I'd like to welcome our witness and thank him for appearing today. I want to correct the record. My colleagues have made some absolutely outrageous statements. I think the word “shocking” was used. Well, it is shocking. We spend far too much time correcting the record and going back and asking for proof of the instances that the Bloc and the NDP continue to bring up. And they have no proof of any of them. It just wastes committee time.
Mr. Pomerleau, when you hear the opponents talking about the free trade agreement, it must seem to you as if some vacuum exists. We already trade with Columbia. This is not brand-new trade. We've signed an agreement with Jordan. We already trade with Jordan. This trade is already going on. But the opposition parties would say that we should continue to punish our exporters, continue to make them pay high tariffs. Their objection to the regime is based on ideology rather than fact. Look at the agreement with Jordan we signed this morning—we do $98 million worth of business with Jordan. When the Americans signed with Jordan, they were doing $200 million, and that quickly moved to $5 billion. That's the type of exponential opportunity that's there for Canadian agriculture and manufactured goods. We cannot live in a world that wants to continue to shut countries out when those countries have clearly made headway, when trade with those countries is good for the Canadian pork industry, for agriculture, and for non-agricultural goods.
That's all the time I have. I know Ed has pertinent questions.