Thank you, Chair.
As I have in the past, and since you mentioned Europe, I'm going to throw in my two cents again. We have to look at Europe as we are embarking on a Canada-EU agreement. That partnership is continuously evolving. Therefore, I think it's incumbent upon us to ensure that we continuously stay on top of it. I've said before and I'll continue to say that we want, deserve, and should have our share of the pie. We can only attain that if we continue to keep up with a traditional market, a stable market, a growing market, and a market that is related to the founding of this nation as well in many ways, if I can throw that in, Mr. Chairman. It's a market, to some degree, to which we have not given the attention that I believe economically it deserves in Canada. Rumour has it that there will be a trade mission to Europe. I think it would be appropriate for committee members—maybe not all of us—to join it or to do something on our own. If we take the time to blink, I think we might miss out.
The last area, which I touched upon last time--and we did embark on it to some degree in the latter stages of a Liberal government--was the gulf region. We know they're going through some difficult times now, but Economics 101 has taught us that we have the ups and downs on the graph. I don't think it's a market we should neglect. We've all heard and read the news, but at some point in time these countries in the gulf region are going to turn around as well. Knowing that there are several Canadian entities there that have done very well, it's important that we as representatives be there to show them that we're there to support them and do what we can.
Thank you, sir.