Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, everyone. I have a few questions for a number of you, and I will try to make them short.
Mr. Lavoie, on manufacturing, the United States came out a couple of years ago with a national strategic plan for advanced manufacturing, done under the president, and then one of the economic councils. I'm a big advocate of that. I'm a big advocate of the Fraunhofer model, the German model, and its U.S. mimic. I want you to comment on that within the patent box, because manufacturing is about 9% to 11% of our economy, depending on which month the data come out.
Mr. Egan, on the Canadian Gas Association, that's an innovation story, in my view. I think Canada has a huge role to play in both the North American and global markets on gas, whether it's LNG or domestic production. Could you comment on the potential we have to displace diesel with natural gas, specifically in northern communities, and the role it can play in reducing our emissions, even though it does produce CO2 but at a lesser degree than other fuels?