Thank you, Mr. Chair.
To our guests, thank you.
I have to say, Mr. Chair, it is an honour. Something that Canada needs to improve a lot on is taking advantage of the fact that our former Prime Ministers have a lot to say. I'm glad we're hearing the sage advice of a former Prime Minister. Maybe a recommendation to the committee is that we do a better job of that. They certainly do a better job of that in the States than we do here.
But it's good to have you here today.
I actually had the opportunity to hear you speak recently on Canada's role, and it was vis-à-vis the United States. You made some of the same points today—I also look forward to the data you tabled for us to look at—in particular your point on budgets, because as everyone around this table knows, money is important and how money is spent is important. I've always said that the budget of any government shows to Canadians the priorities of the government. So I think that data is important for us to understand.
I want to start with you, Mr. Clark, on Canada's role with the United States as it relates to Mexico—we talked a little bit about that with the previous witnesses—and your take on how we can involve them on the environment.
It was interesting to hear Mr. Obama talk in trilateral terms when it came to climate change. When I asked a departmental official about who was taking the lead on the environment in cap and trade, it certainly wasn't Foreign Affairs. However, at times we hear the Minister of Foreign Affairs suggesting this is a major initiative. I would like your opinion, because of your experience with the acid rain treaty in particular, about how Canada should deal with the issue of particularly the cap and trade, because that seems to be where we're going—I think that's a good thing, and it certainly was something we campaigned on—and how it relates to Mexico and who should actually be the lead ministry on it.