Thank you very much.
I would like to take advantage of the presence of our witnesses to ask a general question about MERX, that useful tool that the department uses to advertise its requests for goods and services. MERX operates internationally. In fact, when you look at its website, you see that a number of companies use the service, some of them American. So I would like to know if companies other than American ones submit bids for furniture. Let us use furniture for our discussion, given that we have a representative from the industry here today.
If American companies get PWGSC contracts, is there a mechanism to ensure that there are some economic benefits for Canada? Do our furniture companies benefit? I do not know if the Americans have an equivalent tool to MERX that allows small and medium Canadian businesses to submit bids for furnishing their public facilities. I would also like to know if MERX makes it possible for the furniture industry as a whole to make a significant contribution to the economy.