International Trade committee  Indeed, Madam Chair, I'm happy to report a success story. Over the past two years, the Government of Canada, working with the Government of P.E.I., agriculture Canada and a major company, the Universal Robina Corporation, has been able to test some seed potatoes in a poorer par

International Trade committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. The Philippines, after more than two years of economic lockdown—one of the most severe in the world—is doing very well. Approximately 70 million people have been vaccinated. There was a time last year when there was a shortage of vaccines, but this countr

International Trade committee  Thank you for the question, Madam Chair. Our embassy never closed. All through the pandemic period it has continued to offer pandemic and visa services and indeed evacuated almost 2,000 Canadian tourists in 2020 at the height of the pandemic. We have continued to operate, and cu

International Trade committee  Perhaps I could speak to that. Here in the Philippines in an embassy of 200 people, we have 15 to 20 people focused on trade commissioner service work, so on-the-ground knowledge and networks, Philippine and Canadian staff who have been able to matchmake based on identified oppor

International Trade committee  Indeed, the joint economic commission will put us on a more level playing field with other foreign countries active in the Philippine market. It will meet every two years intersessionally with the joint overall foreign policy consultations that we have every two years with the Ph

International Trade committee  In the case of the Philippines, there's a free trade agreement negotiation just beginning. Our major interests are agriculture and agri-food. The country cannot feed itself. Our meat exports, particularly pork and beef, were way up during the pandemic because of African swine fev

International Trade committee  Indeed, we see opportunities here in clean tech. There's a desire to move away from coal. The ADB, as I mentioned, through our support to the ADB, is helping retire early coal plants in the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. There's also a possibility for LNG Canada in Prince Ru

International Trade committee  Certainly. As I said, corrective action has been taken. We're more vigilant. Various departments on both sides of the Pacific are involved. I can say that when I was ambassador to Indonesia, foreign countries other than Canada were exporting plastic garbage, against regulations,

International Trade committee  Madam Chair, I totally agree. It's a very good point. Thousands of students are coming to Canada from the Philippines, and many are immigrating to Canada. They are a generational investment. They will become business people, scientists and industrialists, and they will know each

International Trade committee  Madam Chair, in answer to the question, I'm pleased to report that the garbage issue was resolved three years ago, almost exactly, through interaction and negotiation between our two governments and through the embassy here. After the private dispute, all acts of recourse were ex

International Trade committee  Thank you very much for that question. Indeed, that is something we monitor very closely, Madam Chair. I'm happy to report that over the past several years, the Mining Association of Canada has been developing, directly with the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines and in a very

International Trade committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. This will be a transitional year for the Philippines. On June 30, the country's new president, vice-president, and many members of congress, will take office following the May 9 national elections. At 110 million people, mainly young people, the Philipp