Thank you very much, and thank you to the witnesses for being here today.
First, Mr. Perkins, I want to build upon something you have said. You made a recommendation to the committee that once the agreement comes into effect, we should perhaps be working with this joint committee. I'd like you to expand on that a little bit for me, if you can.
Also, perhaps you could just tell us here at committee how you see Canada and the American industry working together in a harmonious way to build a stronger North American market--if you wouldn't mind commenting on that.
As well, at a previous meeting we had a vice-president from your company here, and she made a couple of very good points. I'll be like my colleague Mr. Julian and give her a little round of applause. The first point was that there's no better alternative to this agreement. She also said there was a high degree of political will necessary to reach this agreement and that it should not be wasted. She stated that the opportunity this deal presents should not be taken for granted; it may not appear again.
Of course we know the previous Liberal government was not able to negotiate a deal. I might add that I found it very interesting today to see that they were supporting loan guarantees when they would not support those when they were in government.
I'll move on.
Could you outline why you feel this opportunity needs to be taken advantage of, and what are the factors that increase the harm to industry should this dispute drag on any longer?
Also, perhaps Mr. Shepherd could comment for me. Are the Americans looking elsewhere? Are there third countries, other countries, that are starting to come in and take some of the market because of this dispute? Are the Americans looking elsewhere? Could you elaborate on that for us, please?