Mr. Chris Collenette:

Yes, some of my work involves advising international companies, that is, not just Canadian ones, that are setting up in Ireland over other jurisdictions. As the Senator mentioned, Canada is bilingual, so there will be a workforce that is not just French speaking and there will be access to both English speakers and French speakers, which is not the case in Ireland.

As for what Ireland could do to develop an advantage over France, it is already doing it. It is a more competitive and easier place to set up a company. There are larger groups of talent here, especially in the tech sector, than there are in many areas of France. Employment law, while more tilted towards the employee than is the case in North America, is still more tilted towards the employer than is the case in the rest of Europe. Of course, there are tax advantages to setting up here as well. I think that work has been done. Moreover, with specific regard to the Quebec population, as we have noted, more than 40% of Quebecers have Irish heritage, so there is an affinity to Ireland just as there is to France.