Thanks very much, Mr. Chair.
I'll start with Mr. Atkinson. I may be splitting my time, depending on whether my colleagues have a question.
Some of the comments you made in the recent weeks indicate that you weren't aware that Canada actually did force the United States to concede on a number of points.
I just want to take you through a few of those points, the first one of course being the termination clause. Your termination period is the standard for international agreements and it was implicit in the April 27 framework. I'm happy to actually list off a number of them. I have a list of 17 agreements where there are six-month termination clauses, and it doesn't mean those deals were only for six months. So the termination clause that we were successful in having secured at 23 months is far better than what we had before.
I think a one-year moratorium on trade action is substantial as well. Again, this is something the United States did not want and we were able to convince them to go forward with it.
The other concession is the anti-circumvention clause. The U.S. did not want this, but Canada persisted. Because of the anti-circumvention clause, the provincial sovereignty over forestry practices is protected. This includes B.C.'s market pricing system.
Another concession the U.S. made is the dispute settlement mechanism. They did not want this in the agreement, but we insisted. Disputes will be addressed using commercial trade law and not American trial law, as we have in the past. I think that what is just as important here is that they are enforceable and effective remedies and that if Canada wins a dispute it can reduce the border measures accordingly.
If you want to comment on those, please feel free to do so.
I see that you don't address any of these concessions in what I have read in your report, nor do you actually tell us what you think the alternative to this deal would be. I'd really like you to tell us what you think the alternative is if this deal does not go forward. Tell me your opinion, and be very detailed if you can.
I'll leave it at that.