International Trade committee  Well, if you think about what's been going on in Japan for the last two decades, it's been stagnating economically and it's had a few prime ministers—

International Trade committee  —and now it's trying to recover from a triple whammy of indescribable proportions. It has had one or two prime ministers who've actually gotten some things done in terms of trying to restructure parts of the Japanese economy that are sources of considerable weakness and that have

International Trade committee  I go back to the comment I made in my prepared remarks, where Canada is late to the region. We were there decades ago and then we have been absent. We have developed a reputation in the region for turning up and then not following through. I would say that some of the concerns t

International Trade committee  If it happens, first of all it will be the U.S. and the most progressive economic units in Asia. It's not clear that it will not include China at some point in the future. It will only include Japan if they are willing to talk about everything. So I don't see Canada-Japan as an

International Trade committee  I have no idea. It will be revealed in the negotiations. It's very hard to discern from the joint study. You know, they use language, which I'm sure comes from Japan, about being sensitive to each other's concerns, but that language turns up in reports of the Australian discuss

International Trade committee  As I said, both countries are demandeurs at the TPP. The other nine look at our behaviour. The reason that the Japan-Australia agreement is so hard to strike is partly because of the Japanese reticence, particularly in agriculture, which nobody else has mentioned this morning. I

International Trade committee  Good morning. Thank you very much for the opportunity to talk to you. Can you hear me okay?

International Trade committee  I'd like to make four points, one about the past and three about the future, and start with a context that goes back to 1986, when I and a Japanese colleague published a study of Canada-Japan relations. At that time, we situated the Canada-Japan relationship within the Canada-U.S

International Trade committee  It's fine, thanks.