Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Yes, Ed is right: we will get into the fact that on trade we're not doing anywhere near as well as a country as was hoped under the trade agreements. The OECD value-added trade data will be interesting to look at.
I'm certainly of the opinion that signing trade agreements for the sake of signing trade agreements doesn't seem to be enough. We've had a fairly poor record in recent years in terms of trade surpluses and deficits.
Worse, or as bad, I think is the fact that the oil industry is doing reasonably well—even our oil price is discounted in Canada at the moment, though, for numerous reasons, mainly lack of market—but our manufacturing sector is not doing well at all. It is not doing anywhere near as well as it should be in terms of job creation and value added.
We need to be pursuing areas as a country—and I'll admit, I think the committee should be looking at these—from a policy perspective, both federally and provincially, to enhance our trade agreements. We support trade agreements, but what do we need to do to take advantage of the trade agreements to see that more advantage stays within Canada?
Do you have any suggestions on that, or am I off base?