Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome to our witnesses.
Jean-Michel, it's great to have you back again. It was only a couple of days ago that we were talking. And welcome to everyone else.
There has been a good, thorough, and interesting discussion this morning about the success of our trade commissioners and, frankly, also on some of the challenges that we face and you face as business people.
My question is going to come from a slightly different angle, and I'll give you an example. We have a trade commissioner service in place. We have our ambassadors in place. They do great work. I've been in many of their offices around the world and I used them when I was in business before coming to politics. I can't say enough good things about them.
What more can you do, as business people, not just to work with the trade commissioners but also with some of the provincial trade commissioners out there—and even on the municipal or city side?
I'll give you an example. We have a new NDP government in Nova Scotia. The previous government, and the previous five or six Liberal governments, in Nova Scotia had paid freight on a very small item, Christmas trees going to the Washington embassy. That enabled the our Canadian manufacturers association, all of the businesses and growers, to have a night at the Washington embassy. There would be a large tree in the outside atrium. They invited all of the senators and House representatives. They invited all the businesses in. They lit the outside tree. There would be the ambassador or the ambassador's wife or the president of the Christmas tree association of Canada. There would be greenery on the inside. It was a great promotion for the industry, but it was a great promotion for business. You brought the elite of Washington to a Christmas party at the Canadian Embassy, in view of the White House. That cost $1,500 for freight because the trees were donated.
The provincial government cancelled that, I think, much to their demise, but at the same time they saw the value in other missions, for instance, to Vietnam and other places that cost a lot of money. I think there's a lesson here not to be penny-wise and dollar foolish.
What more can be done to take the existing system, the existing template, and work with our provincial partners and municipal partners to actually promote and encourage further trade and further participation from other levels of government?
Mr. Chiasson, I took notes of what you said. I think you talked about the ambassador's product launch.