Hello Fellow GDC VI Members,

A message was sent out by our national President Jim Hudson on Wednesday June 9th in regards to the proposed constitutional changes. A formal process for receiving your feedback is being finalized at a national level and will be sent out shortly. This formal survey will be sent to you from our chapter executive and it will be a valuable tool to assist in the process of gathering information. Your thoughts and comments will be heard, and we encourage you to take some time to process the proposed changes and submit your feedback through the formal process when it is ready. Please also feel free to send your comments and/or questions to your the GDC VI national representatives by email. They are:

Aaron Heppell - President -

Kirsty Armstrong - National Representative - nationalrep.vibc@gdc.net

Valerie Elliott - Past President -

Your feedback is essential. Please contact us if you have not received the notification by email, and we will send it to you directly.

Thank you,

Aaron Heppell - President, GDC VI

The Director of the Services Trade Policy Division at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), will be visiting Vancouver on May 26th and will be providing the GDC with an update on the status of Canada's international trade negotiations on services and to discuss the GDC's industry's priorities and interests, particularly in the context of any specific barriers to market access that you may encounter in key international markets. They have invited Aaron Heppell, Vancouver Island Chapter President, our National Past President Rod Roodenburg and BC Chapter President Marga Lopez. The meeting will also be joined by an official from the British Columbia Ministry of Small Business, Technology and Economic Development.

The Government of Canada has embarked on an aggressive program of regional and bilateral free trade agreement negotiations. Canada has recently completed negotiations with the European Free Trade Association, Peru, Colombia and Panama and is engaged in negotiations at various stages with the European Union, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Korea, Dominican Republic, Central American countries, Morocco and Ukraine and is exploring the potential for free trade negotiations with key countries such as India, Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay) and Turkey.

In addition, negotiations of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) in the World Trade Organization (WTO) are entering a new phase, one which they hope will lead to comprehensive market access improvements for Canadian services suppliers in a range of key markets as part of the successful completion of negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda in 2010.

The GDC welcomes the input of individual firms and invites any member to provide their thoughts, feedback or comments leading up to this meeting. Please send them to .