Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon. With regard to your appearance today, you know that I have no votes to win or lose. Be that as it may, it is important for you to tell us how the situation has changed between September 2007 and October 2009.
As I understand it, to get to the amendments tabled in the House of Commons last June, your government, or you specifically—I do not know if it was you or someone else—had to be following the negotiations very closely. I believe that, to a certain extent, you participated quite actively in moving the situation forward. When did you feel that it was beginning to go against you?
The meeting that Mr. Applebaum and others had with the Prime Minister last September was a defining moment. I imagine that you were following what was happening very closely before that, prior to that meeting.
I would like to understand more about the way things unfolded, how you were involved and what alarm bells you rang to warn of the situation we see today, your objection, pure and simple, to the amendments before us.