Thank you.
Mr. Clarke, thank you for appearing. For my friends on the opposite side here, I've heard this concept of a “veil of secrecy”, and that sort of thing. But in fact, with the provinces and territories, the key industry associations and groups, there have actually been historic levels of consultation in getting to an agreement in principle. That's why there's been almost universal praise for the outreach our government has done with the provincial/territorial levels and key stakeholders from coast to coast to coast.
The response to the “veil of secrecy” comment would be to see the full agreement. When you were at the collective bargaining table, before your position now, you were charged by the union members you represented to negotiate a deal on essential terms—wage rates, time of agreement, job security, these sorts of things. Aren't these the essential terms you were entrusted to negotiate, in much the same way that the essential terms of this trade agreement have been shared and are being discussed? I wonder how many members of your union would read every page of the collective bargaining final agreement.