Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It's the power of ideas. I've spent all of my career in the service of Canada, but I've spent half my career outside of Canada. We're actually much better than we think we are.
Perhaps it's a good thing, but there's a certain deference about Canadians. The rest of the world looks to us with envy and great interest, particularly because of our position on the upper half of North America vis-à-vis the United States. They often look to us to interpret that giant south of the border. There is no better people to be able to understand the United States than Canadians, because we have a certain sensibility and sensitivity. We understand, for example, what a tailgate party is. It's the little nuances that make the difference.
When we bring the power of ideas, and because we play multilateralism--we have to because of our relative size--again, the rest of the world is interested in this. The Americans, for their part, are also increasingly a bit befuddled by what's going on in the rest of the world. Now we have an opportunity with Mr. Obama, who has said he wants to reopen America.
Now, America never shut down, but there's an opportunity for us to play in this. When we do play, and I think we should play, we usually play very well. It's not a party thing; it's just something that we Canadians have and that we don't always appreciate. Again, I will say that we're really good at this.