Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for being here today.
You mentioned Mr. Donohue, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who was here in February. I want to read a quote: “Let me say right up front that withdrawing from NAFTA would be devastating for the workers, businesses and economies of our...countries...”. That's what he said in his speech when he was here.
This is the first meeting we've had on Canada-U.S. relations as part of this study, and I think it makes sense to hear a very general point from you about the importance of NAFTA and free trade in general. It's been almost 30 years since we had a seminal election on that very issue, and now even the NDP is open to the importance of free trade. This is such an important idea for this country's future prosperity. It generates so many jobs.
I want to hear from you about the value of NAFTA. Could you talk about it in terms supply chains and use a particular example, the auto sector, for instance? There are particular goods that have to cross the border a number of times before they're finally put into a finished product. You can use that example, or you can use any example.