Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Emerson, for being here today. As you know, I am not a fan of this deal. I think it's a sellout of Canadian interests.
I'd like to start with the chapter 19 provisions. At this committee last year, prior to our win on August 10, it was very clear that chapter 19 needed to be used in order to be effective. We know as well from testimony from members of the forestry sector from across the country that the Americans' objective was to destroy chapter 19, that they did not like it, and that they felt it provided for Canadian rights that they did not want to see under NAFTA. Effectively, as this deal indicates and as observers have indicated, this deal kills the possibility of using chapter 19 in the dispute settlement mechanism.
So my first question is very simple. Why did you not use chapter 19, and why did you effectively give it up?