Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 20 June 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Ireland's Trade Relationship with Canada: Discussion

Mr. Vivian Doyle-Kelly:

I will add a couple of things. Mr. Collenette mentioned the Canada-US-Mexico trade agreement. Canada is also party to the trans-Pacific trade agreement. Anyone setting up a business in Canada has access to a market consisting of 1.5 billion people. I can speak for Quebec and Montreal. There are companies looking perpetually to bring in companies to set up businesses in Montreal and provincially. We are close to those companies. We work with them regularly. We know what their needs are and who they want to meet. People do business with people. As long as we can get people together, the opportunity exists for business. Our local market, greater Montreal, has 4.3 million people, which is not that short of the size of the population of Ireland. Quebec has 8.5 million to 9 million people. It is probably the best kept secret in Ireland. Language wise, Quebec is officially a French-speaking province, but from a business perspective, it is open. People are mandated to bring businesses into Montreal and Quebec. Those connections can be easily made.

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