Mr. Chair, I'll be sharing my time with Mr. Shipley.
Thank you, Minister, for appearing before us. I'm just reading in your introduction that you are planning to implement full labour mobility within Canada by April 2009. That's very encouraging. I commend you on your action, and I hope you are successful.
My question has to do with competitiveness. I think it's safe to say that the state of our nation's economy depends largely on our level of competition. In Budget 2007 you were given a mandate to create an expert panel on competitiveness that will make recommendations on how Canada can improve its competitive advantage globally.
Can you tell us why our government has placed such a high priority on fostering a competitive environment for Canadian companies to succeed?