Thank you, Mr. Ambassador.
You spoke in your statement about our relationship with the United States quite extensively, as well as in the questions and answers. You talked about the United States as being our number one trading partner--$1.6 billion or $1.8 billion a day. They are our closest neighbour, our closest ally.
Certainly, we wish you all the best in your position there. We wish you all the best in helping to rebuild the relationship.
I come from a rural constituency, and I know you did answer the question about BSE, but in the rebuilding of this relationship, do you hear of issues that are contentious between us and the United States? I know in the beef industry, for example, we talk about BSE and how frustrating it is for Canadian producers. I know the Americans have a couple of little issues that are not little to them, bluetongue and anaplasmosis, being two of them. Are these issues brought to you in your capacity as our ambassador, looking for movement?
You've heard a lot of issues that frustrate Canadians. Can you tell us a little about how you deal with the frustrations the Americans may have?