Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I will in fact be sharing some of my time with the honourable member from Kelowna---Lake Country, since he has a number of constituents who have asked a number of questions about this new deal.
First, Minister, I'd like to tell you it's good to see you here today. I do want to give my appreciation to you. I know we requested you come before committee at the first meeting of this committee, and almost immediately you responded with yes, so we very much appreciate your respect for this committee and the work we do here.
We also appreciate the good work you've done on this file. I know in your previous position you worked lengthy hours, and continue to do so, and you were able to secure a deal for Canada. We very much appreciate this.
Thousands of our forestry workers, of course, have been affected, and their families have been hurt over the last few years because we haven't been able to negotiate a deal, and you were successful, so we appreciate that.
The $4 billion--it's my understanding it's the highest return that has ever been achieved in negotiations to date. Perhaps you can expand on how you were able to improve upon some of the rumours and what we had heard prior to your reaching this agreement.