Thank you very much, Chair. Thank you, witnesses, for being here today.
I do want to pick up on something that you said, Mr. Harder. This was not by any means a foregone conclusion that Canada was going to be selected by the Chinese to be the RMB hub. We were up against some pretty stiff competition from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as you had indicated. They did want an RMB hub located within their own jurisdiction. They are currently pushing for a FIPA, as you had mentioned.
Here are just a few things about our own economy. We are the best performing in the G7. We have created 1.2 million net new jobs since the end of the recession. We have the best net debt to GDP ratio of any G7 country. We are the second best place to be doing business according to Bloomberg. We do have the soundest financial sector for seven years in a row running, according to the World Economic Forum.
Wouldn't you say that in the selection of Canada as the RMB hub, these factors were critical in China making that assessment and coming finally to that decision to choose Canada, that these were strong factors in their decision-making process? Would you agree?