Thank you.
That is a great point. The preamble is exactly right. The world economy and the financial system were clearly on the brink and we're very fortunate that there was a such a well-coordinated—dare I say orchestrated—response that everyone participated in, because the downside could have been much bigger.
In any case, we continue to heal from that process, and in some cases the adjustments that are necessary were put off, so it's being stretched out. But I've often said that if you had six or seven years to build up that bubble—like, say, from about 2001 to 2007—the crater is going to be of a similar magnitude. So we have some time still to go, especially since we're stretching out some of the adjustments.
In that context, the world has not sat still. What has happened is that emerging markets or developing markets have actually fared quite well and they continue to grow.
I would ask you to think about how the world would look if there were people living on every planet in the solar system. Where would all the trade be happening? I'll give you the answer. The big trade flows would be between Jupiter and Saturn, the two really big places that are close to each other and would be trading with each other. We, on earth, would be sitting here wondering why we couldn't get more of that. That's the kind of world that will emerge over the next five years. We call that south-south trade.
The only way for Canada to be able to grow with the world, as a small open economy, will be to increase its reach to those markets. We see it in EDC's data that companies are doing so. Trade deals are a fantastic way to pave that road.