Absolutely.
Over the course of this cycle, with the U.S. economy having taken the brunt of the financial crisis, Canadian exporters have had to invest much more in pursuing new business in new, non-U.S. markets. Those efforts are paying off, and of course will be enhanced greatly by new infrastructure, that is to say, new trade agreements or things that take things out of their way.
If you saw today's data in particular, the surprise, if you will, is where the extra growth was. It's in markets other than the United States, and yes, of course, cars are primarily a U.S. export, but other categories. We can't get carried away with the data this morning; they don't mean a trend, but they are adding to the sense of encouragement that the pieces are coming together.
The point I was trying to make yesterday is that we will require a sustained accumulation of this before the companies in the export sector are convinced that it's for real and will continue sufficiently to use up their excess capacity and begin to invest in new capacity. It's the investment follow-through that will give us the new job growth, which will affect the dynamics we were discussing in the previous question.
That sort of natural sequence is proving to be relatively slow, and I think it's primarily because the global environment remains a highly uncertain place. When you're in business, it's real money and you wait until you're more sure, having lived through these past five years.