Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all the witnesses.
I'm going to start with you, Mr. Pecman. With regard to continuing discussions with the United States, what is your overall assessment? I think that in many respects Canadian consumers are treated like a colony by many of the large manufacturers and corporations.
I'll give you a good example: Toyota. During their abysmal performance on the recall for deficient brake pedals, we broke the story that it was actually software. They insisted that it was a physical thing and insisted that it was the mat. That led to accidents and serious problems.
In the U.S., their citizens actually got better service. They got their vehicles picked up if they wanted that and, for example, in the state of California, they got replacement vehicles and a massive investment for R and D as part of the settlement. Over here, we didn't get any of those things.
Can you give us some insight? When competition issues related to public safety and other matters are identified, do you think Canadians get treated the same way as our American counterparts? This applies especially to the automotive areas. We're integrated, in that we actually have the same emission standards and the same standards for quality and for roads as well. It's interesting that when it comes to warranties, recalls and so forth, we're not treated the same.