This fall, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was signed by 12 Pacific Rim countries, creating a global trading block that represented about 40 per cent of the world's domestic product. At the time the TPP was announced, Canada's then-prime minster, Stephen Harper, stated that the document would be made available following the Canadian federal election.

A lot has happened since then. Stephen Harper and the Conservatives have been dethroned by Justin Trudeau's Liberals, and businesses across Canada have speculated on how the TPP would impact their respective industries.

In my last piece on this topic, I looked at how the shipping, creative and auto industries believed they would be influenced. At the time, the shipping industry acknowledged that the agreement would expand the industry across Canada's shipping ports and provide greater business opportunities on a global scale. As it turns out, the TPP shows that Canada has almost two dozen side letters with its trading partners in the agreement.

Canada has teamed up with the States to fight illicit trade, cracking down on counterfeit goods as well as pirated copyright items. A move such as this seeks to credit producers of trademarked goods for their hard work.

Those creating the false goods do so under illegal circumstances — something both governments want to minimize. With consumers' cash flowing toward legitimate businesses (as opposed to the "black market"), profits on creative and copyrighted merchandise are set to grow.

Another side letter was created between Canada and Japan to keep the current B.C. logging agreement in place. Japan had wanted Canada to eliminate its controls, but according to the TPP's text, those will remain. As business leaders along B.C.'s North Coast had previously predicted, this move will not only maintain their rights, but open up future partnerships with other countries for items being imported and exported.

Perhaps one of the most interesting and truly Canadian stories to emerge from the TPP is the impact to be had on Canada's maple syrup industry. The Financial Post reports that the only producers of maple syrup are located in Canada and the United States — and the TPP will open up the possibility of introducing the sticky substance to new markets, such as South Korea and Japan. The plan is for Japan to remove their maple syrup tariffs within three years, making the product more accessible to its citizens.

This does pose some concern for producers. The Financial Post cites the University of Guelph's food policy researcher, Sylvain Charlebois, in saying that Quebec producers may be forced to sell maple syrup at a cheaper price.

How will this impact profits? It can go both ways. With the item being more accessible and at a lower price, the laws of supply and demand could see a rise in demand from partnering countries. What is currently a luxury item in Japan (a barrel of maple syrup goes for $1,800!) could see a shift toward mainstream reception and use.

Throughout the periods of speculation and discussion on the TPP's impact, small business owners have repeatedly mentioned that they want to work with the Liberal government to ensure positive outcomes for their companies and their industry as a whole. The Liberals are not only responsive to the idea — wanting transparency between the text and Canadian citizens — but the TPP as a whole also seeks to improve the rights of workers in its member countries.

CBC News reports the agreement's partners "have made commitments to discourage imports of goods produced by forced labour and to adopt laws on acceptable working conditions." That being said, the terms of these conditions have yet to be rolled out across the 12 countries. The promise is there, however Malaysian labour unions point out they have not received any finalized terms on wages, total worked hours, or pregnant women's rights.

As I had mentioned in my last piece, until the final terms are rolled out, citizens will not know how their labour will be impacted. But with good intentions, the hope remains that workers' rights will be respected and improved where necessary.

Moving forward, Canada, the United States and Mexico will have to see how the TPP impacts NAFTA, the agreement they have upheld for the past two decades. Accounting for overlap between the two agreements, Lynne Platt, the U.S. consul general for B.C. and the Yukon, admitted "the TPP is partially a 'renegotiation of NAFTA,'" but for the 21st century.

It has been just over a month since the Trans-Pacific Partnership was announced. In this time, we've seen heavy speculation, a Wikileaks release, a new political party brought into power and the release of the TPP document itself.

With the optimism brought to Canadian small businesses inevitably comes another period of waiting for the regulations to take effect. The TPP's declarations are still being smoothed out, and business leaders recognize that. Where will we be in a year? In five years? In 10 years? Time will tell.