Welcome. I have a few questions.
You know that the Davie shipyard was bought up by a Norwegian company that presently operates this shipyard here, in Quebec. Under this bilateral agreement, Davie could continue to operate and even expand, modernize and develop its market in North America. But under this agreement, the new company could also use its shipyards in Norway and simply consolidate all its production in Norway and continue to serve the North American market. In other words, it could close its shipyard in Canada and expand its operations in Norway.
Is this a possibility that you considered?
On another subject, you said there was protection for the supply managed sectors which are very important for Quebec and the rest of Canada. Does this agreement deal in any way with the imports of milk proteins? There has been a pretty major dispute with the United States in this regard. Is this protected under the agreement?
I am somewhat surprised to hear you say that the evaluation of the shipbuilding industry, in terms of job losses... Quebec has some pretty large companies in this sector: Verreault Navigation, Davie, etc. Has there been an assessment done by the shipbuilding industry or by the government, as was done for the Canada-Korea agreement? As you know, in the case of the Canada-Korea agreement, the automobile industry did a very comprehensive assessment of the impact that agreement could have on this sector. The government also did an assessment. We can get from Industry Canada the evaluations that were done on the impact of this agreement.
Has there been at least a summary assessment of the impact of this agreement on employment in the shipbuilding industry? You seem to say there was none. I reiterate that Davie could centralize its operations in Norway and close its shipyard in Quebec, or vice versa.