Bibeau and Champagne talk trade in Sherbrooke
Minister of International Development and La Francophonie Marie-claude Bibeau was joined in Sherbrooke yesterday by Françoisphilippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade, to speak to members of the local business community at a conference organized with the Sherbrooke Chamber of Commerce.
The focus of the discussion was on the opportunities soon to be presented to businesses in the area when the Canada/european Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) enters into effect this coming Sept.21.
The two international ministers spent the morning with business movers and shakers in the region, and participated in a round table with women entrepreneurs and Commerce Sherbrooke in the afternoon, discussing the role of women in international trade.
Bibeau and Champagne took a few minutes in between breakfast meetings to meet with local media.
“Today we are talking about opportunities, and ways to be successful together,” Champagne said, explaining CETA will have an impact on all sectors of the economy, from agriculture to manufacturing to information technology, to name a few. Champagne also added that part of his mandate was to ensure market accessibility to all Canadians and businesses large and small.
Champagne said with an agreement as important as CETA, there has never been a better time for entrepreneurs in the area to diversify and find ways to work together to ensure a place in the global marketplace.
When asked if businesses in the area were ready to compete on an international level, Champagne said there were a surprising number of businesses in the Townships already exporting internationally.
The Record asked Champagne and Bibeau if they felt satisfied with the measures in CETA to avoid a negative impact on more vulnerable sectors of the Canadian economy, namely agriculture and the dairy industry.
“We’ve been very clear not only in CETA but also in NAFTA negotiations that we would be protecting supply management,” Champagne replied, referring to the tariff rate quota (TRQ) for cheese.
“We’ve considered all views. Our main concern was to be equitable, to make sure that small and medium-sized producers would have a chance to succeed.”
“Rest assured, when it comes to trade agreements, our agri-food sector is one of the most important in Canada, it’s a huge export market,” commented Champagne, pointing out that CETA extends market access for beef, pork and bison.
“Clearly the industry is front and centre when it comes to our trade agreement,” he said.
“We’ll continue to be there for our farmers because, you know, we truly understand, as rural MPS the impact that agriculture has, not only in terms of business, but also in terms of founding the social fabric of what farming is in Quebec.”