I am very pleased to be invited to this committee. This is my first appearance in front of the committee under this House. I'm very delighted to see your taking this issue to ken, as there's no more important issue for Canada's foreign relations than our relationship with the United States. I do believe we'll probably be back in one form or another in front of you before your work is finished.
I do want to commend staff here, Ms. Crandall and her staff, for preparing a list of questions. I think it was the first time that I've had a list of questions from the committee in advance, and it was very thought-provoking. Unfortunately, I'm confined to the economic issues of the chamber's mandate, so I can't wander off into all the other fascinating issues that were raised here, but I do appreciate it.
I also want to apologize that all of my remarks today will be in English. That's a first for me, but I screwed up my instructions to my translator, so tomorrow or the next day I'll have a perfectly lovely translation of my remarks.
We are all watching the U.S. situation with fascination and concern. There is an angry, almost violent quality to U.S. politics right at this moment, and threats emerging from all manner of different sources. But, in truth, there is no anti-Canada lobby in the United States. In the chamber, we're mobilizing our members and our own leadership to engage with U.S. business in their home districts, to remind them how valuable our relationship is and how damaging it would be to them if that relationship were disrupted.
Adriana Vega, to my left, is our international affairs director and will be one of the key actors in the chamber's campaign. Adriana is a polynational. She was born in Mexico. She has served with the Canadian embassy in Mexico and Beijing, has lived in London and worked with the U.K. India Business Council before coming and joining us. She just got back yesterday from Japan. I had a speech in Morrisburg recently, so that's cool, but Adriana will no doubt be called upon to answer some questions.