Gentlemen, thank you for being here today. I just wanted to take up where my colleague, Mr. Brison, left off.
Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Poloz, these are very interesting comments you made here, and very helpful. I wanted to let you know.
One of the things you mentioned was the positive relations with key nations. I'm going to wear my Foreign Affairs hat, where I was for a few years. One of the engagements in the previous government and the government prior to that, with previous prime ministers, was always to lead with our prime minister at the very top. So whether it was Mr. Martin with countries like Libya that were once considered nations that were less favoured, for obvious reasons, or China with Mr. Chrétien, we always recognized that the issue of human rights, the issue of concern, could always be engaged face to face and very publicly if necessary, at the end of all this, recognizing, of course, that Canadian companies will from time to time go to nations that are having difficulty. I think it's not lost on many of us that, with many of those cases, if we don't do it other countries will certainly do it.
When you're talking about positive relations with key nations, Mr. Blackburn, are you referring to the potential political conflicts that Canada may have with changes in government? I'm referring, of course, for instance, to China, where on the issue of human rights we've taken certainly a public position that has been very different from the past. How does this affect industry in its continual relationship with countries like China, with which we've had a dialogue, arguably as a pioneer, since the early 1970s?