Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It's most unfortunate that my colleague, Ron, left. I'm also a fan of soccer, a big supporter of Italy, soForza Italia! I'll consult him to try to form a parliamentary delegation to go drown out fans in the soccer stadiums of Brazil. Mr. Chair, I'm used to living dangerously and I've attended a soccer final with Brazilian fans, but I survived.
Mr. McDougall, you made a very interesting observation about free trade that I really liked. You said that it was one of many tools, and not the only one to facilitate trade, if not relationships between countries. The principle of free trade is neither good nor bad; it's simply quite an honourable principle. I don't think it should be a single objective, but simply a way to establish ties.
Along the same lines as my colleague Mathieu, I would say that the disparities in the report Doing Business are fairly troubling, as are the ensuing complications. Thanks mainly to my colleague Maxime Bernier, the Minister of State, I was able to see that even though there is a North American free trade agreement, the situation is still very difficult for small businesses, simply because the facilities are not adapted and some red tape remains.
You noted that the offices of trade delegates could be very helpful, but don't you think it should be a priority to do some kind of harmonization, through rebate negotiation, obviously? We still need to provide national protection for our populations and the companies that will do business.
Do you think that some harmonization should be made a priority in an eventual free trade agreement with Brazil or Mercosur so that our businesses do not have to face a significant competitive deficit on the Brazilian market?