Thank you very much, Robert. I appreciate the comments and the kind words. I guess I must have got enlightened to get to this level of politics. Maybe if you had any influence on the province to enshrine municipalities with more empowerment, that would be good; we wouldn't have to be a charter of the province via the Constitution.
With regard to question number four, the public interest is an issue that I think is important to all Canadians. This government has brought in the provincial government at this level, and I understand that they are actually at the table. The provinces are playing a vital role in transit and other issues of significant importance, such as water. Clearly the provinces have a voice at that table, unlike the FCM. We have a discussion point through DFAIT, and we have had conversations with previous ministers and trade negotiators, but when it comes to sitting at the table, we're not there. We're not entitled to be at that table. We have pressed our concerns with regard to that.
The other issue is that there are some concerns out there that we would lose our right to control our own utilities. That's not part of the agreement as we understand it. We've brought that issue forward to the minister and it was clarified that this is not going to be part the negotiations. We are bringing our concerns forward, and at the end of the negotiations we will know what the outcome will be, but we have been able to voice our concerns very clearly to that level.