Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank our guests for being here this afternoon. You are the final part of the show. We are very grateful that you would be here at this hour.
When I listen to my colleague opposite, I almost think that the opposition may not be supportive of the TPP. However, it's our hope that they will be as more information and wisdom come to bear.
Mr. Silvester, thank you for your statement. I was actually a bit surprised when I was listening to your comments about the relationship between Canada and the EU in terms of the amount of business that you do. I guess I was under the impression, even though you mentioned that your focus was Asia-based, obviously from geography...and I was surprised too that even the EU component was as significant as it was. While we're not here for the purpose of discussing CETA today, I did appreciate your comments on that, because I think that will add to our sense of how the port authority of Metro Vancouver feels.
My feeling, gentlemen, is that Canada trades with every country in the world. Regardless of whether we have an agreement or not, we trade with every country in the world. What's clear to me is that if we can establish rules-based systems that reduce tariff barriers, that reduce some of the non-tariff barriers, that put in the labour and environmental situations that we've put into every agreement we've done so far, there are going to be a number of positive outcomes that come from that.
The obvious question, Mr. Silvester, is this. Does the fact that you don't have an actual physical text—though you have some indication as to where they're going—in any way inhibit your support of TPP?