Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Minister, for appearing before the committee.
I have a number of questions. My first one relates to your competitiveness strategy that we have been waiting for. My concern is obviously with respect to maintaining jobs in Canada, our slippage on the world stage from 13th to 16th, and the disappearance of jobs over the last number of years.
Ken Georgetti was here the other day and said that we've lost about 300,000 jobs--highly skilled jobs--in the last number of years. We have a prosperity gap with the United States that is widening; it is now at about 18%.
How comprehensive will this competitiveness strategy be? Will it include an industrial strategy, by sector? When are we going to see it? Will it be in the economic update, or are you going to wait until the budget?