I am not an economist, sir, I work in the field. I hope the US Federal Reserve will soon increase its rate and that we will not follow suit. But I am not an economist. I know this hurts us but I cannot say what's affecting the Canadian dollar most. Is it due to the people who are promoting our natural resources? Are interest rates causing our dollar to rise? I really don't know.
As an aside, I would like to talk about the issues related to outward processing. I want to repeat that as much as I would like the textile and apparel industries to work in close cooperation on the Canadian market, I cannot accept the outward processing recommendation.
I hope you have a good appreciation of the situation. Fabrics made in Canada would be sent to Bangladesh to be processed at a cost 10 times lower than in Canada and would be sent back to the few Canadian customers the apparel industry has left. Please don't ask me to support such a measure, as president of the Apparel Manufacturers Institute of Quebec. We would be creating a new competitor in our domestic market.