Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to all the witnesses for coming forward today.
The more we seem to know about the details of this agreement, the more I think one can question the wisdom of signing it.
First, I would like to talk to Mr. Caron and Mr. Shrybman.
We have heard from witnesses about this agreement. For a start, last week, March 18, to be precise, Mr. Carl Grenier said that, sad to say, this was the worst agreement that Canada had ever signed apart from the softwood lumber agreement, which, unfortunately, only the NDP opposed in committee. It became clear later that passing that bill was not a good idea. Jobs were lost all across Canada.
My first question is: is this agreement just as detrimental, less detrimental, or worse than the one on softwood lumber?
My second question goes to Mr. Scott Sinclair.
Mr. Sinclair testified on March 16. He said the Quebec Ministry of Economic Development estimated that the total value of non-allocated funds for the seven U.S. programs was only a little over $1 billion. In fact, the seven programs are actually six, because after the agreement was announced by the Conservatives, we found out that one of the programs had already been fully subscribed. We're actually talking about six programs of about $1 billion and we're giving up about $25 billion.
Do you agree with those figures? Are we trying to get access to $1 billion and giving up or opening up complete access to $25 billion? Do you feel it's an accurate assessment?