Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'll be sharing my time with Ms. Bendayan.
Ambassador Hillman, it's great to see you. Having been to law school with you, I hope you don't mind if I ask you a couple of legal questions.
Basically, the first report from this committee is about Line 5. I understand that this is a private dispute between Enbridge and the State of Michigan and that we're looking for a diplomatic resolution in every direction. I totally understand that, but I'd like to just ask, is it the opinion of the Government of Canada that the PHMSA, the federal government's Department of Transportation, has the authority to overrule the State of Michigan's decision to end the easement? That's number one.
Number two, is it our opinion that the legislature of the State of Michigan has the ability to overrule the decision of the executive of the State of Michigan if the Senate and the reps of Michigan vote that way?
Number three, if none of that happens, does the Government of Canada believe that, either through bilateral agreements with the United States or international treaties that we're parties to, we have the ability, as Canada, to be a party to stop Michigan from ending the easement?