Thank you for your question. When those suggestions first arose, the department, and specifically Minister Day, expressed a great deal of concern about them. We have been assured by the American administration that they are going to comply with their international obligations. We have every reason to believe that this will be the case. We will have to examine how the program is implemented case by case to make sure that those commitments are respected. When government procurement is governed by an international agreement like NAFTA or WTO, we have to make sure that Canadian suppliers have just as many rights as American suppliers in offering services.
On March 3rd, 2009. See this statement in context.