Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank all my colleagues, whom I am happy to see here.
I want to say hello to you, Mr. Chair, you being my neighbour in the Quebec City region. I paid close attention to the recommendations you gave and I will pay particular attention to the red square you may well show me when the time comes.
I would also like to thank all members of the committee for their collaboration.
And last, I want to say that I am humbled to take the place of the hon. Ed Fast, the member for Abbotsford. Of course, I don't want to take anything away from anyone, but I would nonetheless like to mention something.
Everybody will recognize that the honourable Ed Fast has been a really great, if not the greatest, international trade minister in Canadian history. Under his leadership, Canada signed 43 free trade agreements with 43 other countries. What a great achievement, and with a lot of modesty I'm following in his footsteps here in this committee.
I would first like to address a question with my hon. colleague from Shawinigan, whom I respect and admire. I listened very carefully to everything he said, particularly regarding investments in enterprises. We are both citizens of and members for Quebec, and, like him, I applaud the massive, long-term investment that will provide exceptional benefits for our province and our country over the next century.
However, when we look at the overall picture for foreign investment in Quebec and Canada, we unfortunately see that we are not at the top of the list. Canada is 30th out of 32 countries.
What does the minister intend to do to get us out of the cellar where we currently reside? We are 30th out of 32 countries, and that is not the Canada I love. I am sure the minister agrees with me.
I know he will rhyme off a litany of all the investments that have been made over the last six months, but our country, which was in a very good position, is now bringing up the rear.
What does the minister intend to do to increase foreign investment in Canada?