Canada-China Relations committee  I'll divide it into two—economics and security. We talked about infrastructure. It's critical that we remove the bottlenecks and get things done in a reasonable amount of time. That also means regulatory reform, and we have to address taxes because we compete with other regimes on our tax regime.

Canada-China Relations committee  I would say the TMX expansion took, what, 10 years? It really shouldn't take that long. If we're serious players in the world, we need to learn how to do these regulatory reviews and approvals more quickly. We need to do the permitting more quickly. We need to do the decision-making more quickly.

Canada-China Relations committee  I think infrastructure is absolutely key. For the first time in Canada's history, we now have the infrastructure to ship crude oil to Asia. The first shipment left, like I said, last Wednesday. Hopefully, next year the first major LNG export facility will come online—LNG Canada—and that will start to export to the region.

Canada-China Relations committee  I think those risk management measures that were pointed out are all good. The only thing I will say is that, irrespective of the good relationships and relationship-building we try to do—having offices in the region and so on—it's a country that, essentially, is an authoritarian regime where political goals are going to trump trade and relationships, depending on the issues.

Canada-China Relations committee  I'm going to say just very quickly that it's very gratifying to hear that the soybean and canola growers are looking to expand and diversify markets in ASEAN, and I applaud that. The one thing I would say as to why that's particularly important is that, before 2019—I just had a quick look at the statistics—before the ban on canola, China represented 40% of Canada's total canola exports, and today, with $5 billion in exports, as was mentioned, Canada relies on the Chinese market for 65% of its total exports of canola.

Canada-China Relations committee  Thank you.

Canada-China Relations committee  No, there isn't. It's a very general term. It's defined as they see it internally, so I couldn't tell you what clean energy is completely. There are things most of us would consider to be clean energy or non-emitting types of energy, but people will differ on the definition of clean energy.

Canada-China Relations committee  I agree that, if we're going to use a term like “clean energy”, it needs to be more specifically defined. I think it should be more inclusive of even hydrocarbons, if they are produced responsibly and if measures are taken to reduce emissions. We're going to have to rely on all forms of energy in order to reach our emissions goals over time.

Canada-China Relations committee  It's absolutely essential, in my view. I think the region will be significantly held back if Canadian energy exports are in any way inhibited in the region. The fact remains that natural gas, in particular LNG, is going to be required in the region to reduce the amount of coal being burned and therefore reduce emissions.

Canada-China Relations committee  If we want to talk about the IPEF, the Indo-Pacific economic framework, although it's certainly not as valuable to Canada as, say, the CPTPP, which is a full-blown trade agreement, it is important to be at the table where significant players in the region are sitting down talking to each other.

Canada-China Relations committee  Mr. Chair, thank you for the opportunity to address your committee today. I would like to make a few remarks on Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy by first talking about the external environment that we now face and then make some observations about the strategy itself. First of all, in my view, the IPS is probably the most significant, comprehensive and ambitious strategic document on the Indo-Pacific or Asia-Pacific region that the Canadian government has ever issued.