I really didn't have a question. It's more of a comment.
If we're talking about trade policy, we have to get it into different layers of the philosophy of what we're trying to do, the strategy of what we're trying to do, and the details of what we're trying to do, and identify the things that detract from free trade and things that enhance free trade.
If we look at the past, at the things we've done well, like the Great Lakes, the seaway, NAFTA, and other great issues that have helped trade in the past...we have to look forward and ask what's coming down the pipe that we need to do. As Mr. Myers pointed out, if we have antiquated regulations that inhibit the movement of goods to take advantage of cheap containers going to the east, I can't imagine why that's still hanging around and why somebody isn't addressing these particular issues.
We have the big announcement on the Pacific Gateway, but what about Halifax and transcontinental shipment? What about the Arctic? Is it going to open up in twenty years, and what is that going to do for us? Where can we get the advantage so that we're thinking ahead and being strategic?
Take a look at what we have. We have resources; we have value-added, which we've ignored for so many years; we have manufacturing; and we have knowledge.
Knowledge is the thing of the future. India and China are really going to give us a hard time on manufacturing. We have to recognize that this is moving to that part of the world. We have intellectual capital, and unless we invest in intellectual capital to ensure that we can trade in what they need, then our standard of living is going to be seriously eroded. Therefore, we have to be much more strategic than just talking about NAFTA needing a little bit of a tweak, and so on.
I look at the past, and the manufacturers' sales tax hung around for years, which was a serious detriment to exports, but nobody bothered to do a thing about it. The Wheat Board is the same thing, a serious detriment to value-added. Nobody has been doing anything about it.
The Auto Pact was a great thing, and now we have a bottleneck and can't get our stuff across the border. Who is doing something about that? These issues have been around for years and nobody is doing anything about them. So when we talk about a trade policy, we should identify these things, address them, and fix them.