Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for being here. I want to thank you for your work. I think everybody realizes, in this place at least, the hours and the diligence you and your department have put into your job, and the results are there. We are most appreciative of what you do.
I got a call this afternoon from a local reporter—probably most of us did—asking me what I thought about the election results. I think they're fine. That's an American decision and I wish Mr. Obama the best. I went to bed early last night; I had a hunch that was going to be the result.
However, I got up really early because I had to find out about proposal six. I think you're familiar with proposal six. In my neck of the woods that was an attempt by the owner of the Ambassador Bridge to stop the agreement that we had made. I was with the Prime Minister when he made that announcement with the Michigan governor for that very important bridge that we have acted upon to get built for Canada.
We get criticism from time to time. People say this is an omnibus bill and why are we putting in these things, and I'm sure you're familiar with the bridge to strengthen trade act. It's in part 4, division 5. I wonder if you could tell this committee why that is so very important to us as Canadians and especially for our economy.