Good afternoon. Welcome to the fourteenth meeting of this session of the 40th Parliament of our Standing Committee on International Trade.
Today we're going to continue our consideration of Bill C-2, An Act to implement the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the Republic of Colombia, the Agreement on the Environment between Canada and the Republic of Colombia and the Agreement on Labour Cooperation between Canada and the Republic of Colombia.
To assist us today, we have as witnesses, first, from the Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers, Mark Rowlinson.
Welcome, and thank you for coming.
From Pulse Canada, we have Carl Potts, whom we've had before. He's the director of market development.
Welcome back, Mr. Potts.
We also have with us Murad Al-Katib, a board member at Pulse Canada.
We also have, from Spirits Canada and the Association of Canadian Distillers, Jan Westcott, president and chief executive officer.
Welcome back again, Jan, and thank you for coming.
We also have with us CJ Hélie, the executive vice-president of Spirits Canada.
From the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, we have with us Denis Lemelin, the national president.
We are going to hear brief opening statements from each group. I hope these can be kept within 10 minutes, because I'd really like to give all of the members an opportunity to ask questions today.
As we do have other business on the agenda, I'm going to get going right now. Following your statements, we'll start immediately with questions. We'll try to keep the first round to 10 minutes, and if we have time for a second round, we will go to five minutes for each round of questioning.
Without further ado, I think we'll get started on Bill C-2 and ask for opening statements. As I'm facing the witnesses, I may just start on my left with Mr. Potts.
We'll hear from Carl Potts from Pulse Canada for an opening statement. Thank you.