Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Minister, thank you for coming today.
I would like to come back to the softwood lumber issue. In April, you stated that you did not agree with providing loan guarantees to the softwood lumber industry. The government obviously followed your advice, because one of the outcomes of the negotiations on the agreement reached at the end of April included the threat of not providing loan guarantees if the industry pursued this issue with NAFTA.
We have an agreement that is experiencing problems, if not on the verge of collapse. Last week, industry representatives stated that they were concerned that each new draft was worse than the previous one, that our rights under NAFTA were being surrendered and that all kinds of privileges were being granted to the American industry.
My question is very simple. Have you changed your mind? Would you be willing to state today that if the agreement collapses, as many people predict it will, the government will be willing to provide loan guarantees in order to allow the process to run its course under NAFTA and to defend our rights under NAFTA?