Good morning, Minister. Thanks very much for being here with us. We appreciate your willingness. You're always there in accommodating the committee's requests when we ask you to be here. I want to acknowledge that it was your request, in the letter you gave the committee, to be before us here today. We appreciate your always being here for us.
I also want to thank you for providing a very clear picture as to why this is the best possible solution, and I want to recognize your commitment to the industry, to the communities that have been devastated by this dispute, to the families, and to the thousands who have lost their livelihoods because of the dispute. I recognize that your main focus is to see a resolution that is in the best interest of Canadians. I appreciate your commitment.
Minister, some individuals have claimed that if we had only waited just a little bit longer, the softwood dispute would have ended in Canada's favour. Your comments today, of course, have made it very clear to the committee that you disagree with this—I, of course, agree with you—and you have provided some compelling reasons why there's little hope for the industry to rely on continued legal action. As someone who has an intimate knowledge of this issue, including knowledge on the political side and the legal side of the economic realities and of course the human side of this dispute, you are in my opinion well positioned to speculate on what the future holds without this agreement.
I think what is, of course, most important now is that the two choices are a deal or no deal. Would you please explain to us again what you think the industry will look like without this deal? What will happen to the industry if we do not have this agreement?