Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It's good to be back again before committee. I'm also joined today by Nadir Patel, the department's chief financial officer, Marc Whittingham, the president and CEO of the Canadian Commercial Corporation, and our deputy minister, Simon Kennedy.
It's a pleasure for me to appear before you today and to discuss the importance of international trade to Canada. Simply put, we are a trading nation. The benefits of international trade are reflected across our great country, in our companies, in our cities, and of course in our standard of living.