Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Gentlemen, I am going to dive right in, with no preparation.
Canada's trade balance has been getting worse for years. It doesn't look like any free trade agreement is improving that situation. We could even ask ourselves whether they are helping to make the trade balance worse.
Recently, Mr. Myers, the president of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, told me, in terms of trade with Europe, that a lot of trade was going to be done between branches of the same company.
I will grant you that we hear a whole lot of generalities, for example that the eventual benefits of a free trade agreement will possibly be in the order of $1000 for each family in Canada. That really is a simplistic view. It's the same as dumping ten loads of topsoil at my house. I am just interested in the final result; I don't want to know what the wind and the rain will do to the topsoil.
Can you tell me which groups in Canadian society are going to benefit the most from a free trade agreement between Canada and Europe?
Surprise me, gentlemen.