I call the meeting to order.
Good morning, everyone. We're here today pursuant to the order of reference of Wednesday, October 18, 2006, to deal with Bill C-24, An Act to impose a charge on the export of certain softwood lumber products to the United States and a charge on refunds of certain duty deposits paid to the United States, to authorize certain payments, to amend the Export and Import Permits Act and to amend other Acts as a consequence.
We have this morning, from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Paul Robertson, director general, North America trade policy; Dennis Seebach, director, administration and technology services--he's not here yet, but he will be here; Brice MacGregor, senior trade policy analyst, softwood lumber; and John Clifford, counsel, trade law bureau. Thank you. And then from the Canada Revenue Agency, we have Ron Hagmann, assistant manager, softwood lumber.
Thank you all very much for being here today. I understand that you're prepared to go through the bill in a general way and to refer to certain clauses as you go along. Just go ahead and do that, and then we'll open up to questions after that.
Please proceed, Mr. Robertson.