

International Trade committee  Whether or not everybody agrees, I think fundamentally, people will need to understand that it's in our collective interest going forward. To build on Robin's point, we do not want to be at a disadvantage, because this impacts people's jobs here in Canada, or will.

International Trade committee  It's very important in emerging markets because what you want are rules of the road that are understood, and everybody abides by them. So when you're dealing in markets like China and India, which are two priority markets for the government, you'd like to have an ISDS-type of arr

International Trade committee  The risks if not ratified or the risks if ratified?

International Trade committee  If ratified, it won't really have a tremendous impact on the traditional sectors. People would say the automotive sector might be impacted because of the agreement that's done with the Japanese, but if you take a look at the assemblers and then you take a look at the tier one and

International Trade committee  I can start with Japan. We will be at a distinct disadvantage to Australia. They're our major competitor in that market. Although anybody who's buying will always want to have a diversified source of supply, the majority, whether it's net coal, canola, or pork, will end up goin

International Trade committee  Well, take a look at areas in which we're quite successful in Asia. We do very well in the financial services sector. Bringing down barriers in that particular area, whether it's for our insurance companies or banks, has an impact on our economy here in Canada, because it expands

International Trade committee  In the context of a free trade agreement, you're negotiating both goods and services, and investment. In the context of this, when it comes to the actual benefits of the TPP in the study that you're talking about, I think you also have to take a look at other trade investments we

International Trade committee  But you have to take a look at the success we've had through existing trade agreements that are already in place. We've shown that they have increased certainly our standard of living in the country.

International Trade committee  Take a look at CEPA, although it hasn't been completed, and what the numbers are around that and what the studies would suggest on that. You talk about investment chapters. It's one of those things where at the end of the day people may quarrel about Chapter 11 in NAFTA, but the