Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning, madam, gentlemen.
Mr. Stephenson, in your presentation, you said that we have a unique economic partnership. I agree with you. What we have with the United States is special in economic development terms. It's big, but I am one of those who think we still have to develop it. On Tuesday, at the last committee meeting, we listened to a forum broadcast on the CPAC channel. The subject was the challenge of continuing to develop trade while protecting our sovereignty. That word has a lot of importance for us at the Bloc Québécois; it has a visceral impact. We are in favour of it as well.
In your introduction, you mentioned the Agreement on Government Procurement that was negotiated and went into effect in February 2010. In that agreement, Canada and the United States gave each other 12 months to begin exploratory talks on a possible deepening of those commitments. That was a little more than 12 months ago. Where do things stand now? Have any steps been taken to move forward?