Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and to all of the staff who are here tonight and to all of the members and the witnesses, I thank you for allowing me this opportunity.
I'm here very proudly representing Hamilton Centre. Of course, for those who know, when you drive over the Skyway and you see the industry, you'll know that they call Hamilton “Steel City” for a reason.
I want to begin just centring in on that. I think a lot about the ways in which Bain Capital gutted Hamilton Specialty Bar, a 100-year-old company with generations of workers, hundreds of workers. I think about the ways in which U.S. Steel's restructuring of $2 billion in debt was put on the backs of the pensioners through the CCWA. I can't help but wonder how and to what extent the buy American provisions have impacted local steel here in Hamilton.
I heard Ms. Greenwood in her comments suggest, in presenting a Canadian exceptionalism, that Canada wasn't the target, except for maybe steel, and I think I tend to agree on that, so I want to get a sense to begin with, through you, Mr. Chair, from Ms. Greenwood, if she would expand on to what extent she thinks the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the buy American provisions are similar and different from the buy America provisions that currently limit Canada's access to the United States sub-federal procurement market.