Thank you very much.
I would like to thank all of the witnesses for your testimony. I think it's very inspiring for all of us to hear from people who are working so hard to start businesses and employ people.
I also want to comment that it was great for me to hear all of this testimony about the hard work of Canadian diplomats and how they're helping you. We sometimes malign people who work for the Government of Canada as bureaucrats, but we hear from your stories that they're really helping our economy grow.
I want to start with Mr. Hall.
Your story about having to sell out to expand, I think is an all-too-frequent and sad story of what happens to Canadian businesses. We're really smart. We're entrepreneurial. We're hard-working. However, we seem to get to this point in our businesses where as soon as they're really succeeding, we have to sell out.
I'd be interested in your view—and from other witnesses—on what we need to do to create conditions for companies like yours so that you can grow to be the giants and the world-beaters who are acquiring rather than being acquired.