Earlier in this Session, Minister Marchi asked the Committee to report to him prior to the House rising in June, on what positions Canada should advance in the WTO negotiations to be launched in November of this year. We willingly undertook this task, knowing, however, that it would represent a formidable challenge, given the extensive responsibilities that the Committee has in so many other areas. Meeting that challenge, however, has been a very rewarding one, both because it has allowed us to learn more about this incredibly rich and diverse country and also because we have been able to appreciate the depth of knowledge and understanding that our fellow citizens have concerning the functioning of the world trading system. As recently as ten years ago it would have been fair to say that the GATT, as the WTO was then called, was little known except to a select group of experts and its significance to the economic well being of Canada little appreciated by Canadians as a whole.
Today there is a very different landscape.
One in which experts in trade rub shoulders with representatives of business, labour, agriculture, academics, NGOs, politicians from all levels of government and citizens, all interested in ensuring that we are participating in a world trading system that advances our interests and, at the same time, reflects our values. However, I think that it is also true that Canadians generally are more and more aware of the importance that international trade plays in determining our prosperity in what is one of the world's most open markets. As a result the Committee was able to benefit from the informed opinion of hundreds of Canadians as we travelled across the country from Halifax to Vancouver. The Report reflects their advice to the government in such widely different fields as agriculture, services trade, the emerging trade in information technologies such as the Internet and electronic commerce, competition policy and many other areas that are of concern to Canadians. Indeed it is fair to say, and this Report reflects the reality, that Canadians had opinions on every area that will form the basis of the future negotiations.