Thank you for the invitation to appear before the committee and for your continued attention to international market access for Canadian agriculture.

The committee will be aware that Canadian beef producers have faced their fair share of trade barriers. I am pleased to say that through industry and government co-operation we have collectively achieved many successes in removing barriers.

The establishment of new market access through trade agreements is now our top priority. Europe and Japan are at the top of our priorities list. I imagine we'll talk more about Japan in the future, but I am pleased to be with you here today to discuss the implementation of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.

The CCA has long been a champion of increased trade with Europe. We produce a high-quality, high-value product, and access to European consumers' high disposable income for a quality product is what the Canadian beef sector needs.

Before the negotiations were launched, we supported the CETA concept. During the negotiations, we were a near-constant presence to support the negotiators. Toward the end of the negotiations, when access for beef was a key sticking point, we were pleased that the former prime minister made it a personal objective to achieve meaningful access for Canadian beef.

In all, it is fair to say that the access for beef was a core expected benefit for Canada in CETA and is certainly what we expected.

We have always said that in order to achieve meaningful access for beef, we needed to address both tariff and non-tariff barriers. I'm going to ask John to outline how the tariff issues for beef were addressed in CETA, and I'll wrap up with some thoughts afterwards.

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