International Trade committee  Absolutely. It can't hurt. In these dynamics, it's almost a bit of a tension horizontally and vertically. If you look at CETA, for example, we know for sure that the U.S. business community was observing very closely, because they got pretty close on their TTIP agreement. Now CPT

International Trade committee  I would agree with you to some degree, but I can tell you the biggest concern that foreign investors have when we talk to them is NAFTA. You can't detach our relationship with the U.S. from how we operate in the world. You can't suddenly just detach how our supply chains work nor

International Trade committee  It depends on how these negotiations unfold. As I said, being part of the trailblazers is a good thing, because you get to have a voice on how the rules are made. Also, we don't exactly know what the process is going to look like. I would say, as my colleagues have already ment

International Trade committee  Well, I believe so. I understand that Scotiabank actually made a submission to the government outlining the specifics of the benefits for them that would be in this agreement. Definitely in the services space, it's all about rules of trade, and this is uncharted territory. The tr

International Trade committee  Certain Asian countries are observing the Pacific Alliance, including China, Japan. There's huge interest in bringing Australia and New Zealand into the mix. I think it tells you something that all this vibrant activity is happening on the Pacific side. I see it as an opportunity

International Trade committee  Unfortunately, I don't have the stats with me. We haven't gone to that level of depth in our analysis, but it's really about providing the conditions for those jobs to preserve or grow them. I'd be happy to look into that and consult our members and get back to the committee.

International Trade committee  That's an interesting question. I will try to keep it short. As you know, we're the largest business association in the country. It's not an easy or simple process. We have various ways through which we inform our policy positions. We have an annual general meeting where our dif

International Trade committee  At the moment we have agrifood production, agriculture as you can see from my colleagues at the table, and services. That has been the biggest caucus I would say in favour.

International Trade committee  Surprisingly, no. I have tried to look. I did ask. It was surprisingly no, no big comments against.

International Trade committee  I can go first. In a way, we're trail-blazing. It hasn't been done before. No one is yet an associate member of the Pacific Alliance, so even there you have a strategic advantage in that you can actually partake in how these things are done. The full members, they know they have

International Trade committee  Yes. I would agree with Mr. Lavoie for sure. I think competitiveness vis-à-vis the U.S. is a perennial issue for Canada. Yes, we trade with them; they're our biggest trading partner, but as well, as you mentioned, they're a close competitor. Trade agreements are just one piece i

International Trade committee  Good morning. Thank you to the committee for conducting this study and for inviting the Canadian Chamber of Commerce to provide comments and our views on a potential agreement between Canada and the Pacific Alliance. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is supportive of preferent

International Trade committee  Sure. The imposition of national content thresholds or requirements for national content, either in rules of origin or government procurement, would be unacceptable as well. We see this as going against the spirit of free trade. Last, we think that we should seize the opportuni

International Trade committee  Sorry. A win-win-win outcome is still possible, and I think we should pursue it. Thank you.

International Trade committee  Good afternoon. First, on behalf of Jayson Myers, who was scheduled to be here today to talk to you about our views on North American trade, I would like to express his regrets. He was unable to change his schedule and accommodate the change. I am very pleased to be here repr